Duke speaks of the success of the National: It's everyone's credit.

The head of the Albanian football government said the National success resulted from the good work done over the years. He also praised investments made in infrastructure, where he singled out the training centre at “Football House”, naming it the best in the Balkans, while underlining that in this National qualifications at EURO 2024 they all merit.

As for the European finals, President Duka said the key objective is the qualifications in the next round.

What is behind Albania's Euro-2024 success?

Albania's success did not come about by chance, not in a day or a month, but as a result of the volume work that has been done for years. After our first European qualifications in 2016, our great wish was to repeat this success. Every match is a lesson, every victory, defeat or draw has its benefits. Success does not come only from fields or players. Of course, football players have the main credit, but success is not a course. When we talk about a successful qualifying edition, I mean it's not only the merit of the players, but also of the staff that cares about everything, that everything is perfect. When we trusted Coach Silvio to lead the Albanian football National, in January we had only one objective: Qualification in “Merit is not only of players and staff, but also of the Albanian Football Federation. Everyone did a great job. Since March, the Albanian National Centre has its own campus at “Football House”, one of the most modern campuses in the Balkans and not only, which has everything, new fields, gym and all conditions for the team and players in order to achieve this success.

What was the response of the people in Albania when your national national completed the qualifications as the first in the group? How important is this to your country?

All of us, all of us fans were happy after this accomplished success, and everyone thinks this team can win the European (laugh). Albania's performance in this qualifying edition has been fantastic in all matches. Even when we lost our first challenge with Poland, fans were pleased to present the team. This was the most successful journey for the national team, not only because it secured the first place in the group but also for the very good performance and very beautiful goals marked by our players. Let me remind you that the goals of Christan Aslan and Yassir Asan were voted as second and third best goals by fans on the UEFA official page.

How important is it that Balkan countries go to the European Championship finals? What especially does it mean for small countries like Albania?

After success is a very big job by the Federation, by teams, players and support from every actor in the country. Support from fans, by the government, all together make a big success for even small countries like Albania and other countries in the Balkans. I think the most important thing is working over and over again with passion.

What do you expect from Europeans?

For us, it is a great success that we are part of the European, and now we must prepare. I hope that all players are in good health so that we can prepare everything well. We have a very difficult team with very large teams. Italy, Europe champion in power, Europe and the World champion Spain, and Croatia a very good team. But I believe all European teams are very strong. Every team has quality, even Turkey. I think Turkey has the quality to reach the finals, why not win the European, as well as Serbia, all teams. For us, the important thing is to make a good team performance, and our objective is to qualify further. I hope we achieve this objective, although we have achieved great success and are part of “Euro-2024”.