From staring down Franck Ribery to taking on Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, Ansi Agolli has seen plenty in his career – and collected numerous records along the way.
Now 40, Agolli last played in the US with New York Cosmos. But before then, Albania’s Euro 2016 vice-captain spent seven years with Azerbaijan’s Qarabag, where he won five league titles and faced some of Europe’s biggest clubs in European competition.
“In a career of a footballer there are some important moments like the youth team, playing for the first team, the first professional contract… right through to the decision of retirement,” Agolli tells Tribalfootball.com.
“In general we remember the positive moments, but in every career there are some moments of transition.
“In my case, a defining moment came when I went to play in Finland. It was not a bad choice, but it was an obligated choice. Due to some circumstances after two years in Switzerland, I went there. It was difficult, but despite everything it helped me a lot to grow as a player. It also helped me a lot to look at things differently.”
As Agolli says, he bounced from Switzerland to Finland to Ukraine until finding home in Azerbaijan and Qarabag. It was there that the wing-back spent his best years. Agolli, like with Albania, would establish himself as club captain and set a record as the foreign player with the most appearances for Qarabag.
He says, “It is a special honour for me to be the foreign player with the most matches played with Qarabag. This experience has made me look into football in a different way, in a more mature way.
“It has helped me a lot and I have learned a lot playing with this club and winning with Qarabag. I have always thought of giving everything for my team and helping my teammates and if you do this, of course, such achievements will come.
“I’ve had a lot of beautiful moments in my career – with the first being the qualification in the Champions League (for the group phase) after we as Qarabag passed through all the qualification rounds. This was despite the team being small with a modest budget.
“The second highlight of course, was the qualification with the national team for Euro 2016 in France.”
As he reflects on over 20 years in the pro game, Agolli can rattle off experiences against some of football’s biggest names.
He recalls, “In the position I played, of course, in front of me were the most talented, fastest players of the opposing team.
“There were a lot of important players I played against at club level, but also for the national team. I would say players like Florent Malouda, Franck Ribery, Stephan El Shaarawy… It is a long list which would take a lot of time for me to go through.
“For me, every match against these players was a different battle and I tried always to do my best to help my team and to minimise the damage these players could do.”
In his first season with Qarabag, Agolli had an early taste of things to come as he came up against a Borussia Dortmund team coached by a certain Jurgen Klopp. The 2010 Europa League qualifier was comfortably won by Dortmund, but the experience remains front of mind for Agolli.
“Of course, there are certain teams that can make the difference, one of them was Spain, which was one of the most difficult matches I have played. But at a club level, a very difficult team was Borussia Dortmund in 2010 with Jurgen Klopp as their coach.
“These two have been some of the most difficult matches I have played against.”
With Qarabag in 2019 he left a record holder – not just with his former club, but as also an Albanian player. No Albanian has won as many titles as Agolli in the game. And he insists every winner’s medal he has is one he’s proud of.
He says, “Every title that I have won is beautiful and important. Every one of them has it’s beautiful moments and it’s difficult moments.
“For example a title which was very emotional to win was with Tirana, when we won in the last match against Vllaznia, we played that game in Tirana and we were two points in front of them.
“Another important title was the won with Qarabag, it was the first title for the team and I won it after there years of playing there. This win opened the way for other Championship titles.”
Indeed, looking back, Agolli acknowledges the twists and turns his career took always worked out for the best.
He continued: “I don’t have any regret in my career taking into consideration how I started. It was in the poorest places of Tirana. Yet, I ended up playing with the national team and against important sides.
“For example I wanted to play in Bundesliga, but going to Qarabag paid off by playing in the Europa League and Champions League – which maybe would not have happened if I’d gone to Germany.
“In the end, when I think about my career, I don’t have any regret and I’m happy with what I have done.”
