Furtuna Velaj
Furtuna Velaj (born 8 March 1990), is an Albanian American active footballer for the Albanian women's national team and UWS amateur team New York Surf. Velaj, played for fours years at Quinnipiac University scoring 39 goals in 63 matches receiving many conference and regional accolades. After graduation, Velaj joined the Boston Breakers in the WPSL as a winger, forward but missed the whole session due to injury. Her team were the 2012 WPSL regular season champions. Velaj, continued her soccer career oversees first joining Afturelding in Iceland for the second half of the Icelandic Urvalsdeild. Velaj, tried to return and play in the new NWSL league as a trialist with the Portland Thorns but did not make the squad and instead played for amateur team the Toronto Lady Lynx in the USL W-League. After a good season for Toronto Lady Lynx in the W-League she got a contract offer from the former Finnish champions and was meant as a reinforce before the UEFA Women's Champions League and the end of the season. She got her debut in the 4–1 loss away against Åland United on 27 July 2013, where she came in as a substitute. After finishing the season in Finland in second place and winning the 2013 Finnish Cup with her team, she transferred to Kolbotn IL in the Norwegian Toppserie in the beginning of 2014.She is also a national team player for the Albania women's national football team.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Furtuna Velaj | ||
| Date of birth | 8 March 1990 | ||
| Place of birth | Gllogjan/Glođane, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2008–2012 | Quinnipiac Bobcats | 63 | (39) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012 | Boston Breakers | 0 | (0) |
| 2012 | Afturelding | 5 | (1) |
| 2013 | Toronto Lady Lynx | 9 | (4) |
| 2013 | PK-35 Vantaa | 11 | (7) |
| 2014 | Kolbotn IL | 8 | (5) |
| 2015 | SC Sand | ||
| 2015 | SC Sand II | 13 | (20) |
| 2016 | SC Sand | 10 | (2) |
| 2017 | NY Surf | 9 | (5) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2011– | Albania | 25 | (8) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 June 2013 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 6 April 2017 | |||
Velaj played for Albania in Sarpsborg, Norway in late 2013, and shortly afterwards she was offered a contract by the Norwegian club Kolbotn IL. Shortly afterwards she had a shoulder injury playing for the club at La Manga but it was found to be less serious than at first thought.[2]
After a successful season with Kolbotn IL she transferred to German club SC Sand, where she played for the first team and second team. Velaj helped SC Sand II win the Sud Regional Championship, helping the team get promoted to 2nd Bundesliga in 2015 and finishing as top goalscorer in the league with 20 goals. Velaj played one whole season with the 2nd team and two half season with the first team.
She also helped the Albanian Women's National team qualify twice in the world cup preliminary qualifiers in Malta and Albanian to advance to the UEFA World Cup group stage in 2013 and 2017. She is currently the top goal scorer for the Albanian Women's National team with 6 goals and 2 assist. She has featured for Albania 21 times. Her first stint as captain came in 2016 in the last match of the UEFA European group stage qualifiers against France.