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Hong Kong footballer Wai Yuen-ting celebrates with Albanian team Vllaznia teammates. Photo: Graeme Chan

What you need to know about history-making Hong Kong footballer Wai Yuen Ting’s reigning Albanian champions Vllaznia Shkoder

  • Shkoder-based Vllaznia secures Uefa Women’s Champions League qualifier spot once again over the weekend
  • Hong Kong star Wai joins team towards end of 21-0-record and 166-goal-difference season
Fifa

With a 4-1 victory over Tirana AS on Sunday, KFF Vllaznia Shkoder comfortably won this season’s Albanian Women's National Championship.

That was their seventh title in a row, and the trophy cabinet at the Reshit Rusi Stadium has also seen the Albanian Cup join the league title every year since 2014.

With this year’s Cup final yet to be decided it could be the sixth league and cup double on the spin for a women’s team that only started in earnest in 2013.

The club has a long history in other sports, dating back to its founding in 1919, making it the oldest sporting club in the country.

Like another dominant team in red and blue stripes, the club operates multiple sports teams including men’s football, futsal and basketball alongside both men’s and women’s volleyball. The men’s football team was the first of these and predates second club FK Tirana, the record 24-time champions, by a year.

The club’s women’s team changed dramatically ahead of the 2013-14 season when three-time champions KF Ada Velipoje disbanded and the playing staff moved to Vllaznia.

Hong Kong footballer Wai signs for Albanian champions Vllaznia

Uefa credits Ada’s results to Vllaznia as it considers the current champions to be the successors. That means that they have played in the Uefa Women's Champions League since the 2011-12 season, the first Albanian team to enter since it was started a decade earlier.

Their continental record has improved in recent seasons, finally reaching the round of 32 last season where they lost 3-0 to Danish side Fortuna Hjorring. This is a far cry from conceding 34 goals and scoring none in the three games of their debut campaign.

Women’s football has only been played nationally since 2010 in Albania and the women’s national team played its first game the following year. Vllaznia have established a stranglehold on silverware, investing in foreign talent along the way.

Hongkonger Wai Yuen-ting has joined several overseas players, all from the US, at a club with ambition and domestic dominance. This season’s biggest win was 21-0, with the side hitting double figures six times since the second half of the league began last month following its coronavirus pause.

The only game they failed to score was a 0-0 draw with runners-up Apolonia, but they led them by five points in the final table and outscored them to finish 20 goals better on goal difference (166 to 146).

Hong Kong footballer Wai Yuen-ting wins the Albanian women’s league with new team Vllaznia. Photo: Graeme Chan
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