| Kupa Pavarësia | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Albania |
| Dates | November 28, 2009 |
| Teams | 3 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  |
| Runners-up |  |
| Third place |  |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 3 |
| Goals scored | 0 (0 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | None |
The 2009 Independence Cup was the inaugural men's association football friendly tournament organised by the Albanian Football Association on 28 November to commemorate Albanian Independence Day. Flamurtari of Albania, Shkëndija of Republic of Macedonia and Prishtina of Kosovo were invited to compete in the tournament, which was held at the Flamurtari Stadium in Vlorë, near the site of the Albanian Declaration of Independence on 28 November 1912. [1] [2]
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.
An exhibition game is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or the team's rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. In team sports, matches of this type are often used to help coaches and managers select and condition players for the competitive matches of a league season or tournament. If the players usually play in different teams in other leagues, exhibition games offer an opportunity for the players to learn to work with each other. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team.
The Albanian Football Association is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. The association organizes the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the First Division, the Second Division, the Third Division, the Albanian Cup and Supercup. Albania women's national football team, Albanian women's football championship, and the Albanian Women's Cup are also overseen. The association also coordinates the activities of the Albania national football team and the Albania national youth football teams such as Under-21, Under-20, Under-19, Under-18, Under-17, Under-16 and Under-15.
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Matches lasted 45 minutes each and the competition followed a point scoring system, whereby each team plays two matches, with three points awarded for a win, none for a loss with penalty shootouts determining the winners of drawn matches. All three matches finished in goalless draws and were all decided through penalty shootouts, with Flamurtari winning the tournament after defeating Shkëndija and Prishtina 11–10 and 3–2 on penalties, respectively.
A penalty shoot-out is a method of determining which team is awarded victory in an association football match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the regulation playing time as well as extra time have expired. In a penalty shoot-out, each team takes turns shooting at goal from the penalty mark, with the goal only defended by the opposing team's goalkeeper. Each team has five shots which must be taken by different kickers; the team that makes more successful kicks is declared the victor. Shoot-outs finish as soon as one team has an insurmountable lead. If scores are level after five pairs of shots, the shootout progresses into additional "sudden-death" rounds. Balls successfully kicked into the goal during a shoot-out do not count as goals for the individual kickers or the team, and are tallied separately from the goals scored during normal play. Although the procedure for each individual kick in the shoot-out resembles that of a penalty kick, there are some differences. Most notably, neither the kicker nor any player other than the goalkeeper may play the ball again once it has been kicked.
Flamurtari Vlorë is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club play in the Albanian Superliga, which is the top tier of football in the country.
FC Prishtina, commonly known as Prishtina is a professional football club based in Pristina, Kosovo. The club play in the Football Superleague of Kosovo, which is the top tier of football in the country.
