Hundreds of talented young players aspire to one day wear the Albanian national team jersey. They work hard, but sometimes that dream never becomes reality. There are also those who view it as a second choice, an alternative to avoid being left without a representative team. Adrian Bajrami was not the first and will not be the last to decline the red-and-black team, as there have been others before him who made the same decision.

One of them is former captain Mërgim Mavraj, who in his youth wished to join Germany. He initially rejected Albania’s offer, but when his tricolor dream did not materialize, he joined the Albanian side in 2012 and went on to make 50 appearances.

The list continues with Elvis Kabashi, Mërgim Brahimi, and Fiorin Durmishaj, who also envisioned their futures with the national teams of Switzerland, Italy, or Greece. For Durmishaj, a Vlora-born player, it was Greece, but it remained only a dream, as he never played a single minute. Kabashi, a talented player once part of Juventus, was also approached by Albania, but he declined in hopes of representing Italy—a chance that never came.

Other players have likewise chosen to play for bigger national teams: Adnan Januzaj, Shkodran Mustafi, and currently, there are still those who hesitate, such as Brajan Gruda, who also sees his future with Germany.