| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arjan Nexhat Beqaj | ||
| Date of birth | (1975-08-25)25 August 1975 (age 50) | ||
| Place of birth | Prizren,SFR Yugoslavia (modernKosovo) | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Liria Prizren | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1995 | Liria Prizren | ||
| 1995–1997 | Partizani | 37 | (0) |
| 1997–2003 | OFI | 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) | ||
| 2016–2022 | Cyprus (goalkeeping coach) | ||
| 2023- | AEK Larnaca FC (goalkeeping coach) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Arjan Beqaj (born 25 August 1975 inPrizren) is a formerAlbanian professionalfootballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is now the goalkeeping coach atAnorthosis 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.
Beqaj began his profession career inKosovo with local sideLiria Prizren in 1992. He then moved toTirana, Albania at the start of 1995 to attend university, where he was to play forPartizani Tirana. He played in Albania for two and a half years as he left in 1997 to joinOFI after being spotted playing forAlbania U-21s.[1]
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.[2] Beqaj then signed forIonikos where he made 83 league appearances in three seasons before ending his nine-year stint in Greece.
Beqaj was one of the most important players that helpedAnorthosis Famagusta reach the group stages of theUEFA Champions League for the first time in history in the2008–09 season.[3]
The team started their campaign in thefirst qualifying round where they facedArmenia'sPyunik. It was an easy task for Anorthosis who won both matches with Beqaj keeping two clean sheets.[4][5] In thenext round againstRapid 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 namedman of the match in the second leg ofthird qualifying round againstOlympiacos,[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 firstCypriot team to ever qualify for the Champions League group stages.
Beqaj was one of the firstKosovo Albanians to be part of theAlbania national team, having made his debut on 20 January 1998 in a 4–1 win in the friendly againstTurkey.[10] During the next years, he served asFoto 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'sUEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. He lost his place in 2011 to the youngsterSamir Ujkani.[11] His 43rd and last appearance, a 4–0 defeat away toArgentina, was his first and only appearance as captain.[12]
Source:[13]
| 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 | 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 | ||
Source:[14]
| 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 | |