Albert Bunjaki

Bunjaki was born and raised in Pristina in what was then SFR Yugoslavia, of Kosovo Albanian descent. He came to Sweden in 1991 and settled in the Skövde region of western Sweden. As a player, he competed at regional and lower-division level in Sweden for clubs including IFK Mariestad and Töreboda IK.

Early coaching

Bunjaki began his coaching career in the Swedish fifth division with Hassle Torsö GOIF and Tidavads IF, before progressing to Tidaholms G&IF in Division 2 in 2004. In 2005 he joined Degerfors IF as assistant coach, followed by a two-year spell as assistant to Nanne Bergstrand at Kalmar FF (2006–2007).

Kosovo national team (2009–2017)

On 18 July 2009, Bunjaki was appointed head coach of the Kosovo national team — at a time when Kosovo was not yet recognised by either UEFA or FIFA, meaning the squad had no official status and could not compete in international competition. With no budget and no federation infrastructure to speak of, Bunjaki spent years travelling across Europe at largely his own expense to scout and recruit players of Kosovar Albanian descent, receiving a monthly salary of around 3,000 Swedish kronor during much of this period. His assistant throughout this period was Tord Grip, the experienced Swedish coach and former assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson. Grip served alongside Bunjaki for seven years, a collaboration that would later prove decisive for Bunjaki's subsequent career in Sweden. Kosovo played their first official FIFA-sanctioned match on 5 March 2014 — a 0–0 friendly against Haiti — after years of playing only unofficial matches. Following Kosovo's full admission to UEFA and FIFA in May 2016, the country was placed directly into the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, competing in Group I alongside Croatia,…

Bunjaki was born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia, to Albanian parents originally from Drenas, Kosovo. In 1991, following a conscription call from the Yugoslav People's Army, he refused to serve and left for Sweden, where he subsequently settled in the Karlstad area of Värmland. For refusing conscription, he was sentenced in absentia to 20 years' imprisonment. After arriving in Sweden, he changed his surname from Bunjaku to Bunjaki.