Arjan Beqaj

Arjan Beqaj (born 25 August 1975 in Prizren) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is now the goalkeeping coach at Anorthosis Famagusta. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented Albania internationally.

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 after being spotted playing for Albania U-21s.

Greece

He spent six seasons at OFI, where he played 129 league games for the Greek side and even scoring a goal in the 2000–01 season. 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 Famagusta reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in history in the 2008–09 season.

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. 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.

Beqaj was named man of the match in the second leg of third qualifying round against Olympiacos, 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. 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 one of the first Kosovo Albanians to be part of the Albania national team, having made his debut on 20 January 1998 in a 4–1 win in the friendly against Turkey. During the next years, he served as Foto Strakosha's understudy, only appearing in friendly matches. After Strakosha's retirement in 2005, Beqaj finally became the main keeper, playing regularly in the team's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. He lost his place in 2011 to the youngster Samir Ujkani. His 43rd and last appearance, a 4–0 defeat away to Argentina, was his first and only appearance as captain.

Career statistics

Club

Source:

International

Source:

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

External links

• at National-Football-Teams.com
• –FIFAcompetition record (archived)