Marked for Aleksandro Skënderaj
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2028
Renato Beqaj decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match22 Nov 2028
A 2‑2 win over Lushnja, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match27 Nov 2028
Every point is an argument now for Besa Kavajë
Position 10 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Besa Kavajë, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Aleksandro Skënderaj, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Besa Kavajë's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Besa Kavajë has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Rimal Haxhiu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A brace, and Renaldo Torraj takes the afternoon — 8.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Renaldo Torraj provided it, and the 8.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Besa Kavajë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renaldo Torraj 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Renaldo Torraj. 2‑1 against Partizani Tirana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Johan Fataki gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ralph van Hunnik 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
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.” Albion Shala kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Din Sula 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
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 Renaldo Torraj was the best thing in any of them.
Looking ahead23 Oct 2028
Flamurtari 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
“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.
Market11 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Ledjon Koci
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ledjon Koci will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Besa Kavajë the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Sep 2028
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Johan Fataki commits to Besa Kavajë for another 4 years.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renaldo Torraj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Besa Kavajë signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Besa Kavajë are still strangers to each other
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market16 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Luftëtari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bylis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market16 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bylis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market16 Aug 2027
The deal that would have taken Saheed Owolabi to Vllaznia Shkodër has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Bylis with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Bylis
Gjorgi Stoilov 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vieira 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bylis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market2 Aug 2027
Bylis say no — this time
The offer from Skonto for Ionuţ Gurău 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bylis have done the hard part with Partizani Tirana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Bylis
Dime Dimov 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
A row about effort at Bylis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Kastrioti Krujë have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saheed Owolabi. The answer from Bylis has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 Bylis know it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Gjorgi Stoilov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gjorgi Stoilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 Bylis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vllaznia Shkodër waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bylis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandro Skënderaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bylis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Bylis
Dime Dimov 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Denis Shera 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bylis are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandro Skënderaj, and the manager let it.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Bylis would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
25 days out for Gjorgi Stoilov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bylis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Bylis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AF Elbasani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bylis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Bylis
Gjorgi Stoilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Bylis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rabiu Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ahmed Sanogo is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ahmed Sanogo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Bylis sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Gjorgi Stoilov out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bylis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bylis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bylis have done the hard part with Partizani Tirana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Denis Shera 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Daniel Adjessa is in the works
Bylis have made the call to Egnatia Rrogozhinë. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Denis Shera gets it from the manager
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
AF Elbasani are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bylis will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.