TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Albanian soccer federation hired Sylvinho on Monday as coach of the national team with the goal of qualifying for the 2024 European Championship.
The 48-year-old Brazilian signed a contract that will take him through the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.
DERVICAN, Albania (AP) — The Greek prime minister on Thursday offered his country’s full support to neighboring Albania’s further integration efforts with the European Union.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the Greek minority in southern Albania, the first visit of a prime minister to Albania’s ethnic Greek minority areas since his father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, traveled there when he was Greek prime minister 31 years ago.
LONDON (AP) — Chelsea striker Armando Broja is set to miss the rest of the season after rupturing a knee ligament, the Premier League club said Wednesday.
The Albania international was injured in a collision with Ezri Konsa in the first half of a 1-0 loss in a friendly against Aston Villa in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged Tuesday to clear a backlog of asylum-seeker applications as he announced new measures aimed at curbing the number of migrants reaching the U.K.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s last brown bear in captivity was rescued by an international animal welfare organization Wednesday and will be taken to a sanctuary in Austria.
Four Paws began the journey with the 24-year-old bear, named Mark, accompanied by a large file of documents to get him across multiple national borders.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — For the six Western Balkans countries aspiring to join the European Union, gaining full membership in the 27-nation club remains a distant goal.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The leader of the Albanian opposition center-right Democratic Party was attacked Tuesday during an anti-government protest held near a summit of European Union leaders and their counterparts from the Western Balkans in the Albanian capital.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The war in Ukraine has put the European Union's expansion at the top of the agenda as officials from the Western Balkans and EU leaders gather Tuesday for a summit intended to reinvigorate the whole enlargement process.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's prime minister said Monday that a European Union summit in his country's capital this week demonstrates the EU's heightened geostrategic interests in the Western Balkans region during Russia's war in Ukraine.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The German president on Thursday hailed Albania’s pro-European stand and urged its authorities to continue reforms toward membership into the European Union.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is visiting Albania to talk with its top officials on EU membership negotiations and the situation in the Western Balkan region.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's president on Sunday granted citizenship to British pop star of Albanian origin Dua Lipa for what he said was the artist's role in spreading Albanians' fame internationally through her music.
SHKODER, Albania (AP) — Torrential rains in the Balkans over the past two days led to floods that killed at least six people, prompted widespread evacuations and caused significant damage, authorities said Monday.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister said Tuesday that Britain is carrying out a “calculated attack” on his country by blaming it for the increased number of migrants crossing the English Channel.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters on Saturday protested the country's cost-of-living crisis, blaming it on the center-left government.
Opposition supporters gathered in front of the main government building, shouting that Prime Minister Edi Rama of the ruling Socialist Party should resign.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — The Women's Champions League groups that will mostly be played when men's top-tier club soccer in Europe is shut down for its World Cup were drawn Monday.
Women's soccer aims to build on the successful European Championship in July, and the elite club competition has been scheduled with the decisive final three group-stage rounds in December that avoid fixture clashes with knockout games in Qatar.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Interior Ministry said Saturday that one of its border systems was hit by a cyberattack that came from the same Iranian source as an earlier attack that led the country to break diplomatic relations with Iran.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian special forces police forced the door of the Iranian Embassy in Tirana on Thursday and officers surrounded the compound in which it stands, shortly after the last staff members left the building following the government's order to expel them.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country's embassy staff over a major cyberattack nearly two months ago that was allegedly carried out by Tehran on Albanian government websites, the prime minister said Wednesday.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Anticipating a tough winter in light of the war in Ukraine, three Balkan states agreed Friday to help each other with potential food or energy shortages and have urged the European Union to include the volatile region in its support plans.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — An Albanian court on Wednesday ordered two Russians and a Ukrainian to remain in custody while authorities conduct an espionage investigation into the suspects' activities at a former military weapons manufacturing plant.
DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — A pair of U.S. Air Force B52 strategic bombers on Monday flew low over the Croatian resort of Dubrovnik and three other NATO-member states in the region as a sign of support amid the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The Western Balkans are an integral part of the European Union and Spain fully backs the region's integration into the 27-member bloc, Spain's prime minister said Monday.
Pedro Sanchez was in Albania's capital Tirana Monday in the first-ever trip by a Spanish prime minister to the country.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has offered North Macedonia his country’s full support for integration into the 27-nation European Union.
Sanchez held talks Sunday with North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in the capital of Skopje, ahead of the last stop on his Western Balkan tour, visiting Albania on Monday.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Spain's prime minister on Friday kicked off a tour of the Western Balkans with a visit to Serbia, offering his country's support for the integration of the volatile region into the European Union.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s former President Ilir Meta on Monday took over the leadership of his old political party and pledged to fight government corruption through referendums.
Meta, 53, who was replaced Sunday by new President Bajram Begaj, was elected Monday as leader of a committee that would re-organize his old left-wing Socialist Movement for Integration party, or LSI, into a re-named the Party of Freedom.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s new president was sworn in on Sunday and urged the nation's political parties to cooperate on the country's future and consolidate the rule of law.
President Bajram Begaj, 55, who won after getting 78 votes in the 140-seat Parliament, formally took office at a ceremony in parliament.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Iranian dissidents in Albania on Friday said they had canceled a summit following warnings from local authorities of a possible terrorist threat.
Some 3,000 Iranian dissidents from the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, best known as MEK, live at Ashraf 3 camp in Manez, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Albania’s capital, Tirana.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said Friday that the United Kingdom has barred him from entering the country, citing his involvement with organized crime and corruption.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union started membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on Tuesday, a long-delayed step in the Balkan nations' paths toward EU membership that gained momentum amid the war in Ukraine.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia has approved a French proposal that opens the way for negotiations to join the European Union and overcome Bulgarian objections.
There were 68 votes in favor of the proposal in the 120-member chamber, with the leftist coalition, which has 61 seats, getting the backing of small ethnic Albanian parties.