Elbasan

Elbasan is a city in central Albania, capital of the county of the same name, set north of the river Shkumbin, between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain. With around 100,000 inhabitants, its origins go back to the Roman staging post of Scampa, near a junction of branches of the Via Egnatia, and in 1466 Sultan Mehmed II began a castle there whose remains still define the historic centre. In 1909 the city hosted the Congress of Elbasan, which endorsed the Latin alphabet for written Albanian. Its main sports venue, the Elbasan Arena, rebuilt in 2014 on the site of the former Ruzhdi Bizhuta stadium and holding 12,800 spectators, has hosted Albania national team matches and is one of the venues of the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Elbasan has been designated European City of Sport 2027, a title that brings it into the Albanian representation in the ACES network.