Alban Bushi

Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Albania under-21 and under-20 team. He is nicknamed "Loku".

A forward, Bushi played for 12 clubs in six countries during his 19-year career. He started his career with capital club Tirana where he had an impressive goal-per-game ratio; he also had three short spells on loan with Szegedi in Hungary, FC Remscheid in Germany and Flamurtari Vlorë in Albania. He then went off to Greece to play for a short time at Apollon Athens. Following that he enjoyed a decent time at Litex Lovech before spending the next four years in Turkey by representing Adanaspor, İstanbulspor, and Trabzonspor.

Bushi returned to Albania in the middle of 2004 to play for one season with Partizani Tirana before returning to Greece, where he would spend the next five years at Levadiakos. At the end of his career, Bushi returned to Albania once again to represent Tirana, stating that it was a "moral debt" to end his career where it started. He retired from football in November 2010.

Bushi also had a successful international career, being part of Albania national team for 12 years. With 14 goals, he was Albania's all-time leading top scorer from 2004 until Erjon Bogdani overtook him in 2011. He retired from international football in 2007.

Club career Bushi enjoyed a long playing career which saw him play for 12 clubs in six countries. Although having offers from foreign teams, he felt that he had the moral debt to Tirana to end his career where he started it, a decision that earned Bushi the Swan d'Or from the Albanian Football Association in recognition of his service to Albanian football.

His first game in Albania after over 13 years came on 3 October 2010 in an away game against Skënderbeu Korçë, where he came on as a substitute for Pero Pejic in the 65th minute in a game which ended in a 2–1 loss for Bushi's side. He played his first match as a starter on 31 October against Teuta Durrës, contributing in a 2–0 home win. He finished his final spell with Tirana by playing five league matches, three of them as a starter, failing to score.

On 23 November, he officially announced his retirement from football at the age of 37.

Senior Bushi is a former Albania's all-time top scorer with 14 goals until Erjon Bogdani with his goal against France in 2011 became the new record holder with 15. He made 67 appearances Albania, the tenth highest in the team's history.

Bushi scored on his international debut for Albania on 16 August 1995 against Malta at Ta' Qali National Stadium, netting the temporary equalizer in the 72nd minute in an eventual 2–1 loss. He made his competitive debut on 15 November in the match against Wales for the qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 1996, entering as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 home draw.

Managerial career On 17 January 2012, Bushi was named as the Albania national team manager, a role which the Albanian Football Association applied for the first time following suggestion of new arrived coach at Albania Gianni De Biasi.

Bushi was named Albania under-16 coach for their participation in the UEFA Development Tournament 2015 in May 2015. He won the tournament by winning all three matches.

Following naming of Paolo Tramezzani as national team director, on 9 December 2016 Bushi was named as the Albania under-21 manager. He won his first game with Albania U21 on 27 March 2017 against Moldova 2–0. In collaboration with the Albanian Football Association, reborned the under-20 side by assigning a friendly versus Georgia on 14 November 2017 at David Petriashvili Stadium, Tbilisi, with Bushi as the coach at the same time along the under-21 national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition+List of international goals scored by Alban Bushi 1. 16 August 1995 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta'Qali, Malta 1–1 1–2 Friendly 2. 21 January 1998 Atatürk Stadium, Antalya, Turkey 3–0 4–1 3. 19 August 1998 Makario Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 2–0 3–2 4. 14 October 1998 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway 1–0 2–2 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying 5. 4 September 1999 Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania 1–1 3–3 6. 2–3 7. 11 October 2000 1–0 2–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 8. 25 April 2001 Gaziantep Kamil Ocak Stadium, Gaziantep, Turkey 1–0 2–0 Friendly 9. 12 February 2003 Stadio Comunale, Bastia Umbra, Italy 1–0 5–0 10. 10 September 2003 Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania 3–1 3–1 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying 11. 15 November 2003 2–0 2–0 Friendly 12. 31 March 2004 2–1 2–1 13. 13 October 2004 Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan 1–0 1–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 14. 17 August 2005 Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania 1–1 2–1 Friendly

Managerial

Honours Player Tirana Albanian Superliga: 1996–97

Litex Lovech Bulgarian A Football Group: 1997–98, 1998–99

Manager Albania U16 UEFA Development Tournament: 2015