Renaldo Torraj 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Peposhi 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Besa Kavajë is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Position 4, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Redinel Gjikolaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edmond Hoxha. 1‑0 against Laçi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Besa Kavajë had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sherif Kolaj kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Renaldo Torraj 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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sherif Kolaj on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tiago Pedra is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ardit Peposhi 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sherif Kolaj on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Besa Kavajë man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Patrik Bardhi was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Afful
Renaldo Torraj 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ardit Peposhi 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sherif Kolaj to a room that had heard them before.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fatmir Prengaj has come out of that comparison in the side, and Besa Kavajë have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Besa Kavajë will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Besa Kavajë have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Besa Kavajë can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besa Kavajë have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Besa Kavajë and AF Elbasani in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Elton Vata is in the works
Besa Kavajë have gone to Dinamo City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Renaldo Torraj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Peposhi 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Besa Kavajë can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Armir Borici is on it.
Besa Kavajë have gone to Dinamo City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Besa Kavajë have gone to Vllaznia Shkodër with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Taulant Marku commits to Besa Kavajë for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmond Hoxha 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.
Something was said to Paolo Kasmollari and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edmond Hoxha commits to Besa Kavajë for another 3 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ersildjo Asllanaj 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.
Something was said to Tiago Pedra and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Besa Kavajë, and both men came out saying it was fine.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besa Kavajë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Renaldo Torraj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behar Ramadani 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Besa Kavajë know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Francesco Renzetti is on it.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besa Kavajë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Besa Kavajë, another week without a signature from Francesco Renzetti.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Francesco Renzetti is on it.
In brief
The dugoutBehar Ramadani asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edmond Hoxha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Besa Kavajë are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Taulant Marku trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Besa Kavajë know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besa Kavajë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Besa Kavajë can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Besa Kavajë until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Renaldo Torraj 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Din Sula. 2‑0 against Skënderbeu Korçë, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Paul Milde 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Besa Kavajë, another week without a signature from Francesco Renzetti.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Besa Kavajë, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Francesco Renzetti 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miklovan Pere was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Besa Kavajë have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match2 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Besa Kavajë. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Renaldo Torraj 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.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besa Kavajë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Besa Kavajë can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Din Sula provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Besa Kavajë. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ahmed Sanogo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
Looking aheadTop-of-the-table clash for Besa Kavajë
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Besa Kavajë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Besa Kavajë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Renaldo Torraj 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Besa Kavajë. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Din Sula. 1‑0 against Korabi Peshkopi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Francesco Renzetti 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Besa Kavajë told Ilvius Murati something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Apolonia Fier next, and one man in the Besa Kavajë dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Besa Kavajë know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Besa Kavajë is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Besa Kavajë
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Besa Kavajë know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sherif Kolaj to a room that had heard them before.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Besa Kavajë have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Besa Kavajë will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kastrioti Krujë in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Besa Kavajë will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Besa Kavajë will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The deal with Teuta Durrës is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Edmond Hoxha is a Besa Kavajë player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Besa Kavajë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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. Besa Kavajë will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Besa Kavajë will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.