As England prepare for tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Albania, football historian Stephen Byrne has been researching Rovers connections to that country and has come up with the following facts.
Three Albanian internationals have opposed Rovers in the League, namely Agon Xhevat Mehmeti (three caps), who played against us in 2017/18 for Oxford United.
Anis Mehmeti (three caps), who was in the Wycombe Wanderers side that played against us in 2022/23, and Frédéric Veseli (44 caps), who played against Rovers, for Bury, in 2013/14.
Moussa Dagnogo and Sergio Ommel were both in the KR Reykjavik side which played Albanian side Vilaznia in the UEFA Cup in
2001, while Gareth Taylor’s first Welsh cap came against Albania in 1995 and Lee Martin won an England U-21 cap against Albania in 1989.
Thanks to Stephen for this information. If you keep up to date with the match reports on this website, many of his facts related to Rovers and their opponents can be found at the end of every report.