TIRANA, Jan. 20 – Former Albanian international Besnik Hasi has been announced Belgium’s Coach of the Year for his successful lead of Anderlecht into Belgian league title and Cup last year.
Hasi, 43, originally from Kosovo who played as a midfielder for the Albanian national team from 2000 to 2007, has been Anderlecht’s coach since March 2014 after serving as assistant coach for six year at the top Belgian club where he also played most of his professional career.
“Beyond modesty, I can say our staff has done an excellent job. When I took over as first coach, we were 10 points behind leaders, but we managed to win the championship title and played decently in the Champions League,” said Hasi.
The former midfielder who three years ago refused to be Albania’s national team coach says he was not ready at that time to take on such huge responsibility because of lack of experience.
Asked about when he would be ready to lead Albania, Hasi said “maybe after De Biazi, there is no reason to refuse now because I have the right experience.”
Speaking about Albania’s performance in the Euro qualifiers, Hasi praised the national team’s performance under Italian coach De Biasi.
“Albania currently plays as equal and unafraid against every opponent and this is great.”
Albania who rank third in the Euro 2016 qualifiers in Group I will travel to Armenia next March in a decisive match for their qualifying hopes.
