Arjan Beqaj

Arjan Beqaj

Personal information
Full name	Arjan Nexhat Beqaj
Date of birth	(1975-08-25) 25 August 1975 (age 48)
Place of birth	Prizren, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Liria Prizren
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1995	Liria Prizren
1995–1997	Partizani	37	(0)
1997–2003	OFI Crete	129	(1)
2003–2006	Ionikos	83	(0)
2006–2010	Anorthosis Famagusta	94	(0)
2010–2011	Olympiakos Nicosia	5	(0)
2011	Ermis Aradippou	0	(0)
International career
1998–2011	Albania	43	(0)
Managerial career
2011–2016	Anorthosis (goalkeeping coach)
2016–	Cyprus (goalkeeping coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Arjan Beqaj (born 25 August 1975 in Prizren) is a former Albanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is now the goalkeeping coach at Anorthosis Famagusta.

In a career spanning 19 years he played for seven clubs in four countries. He is also a former Albanian international, earning 43 caps from 1998 to 2011.

Club career

Early career

Beqaj began his profession career in Kosovo with local side Liria Prizren in 1992. He then moved to Tirana, Albania at the start of 1995 to attend university, where he was to play for Partizani Tirana. He played in Albania for two and a half years as he left in 1997 to join OFI Crete after being spotted playing for Albania U-21s. ^[1]

Greece

He spent six seasons at OFI Crete where he played 129 league games for the Greek side and even scoring a goal in the 2000–01 season. ^[2] Beqaj then signed for Ionikos where he made 83 league appearances in three seasons before ending his nine-year stint in Greece.

Anorthosis Famagusta

Beqaj was one of the most important players that helped Anorthosis reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in history in the 2008–09 season. ^[3]

The team started their campaign in the first qualifying round where they faced Armenia's Pyunik. It was an easy task for Anorthosis who won both matches with Beqaj keeping two clean sheets. ^{[4] [5]} In the next round against Rapid Wien, Beqaj kept a clean-sheet in the first leg but was beaten three times in the second leg but nevertheless Anorthosis progressed 4–3 on aggregate. ^{[6] [7]}

Beqaj was named man of the match in the second leg of third qualifying round against Olympiacos, ^[8] making several vital saves in a 1–0 narrow loss which was enough to clinch to qualification to group stage after a 3–0 win in the first leg. ^[9] By doing so, Anorthosis made history by becoming the first Cypriot team to ever qualify for the Champions League group stages.

International career

Beqaj was born in Prizren, SFR Yugoslavia (in present-day Kosovo), but is an Albanian international and has become Albania's first choice goalkeeper since legendary Albanian goalkeeper Foto Strakosha, who retired from both club and international football in early 2005. ^[10]

Career statistics

Club

Source: ^[11]

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Albania			League		Albanian Cup		Europe		Total
1994-95	Partizani Tirana	Superliga	2	0					2	0
1995-96			18	0					18	0
1996-97			17	0					17	0
Greece			League		Greek Cup		Europe		Total
1997-98	OFI Crete	Alpha Ethniki	4	0					4	0
1998-99			32	0					32	0
1999-00			27	0					27	0
2000-01			28	1					28	1
2001-02			20	0					20	0
2002-03			18	0					20	0
2003-04	Ionikos		28	0					28	0
2004-05			27	0					27	0
2005-06			28	0					28	0
Cyprus			League		Cypriot Cup		Europe		Total
2006-07	Anorthosis Famagusta	First Division	26	0					26	0
2007-08			27	0			5	0	32	0
2008-09			10	0			11	0	21	0
2009-10			19	0					19	0
2010-11	Olympiakos Nicosia		5	0					5	0
2010-11	Ermis Aradippou		0	0					0	0
Total	Albania		37	0					37	0
	Greece		212	1					212	1
	Cyprus		88	0					88	0
Career total			m	n	m	n	m	n	m	n

International

Source: ^[12]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Albania	1998	2	0
	1999	2	0
	2000	4	0
	2001	2	0
	2002	3	0
	2003	4	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	0	0
	2006	3	0
	2007	11	0
	2008	5	0
	2009	0	0
	2010	5	0
	2011	2	0
Total		43	0

Honours

Club

Partizani Tirana

• Albanian Cup: 1996–97

Anorthosis Famagusta

• Cypriot First Division: 2007–08
• Cypriot Cup: 2006–07
• LTV Super Cup: 2007

Individual

• Albanian Footballer of the Year: 2008 ^[13]

References

1. "Beqaj, Lamtumire Futboll" (in Albanian). FSHF. 2011-08-16. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
2. (Video). "Beqaj Scores". Youtube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
3. Andreas Vassiliades (28 August 2008). "Anorthosis: A Club Without A Home Finds A Place To Play". Goal.com. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
4. "Anorthosis 1-0 Puynik". UEFA.com. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
5. "Puynik 0-2 Anorthosis". UEFA.com. 23 July 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
6. "Anorthosis 3-0 Rapid Wien". UEFA.com. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
7. "Rapid Wien 3-1 Anorthosis". UEFA.com. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
8. "Olympiacos 1-0 Anorthosis". UEFA.com. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
9. "Anorthosis 3-0 Olympiacos". UEFA.com. 27 August 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
10. Strakosha retirement
11. "Arjan Beqaj". Scoresway. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
12. "Arjan Beqaj - national football team player". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
13. "Dhjetë sportistët më të mirë shqiptarë të vitit 2008" [The ten best Albanian sportspersons of 2008] (in Albanian). Telegrafi.com. 25 December 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2018.

External links

• Arjan Beqaj at National-Football-Teams.com
• Arjan Beqaj – FIFA competition record (archived)