Rinaldo Babe

Attacking Midfielder (R) - AF Elbasani
3 Aug 2031
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Marked for Rinaldo Babe

246 Edition

The AF Elbasani Sentinel

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad14 Apr 2031

A row about effort at AF Elbasani

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Belov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad14 Apr 2031

Vladyslav Fandyst 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 AF Elbasani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout14 Apr 2031

Erald Zadeja has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AF Elbasani 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.

In brief

Back issues
231 Edition

The AF Elbasani Sentinel

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad30 Dec 2030

Jan Eicher stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad30 Dec 2030

Defences have started doubling up on Nongo

15 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout30 Dec 2030

Rinaldo Babe: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AF Elbasani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match28 Dec 2030

8 unbeaten for AF Elbasani

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation AF Elbasani did not have in the autumn.

Match28 Dec 2030

After 6 games, AF Elbasani finally taste it again

The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Kastrioti Krujë; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad30 Dec 2030

Dmitry Belov 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 ratings30 Dec 2030

Nongo in the eights

A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings30 Dec 2030

Sidi Dramé runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad30 Dec 2030

Rinaldo Babe signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rinaldo Babe commits to AF Elbasani for another 3 years.

In brief

215 Edition

The AF Elbasani Sentinel

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market9 Sep 2030

Kristian Preka puts it in writing

“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 AF Elbasani, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad9 Sep 2030

Words exchanged at AF Elbasani

Reild Kurti 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.

Squad9 Sep 2030

Nongo 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 targets9 Sep 2030

AF Elbasani rebuffed over Alfonso De Luca

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Apolonia Fier have kept their man, and AF Elbasani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets9 Sep 2030

Deadline beats AF Elbasani to Kevin Haveri

The clock did what Laçi would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

The dugout9 Sep 2030

Nongo has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AF Elbasani 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 dugout9 Sep 2030

No hiding place for Vladyslav Fandyst

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Fandyst, and the manager let it.

Looking ahead9 Sep 2030

A reunion for Gjergji Kote

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pogradeci in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Market9 Sep 2030

The Reild Kurti question follows AF Elbasani around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Reild Kurti’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

177 Edition

The AF Elbasani Sentinel

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings17 Dec 2029

Nongo scores twice — 8.55

Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings17 Dec 2029

Sidi Dramé, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05

A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout17 Dec 2029

Rinaldo Babe: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AF Elbasani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match15 Dec 2029

AF Elbasani find a way past Kukësi

Kukësi made AF Elbasani work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The terraces17 Dec 2029

AF Elbasani supporters have found a favourite in Sidi Dramé

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Sidi Dramé 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.

Squad17 Dec 2029

Jan Eicher makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Player ratings17 Dec 2029

Dmitry Belov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. 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.

The dugout17 Dec 2029

Richard Henderson has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Richard Henderson on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Squad17 Dec 2029

AF Elbasani settle into a new shape

2 matches in a formation nobody announced. Managers change systems every week; keeping one is the rare part, and this one has been kept.

In brief

170 Edition

The AF Elbasani Sentinel

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad29 Oct 2029

Artan Përgjoni breaks a bone — 16 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad29 Oct 2029

A row about effort at AF Elbasani

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nongo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces29 Oct 2029

One of their own: Xhitjon Begaj

He is 22 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.

Player ratings29 Oct 2029

Sidi Dramé runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match27 Oct 2029

Xhitjon Begaj sends AF Elbasani past Korabi Peshkopi

It finished 1‑0, and it was Xhitjon Begaj’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AF Elbasani.

Player ratings29 Oct 2029

The afternoon belonged to Xhitjon Begaj

A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout29 Oct 2029

Richard Henderson has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Richard Henderson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout29 Oct 2029

Nongo gets picked when it counts

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 Nongo is on it.

Squad29 Oct 2029

Sidi Dramé is the weekend's best young player

At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.

In brief