Review : Albania 2022/2023 Kategoria Superiore Week 19

January 29 & 30, 2023

The highest level of football in Albania is the Kategoria Superiore, which for sponsorship reasons is now officially the Abissnet Superiore, but is more commonly known as the Superliga.

The league was first competed for in 1930, and current champions KF Tirana have won the title 26 times.  KF Laci were runners-up last season, their highest ever finish, whilst 16 times champions FK Partizani were third. FK Vllaznia Shkoder ended in 5^th place but qualified for the Europa Conference by virtue of winning the Albanian Cup, so 4^th placed FK Kukesi missed out. 2020/21 champions KF Teuta Durres were 6^th.

The Kategoria Superiore has 10 teams who play each other four times for a 36 game season. The bottom two are relegated, and the 8^th placed team play a relegation/promotion play-off.

According to Transfermrkt, there are currently 92 foreign players with clubs in the league, which is a whopping 37%. 18 of these come from North Macedonia, 16 from Brazil, 10 from Nigeria and 9 from Kosovo. There are 5 players from Montenegro, of whom Vllaznia’s Kristijan Vulaj was mentioned in despatches in these diaries whilst playing for FK Decic. Another legionnaire familiar to these diaries is Lithuanian striker Gytis Paulauskas, now with Egnatia but who was previously with FK Riteriai in his homeland.

Transfermrkt values two players at €400K, Kosovan goalkeeper Visar Bekaj ( 4 caps ) and Kosovan winger Florent Hasani ( 8 caps ) both of whom are with KF Tirana. Hasani, who has also played in Hungary and Israel had 8 goals this season, which made him the third highest scorer in the league, but the highest still playing in it.

Albanian forward Redon Xhixha ( 2 caps ) scored 11 times for Tirana but was sold in January to Qarabag of Azerbaijan for a reported fee of €550K, and Xhuliano Skuka ( 4 caps ) left Partizani for French Second Division side Metz for €1.4M having scored 10 times.

The most recent national squad for friendlies against Italy and Armenia in November contained just three players from the domestic league, defender Andi Hadroj and forward Tedi Cara from Partizani and Vllazania defender Erdenis Gurishta. However, the squad for the previous friendly against Qatar, which they lost 0-1, was entirely domestic or Kosovan based players.

No live streams seem to be legally available of Kategoria Superiore matches in the UK, although highlights are posted on the Oversport YouTube channel.

Round 19

Sunday 29 January, 2023

FK Kukesi 2-0 KF Tirana

Owusu ( 32 ), Bytyci ( 64 )

KF Bylis 1-0 KS Kastrioti

Doi ( 76 )

Monday 30 January, 2023

KF Laci 4-3 KF Teuta Durres

Akinyemi ( 22 & 74 ), Babatunde ( 24 ), Ujka ( 68 ); Vila ( 12 ), Kallaku ( 16 pen ), Gruda ( 90 )

FK Partizani 1-1 KF Egnatia

Hoti ( 80 ); Dwamena ( 88 )

KF Erzeni Shijak 3-2 FK Vllaznia Shkoder

Smajli ( 2 og ), Patrick ( 34 & 76 ); Mala ( 57 ), Jonuzi ( 81 )

Round 19 was the fourth set of matches following the resumption after the winter break, and began with Kukesi from the town of Kukes in the north-east of the country hosting champions and league leaders Tirana. Kukes is less than 20km from the border with Kosovo and 145km from the capital Tirana, and its side started the day in a disappointing 9^th place.

Around 50 or so supporters had travelled to cheer on Tirana and they would have been happy with the start their side made, but home keeper Betim Halami ( 1 cap for Kosovo ) was able to push away attempts from Gjumsi and Hasani. However, the home side took a shock lead in the 32^nd minute when an in-swinging corner beyond the far post was headed back across the face of goal by Brazilian defender Ebert, for Ghanian striker Johnson Owusu, on his debut, to head from inside the 6 yard box. Despite a valiant effort by keeper Bekaj the ball crossed the line and the goal was awarded.

Tirana attempted to strike back but a header from Beliu was tipped over and Hasani’s 25 yard left footer went a foot wide. Kukesi doubled their lead in the 64^th minute from another corner. This time centre-back Altin Bytyci evaded his marker, and although Bekaj got a hand to his close-range header, he was unable to prevent the goal.

Tirana strove to get back into the match and Lushkja and Hila both put shots from outside of the area just wide as Tirana’s shooting radar continued to be faulty. In the end Kukesi held on for a deserved three points.

Sunday’s other match featured 8^th placed Bylis against bottom side Kastrioti. Bylis hail from the town of Ballsh in southern Albania whereas Kastrioti are from Kruje, just north of Tirana, and faced a journey of 140 kilometres.

Bylis dominated the game but failed to create any real clear-cut chances, and the best chance of the first half fell to Kastrioti’s Mehmeti, who could only fire well over. The only goal of the game arrived in the 76^th minute when a flowing move by the home side saw the ball arrive to Japanese substitute Tomoyuki Doi, who has played in Singapore, who slid in for an emphatic finish from 12 yards.

Laci versus Tueta was a meeting of 6^th versus 7^th and turned out to be the game of the weekend. Laci play in the town of Lac, located to the north of the capital, whereas Teuta are from the coastal town of Durres, with the journey being approximately 55km.

Teuta started strongly and after a couple of half-chances went to waste, Vila was left free at the back post to head home a corner from three yards with 12 minutes played. Things got better for Teuta when a foul on Marku by Ziko was adjudged to be a penalty although the contact looked to be incredibly soft, Kallaku sent the keeper the wrong-way from the spot to give Teuta a 2-0 lead.

Laci got back into the game when a swift counter saw Akinyemi played into space, and a cute chip over the advancing keeper reduced the deficit with 22 minutes played, and the scores were levelled two minutes later when Nigerian Michael Babatunde’s ( 10 caps ) speculative long-range attempt crept passed the diving keeper and into the net to make it 2-2 after 24 minutes.

Laci looked stronger at the start of the second-half and after a long range attempt hit the post, they took the lead in the 68^th minute when Ujka’s 25 yard effort sneaked inside the left hand side post. Laci appeared to have clinched the points with just over 15 minutes left to play when Akinyemi was put clear to calmly steer over the advancing keeper for his 8^th goal of the season. Laci looked more likely to add a 5^th goal, but with 90 minutes on the clock, a cross from the right wing found Gruda ghosting being Marku to steer into the roof of the net from 6 yards. However, the only chance in added on time fell to Laci, when Akinyemi skinned his marker on the right-side but his pin-perfect pass to Geci was put wide when it looked easier to score. In any event, it finished 4-3 to Laci

With Tirana having lost the day before, Partizani had an opportunity to close the gap at the top, but they could only draw 1-1 at home to 4^th place Egnatia, who are from the town of Rrogzhine.

Partizani dominated the early stages, and won a penalty when Paulauskas rugby tackled Sota when a free-kick was delivered into the mixer. Unfortunately for Partizani, Cara’s spot kick was well saved by keeper Sherri who bravely saved the follow-up.

Rrapaj and Gueye were both denied by finger-tip saves before a smart pass behind the Egnatia back line by Rrapaj put Gueye in space and his flick back into the danger zone was controlled by Hoti who took one touch before burying into the net from 10 yards.

With 10 minutes remaining it appeared to have been the game winner, but with two minutes left, a free-kick was launched into the Partizani area, and Paulauskas’s headed flick fell kindly for Dwamena to control and fire into the roof of the next for an unexpected equaliser.

The final game of Round 19 was between Erzeni and Vllazina in a match-up between 5^th vs 3rd. Erzeni play in the town of Shijak around 100km south of the northern city of Shkoder. Erzeni got off to a flying start when Macedonian winger Ademi skinned his marker and his ball across the 6 yard box was turned into the net at the back post by Smajli for an own goal.

Vllazina searched for an equaliser, but against the run of play Brazilian forward Patrick, not to be confused with the player of the same name with FK Tirana, latched on to a through ball and with calm efficiency rounded the goal-keeper to give his side a 2 goal lead.

Vllazania thought they had pulled a goal back when Mala’s shot through a crowd of players hit the back of the hit. However, the goal was harshly disallowed after a VAR check with Belaj being judged to being in the sight-line of the goal-keeper, which looked very tenuous and none of the Erzeni players had appealed.

Vllazina did pull a goal-back when Mala bravely dived through a number of players to head home a bouncing ball from 12 yards and they pressed for the equaliser but keeper Xhika denied Gurishta with an outstretched leg.

However, they were undone by some sloppy defending, Patrick pounced and a smart finish with the outside of his right foot gave him his 8^th goal of season. The visitors got back into the game with 10 minutes left to play when Jonuzi’s low 18 yard shot snuck into the bottom corner to make it 3-2.

In a barnstorming finale, Patrick broke into the Vllaznia area but the diving Zogovic prevented the Brazilian’s hat-trick and at the other end a great defensive header prevented the ball reaching Kaina who looked certain to score from 6 yards. The final piece of action saw Marku’s thumping 25 yard left-footed drive drift narrowly wide as Vllaznia slipped to defeat.