Marked for Luis Birçaj
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Franci Lala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Pogradeci training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shammasu Muhammed 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Luis Birçaj asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Rafael Reyes signs something — a contract at Pogradeci or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes Andrea Lila a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Pogradeci. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Mar 2027
Evandro Gomes hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pogradeci can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Pogradeci training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shammasu Muhammed 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 180% of the Pogradeci income
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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Urbáez, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Saidu Lawan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pogradeci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Andrea Lila has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pogradeci 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Luis Birçaj: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Pogradeci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market22 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jorgo Qeleshi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pogradeci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Pogradeci
Justus Ohanu 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Luis Birçaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Pogradeci
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shammasu Muhammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.34, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
One of their own: Isa Aji
He is 20 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Urbáez, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Luis Birçaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Evandro Gomes 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Shammasu Muhammed 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Pogradeci, 1‑0 the final word against Apolonia Fier in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Miracle Amagba
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.64 on the card, and the Pogradeci support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Sinan Dani dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.