Marked for Dashamir Xhika
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Apolonia Fier's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Apolonia Fier has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Serxho Prendi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match17 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ersildjo Asllanaj back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Apolonia Fier's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Apolonia Fier has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Fatmir Prengaj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dashamir Xhika, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Apolonia Fier can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody at Apolonia Fier is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market28 Sep 2026
The Rimal Haxhiu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rimal Haxhiu signs something — a contract at Apolonia Fier or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Kukësi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Oltjan Haremi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Fabjan Beqja
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Apolonia Fier dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Beaten 4 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Apolonia Fier will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Gresild Lika beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Dunav Ruse for Xhuliano Markoçi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ersi Kapo again, and this time the name on the line is Spartak Pleven. Apolonia Fier are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Apolonia Fier asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Apolonia Fier will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Fabjan Beqja
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Apolonia Fier will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ange Fofana and Iliria Fushë-Krujë agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Merdović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Partizani Tirana have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Egnatia Rrogozhinë: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The captaincy goes to Luka Merdović. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.