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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Albania

George

16 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by laurencereade in K

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Albania, Dijar Nikqi, Ditmar Mira, Endi, Football, groundhopping, Joan Cela, Kamëz, Kamza, Kastrioti, KF Tirana, Krujë, Stadiumi Kamza, Zaja

Sunday 19th February 2023 ko 13:00

Kategoria Superiore

KS KASTRIOTI 0

KF TIRANA 1 (Nikqi 90+10)

Hasani penalty saved 16 

Att c1,000 at Stadiumi Kamza

Entry 1000 lek (approx.’ £7.69) for a seat in the stand, 500 lek for the terrace

I must admit there was one small worry on our final day in Albania. It was a combination of two quirks, one is that WizzAir don’t let you check in until 48 hours before your flight, and that in any case online check-ins aren’t recognised at Tirana airport. You produce a document that is headed “This is not a boarding pass” which you exchange for a boarding pass at the check-in desk. I’d not seen it before, and I am grateful to our hotel, Vila e Artё for their help in printing out something that served so little purpose! Continue reading →

Zaja

13 Monday Mar 2023

Posted by laurencereade in P, T

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Football, groundhopping, Albania, Tirana, Partizani Tirana, KF Erzeni, Kategoria Superiore, Komplexi Partizani

Saturday 18th February 2023 ko 19:00

Kategoria Superiore

PARTIZANI TIRANA 3 (Rrapajy 45 Da Silva 46 Hoti 71)

Gueye sent off 1 (dangerous play- VAR)

KF ERZENI 0

Att c 1,500 at Kompleksi Partizani

Entry- Complimentary (tickets in our stand was on sale of 1000 lek – roughly £7.69; opposite was 300 lek)

We’d got back from Vorë with more than enough time for a late lunch. We’d settled in the Tirana suburb of Kinostudio, Ditmar’s home and where the communists used to produce their propaganda films. Since those days the area has seen no little investment, and I suspect the bar we sat in had never known rule by Enver Hoxha.

Continue reading →

Ditmar

09 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by laurencereade in V

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Albania, FK Shenkolli, Football, Fusha Sportiv Vorë, Gerdec, groundhopping, Kategoria e Dytë, KF Shenkolli, Kodra e Gjatë, Tirana, Vora FK, Vorë, Vore

Saturday 18th February 2023 ko 13:00

Kategorie e Dytë Grp A

VORA FK 7 (Shani 4 Raboshta 12 25 Vrapi 24 71 Bashaj 45 Prengar 82)

KF SHËNKOLLI 0

Att c1,000

Free Entry

We met Ditmar at the roundabout near to Tirana’s New Bazaar. It’s the place you head to if you want a souvenir, fruit and veg or anything you’d find at a flea market; there’s also a fish market next door too! You can also change your currency, buy a cheap meal or have a leisurely coffee. As a result, it’s a hub for much of what makes Tirana tick, away from the tourists, the 4 of us seemed to be the only foreigners there. Continue reading →

Endi

07 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Air Albania Stadium, Albania, Arena Kombëtare, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Football, groundhopping, Matteo Dashi, Stefan Marcetic, Tirana

Friday 17th February 2023 ko 11:30

U17 International Friendly

ALBANIA 0

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 0

Marcetic sent off (2nd booking) 63

Att c700 at Arena Kombëtare, Tirana

Free Entry

It is a matter of fact that 9 men went to Tirana in 2019 to celebrate my Stag Weekend, expecting little more than a couple of matches and more than a few beers. We ended up watching 5 games and enjoyed ourselves so much the “Scottish Delegation” bored my wife Robyn silly with all our stories for months afterwards. But that weekend was so much more than beer and football. Continue reading →

Elbar

06 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by laurencereade in I

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Tags

Albania, Blloku, Ervin Canollari, Football, groundhopping, Internacional Tirana, KF Kamza, Kompleksi Internaciona, Pezë Helmës, Pyramid, Tirana

Sunday 20th October 2019 ko 14.00

Kategorie e Dytë Grp A

FC INTERNACIONAL TIRANA 5 (Ajdini 65 Xhuveli 69 Shkreta 78 81 Konci 86)

FK KAMZA 1 (Bode 90p)

Biba penalty saved 62

Att 48 at Kompleksi Internacional, Pezë Helmës

Free Entry

In footballing terms at least my stag weekend finished at the one ground that you could argue that wasn’t in Tirana, despite the name of the host club we were a good half an hour’s drive from Skanderbeg Square. Zaja seemed happy negotiating the odd pot hole on dusty roads as we climbed into the mountains, to a surprise to all for the party that hadn’t researched where we were heading! Continue reading →

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Korça

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by laurencereade in T

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Albania, Football, groundhopping, KS Klubite Olimpiku Stadiumi, Partizani Tirana, Shekendija, Shkendija, Tirana, Yrshek

Sunday 20th October 2019 ko 12.00

U19 Kategorie Superiore Grp A

PARTIZANI TIRANA 1 (Marinjaj 70)

Qyra sent off 85 (violent conduct)

SHKËNDIJA 2 (Islamaj 52 Kokomani 89)

Hasani sent off 85 (violent conduct)

Att 93 at KS Klubite Olimpiku Stadiumi, Yrshek, Tirana

Sunday morning in Tirana started as I’d hoped. I woke in my bed in the Hotel Vila e Arte just off Skanderbeg Square and not sellotaped to a lamp post naked somewhere! That is the distinct advantage of being on a stag weekend in your late 40’s, I think all of the party ended Saturday by phoning significant others, and during breakfast one or two distant looks showed that while we were enjoying a weekend we’ll remember for the rest of our lives, we missed our wives, girlfriends and children. Continue reading →

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The Scottish Delegation

29 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by laurencereade in K

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Albania, KF Laci, KF Tirana, Selman Stermasi, stag weekend, Tirana

Saturday 19th October 2019 ko 17.00

Kategorie Superiore

KF TIRANA 2 (Dunga 4 Cale 45)

KF LAÇI 1 (Nwabuezi 6)

Official Attendance 0 (we counted 97) at Stadiumi Selman Stërmasi

Entry-complimentary

Zaja was clearly enjoying himself as the little minibus picked its way through Tirana’s perpetually jammed streets. I reckon he’d worked that whoever those middle-aged blokes he’d been employed to ferry around were easy to deal with. Just feed them beer and football and they’d enjoy everything that came their way was I suspect his train of thought. But sat as I was midship I wondered…. Continue reading →

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Up On The Roof

25 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Albania, Football, Gramshi, groundhopping, Kategoria e Dytë, Mirdita, Rrëshen, Stadiumi Skender Halali, Tirana

Saturday 19th October 2019 ko 14.00

Kategoria e Dytë Grp A

KF MIRDITA 1 (Picaku 45)

Pepkolaj sent off 64 (Serious Foul Play) 

KF GRAMSHI 2 (Zani 6 Goga 59)

Att 110 at Stadiumi Skender Halali, Tirana

Free Entry

Zaja and the minibus bumped into the potholed car park; after the battery incident in Kamëz we were a little tight for time. The game had already started which was handy, it gave it us somewhere to aim for as the entrance wasn’t obvious, we tried the bar and they helped, just head for the little gap in the fence in the corner…. Continue reading →

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Peja

21 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Albania, Bunkart, Dajti cable car, Enver Hoxha, FC Dajti, FC Kinostudio, Football, groundhopping, Kamez, Kompleksi Kombetare, Non League, Tirana

Saturday 13th October 2019 ko 10.00

Albanian Women’s Superliga

FC DAJTI 0

FC KINOSTUDIO 5 (Xhabafti 37 Lulaj 48 73p 83 Xhebrahami 69)

Att 46 at Kompleksi Kombetare, Kamez, Tirana

Free Entry

So where would you hold your stag weekend? I know precisely why we ended up in Tirana, and you can blame my best man Sim. When Robyn and I got engaged in Stockholm Sim and I discussed it over a beer. Originally the wedding was going to be in the summer so we looked at one of the Baltic states, but as soon as Robyn and I discovered that we could get more wedding for the same money if we held it in January we needed somewhere with winter football. I suggested Bratislava for stunning football, great beer and interesting history. Sim’s response changed everything.

“That’s far too sensible” he said “You can do better than that!”  Continue reading →

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