Marked for Marçelino Bregu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
6 saves: Bruno Puja was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Musharaf Adebayo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 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.
Market4 Jan 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Partizani Tirana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Pogradeci
Sinan Dani 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 Jan 2027
Ahmed Family 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Three points for Pogradeci, 2‑1 the final word against Lushnja in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Musharaf Adebayo 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Bruno Puja
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pogradeci will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ahmed Family 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Musharaf Adebayo, and the manager let it.
Match19 Sep 2026
Korabi Peshkopi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Apolonia Fier in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Pogradeci would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Elvis Gjoni knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pogradeci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Failed medical for Grei Kuqi
The deal with Teuta Durrës died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Pogradeci
Precious Agwu 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pogradeci
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Pogradeci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ahmed Family 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marçelino Bregu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market31 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Erjon Shera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market31 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Paulo Bakiu is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.