Blendi Nallbani

After the fall of communism, he was able to move abroad to play in Romania, but then moved back to Albania for good. He initially played for Partizani Tirana and then, as soon as moving between clubs was allowed in Albania, he moved to his current team KF Tirana for a transfer fee of USD1,000,000 where has won multiple championships, cups, and supercups. That was the most expensive transfer in the Albanian football history at that time and made front-page news of all major newspapers. In 2001 he returned to Partizani.

Tirana

Nallbani moved back to Tirana for a fourth stint in the summer of 2004 after four seasons at rival club Partizani Tirana. He joined goalkeepers Isli Hidi and Nigerian Ndubuisi Egbo at the club.

International debut

At only seventeen years old, Nallbani was the second youngest ever player to play for the Albania national team. He conceded five goals to a strong English side in his premiere at Wembley Stadium. However, had it not been for his strong performance, Albania would have suffered an even greater defeat. After the game, the English media praised Nallbani's performance as one of the greatest performances and Peter Shilton was himself amazed by the performance of the young Albanian.

"He (Shilton) was 21 when he first pulled on an England jersey and that helped to produce a fascinating statistic when England met Albania in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley in 1989. Blendi Nallbani, the goalkeeper at the other end, was only 17 and hadn't been born when Shilts made his debut."

At 17 years old, Nallbani was also the youngest goalkeeper to play in an England match. After that famous English game and another one against Spain, Nallbani received offers from other famed European Clubs (Barcelona, Juventus, Anderlecht, and some Romanian and Turkish clubs). However, due to the "communist Albania," he was not allowed to play for teams outside the country or his family would be persecuted and possibly jailed. In the year, 1990, he was selected in the Under-21 Best European Selection and was supposed to play a charity game against the Africa/Asia Under-21. However, he was not able to attend this game for the same reasons that he was not allowed to play for a…

Club

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International

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Nallbani is married and has two children, both of which are boys, Marvin and Dejvi. One of his children has followed in his father's footsteps as a footballer. His son born in 1992, Marvin Nallbani, is also a footballer and played for some time at KF Tirana with his father. Unlike his father he plays outfield, mostly in midfield and has been training with the Tirana senior squad since the age of 8. As of 2018, he is head of the omnisports club Studenti.