From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2027
Lushnja are in real trouble now
Position 11, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market18 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Fee done, terms next for Aldo Teqja
Lushnja and Dinamo City have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lushnja have done the hard part with Dinamo City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Onome Onotafe 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Giulio Veliaj
“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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bekim Daci after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
Onome Onotafe 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 Lushnja can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
The drought breaks for Lushnja
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Apolonia Fier were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Laçi have kept their man, and Lushnja go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match9 Jan 2027
Apolonia Fier made Lushnja work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Adnard Mehmeti at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lushnja.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lushnja are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Lushnja has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market4 Jan 2027
Eric Oguocha 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 Lushnja can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Lushnja's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lushnja has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Lushnja
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Lushnja is running low.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vinicius César is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 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 Lushnja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Lushnja
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Onome Onotafe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Pogradeci left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Kutbi Budo
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Looking ahead
Everything rides on Apolonia Fier
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Lushnja's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lushnja has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Eric Oguocha beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Onome Onotafe 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 148% of everything Lushnja earn
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Korabi Peshkopi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Donart Ibraimi, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 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 Bekim Daci to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Dec 2026
Lushnja sink to position 11
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market21 Dec 2026
Igli Koca 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 Lushnja, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Lushnja
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑2 to Besa Kavajë, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Eric Oguocha
“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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout21 Dec 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Bekim Daci to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ildi Xhakaj has had enough of the bench
“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 Lushnja will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
Onome Onotafe 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 Lushnja can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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 Lushnja know it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Lushnja come up short against Laçi
Laçi left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reild Kurti, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market14 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lushnja, another week without a signature from Igli Koca.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
Vinicius César has become a man the manager trusts
-
The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Adriatik Basha
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Klevi Qefalija and Lushnja agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lushnja are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lushnja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Onome Onotafe 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adriatik Basha, and the manager let it.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lushnja, another week without a signature from Adriatik Basha.
The dugout7 Dec 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 Bekim Daci to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Nov 2026
Lushnja through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Besa Kavajë, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Eric Oguocha beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A debut Sokol Arifi will not forget — 8.35
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.35 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Adriatik Basha: 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.” Lushnja have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Salvatore Ribaudo 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Leon Kozi 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
128% of the income goes out in wages at Lushnja
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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Jurgen Peqini in the eights
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Match
The half-term report on Lushnja
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2026
Lushnja are in real trouble now
Position 10, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Lushnja against Kukësi
1‑3 to Kukësi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Onome Onotafe 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Giulio Veliaj
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Bekim Daci to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Burreli in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
Onome Onotafe 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 Lushnja can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Enis Fazlagic 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 Nov 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Xheron Osma
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Françesko Hasaj’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lushnja needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Masimiliano Doda’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market16 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lushnja. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Luftëtari spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Match7 Nov 2026
At last: Lushnja win one
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Luftëtari. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lushnja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 2‑1 win over Luftëtari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Lushnja had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Bekim Daci kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Lushnja
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Lushnja are no longer polite ones.
Match31 Oct 2026
Lushnja cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Onome Onotafe 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
128% of the income goes out in wages at Lushnja
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Enis Fazlagic
7.29, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lushnja had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Vinicius César
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vinicius César has come out of that comparison in the side, and Lushnja have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bekim Daci after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Ildi Xhakaj 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 Ildi Xhakaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Oct 2026
Lushnja are in real trouble now
Position 10, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Lushnja's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lushnja has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Lushnja
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lushnja can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
Xheron Osma 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mujahid Ibrahim
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Lushnja
Something was said to Giulio Veliaj and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Bekim Daci: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
“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 Lushnja, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Lushnja's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lushnja has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lushnja are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Enis Fazlagic 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adriatik Basha, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
21 new faces, and Lushnja are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Bekim Daci: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Adnard Mehmeti 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 Adnard Mehmeti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Adnard Mehmeti: 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.” Lushnja have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vinicius César is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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 Lushnja know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lushnja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Françesko Hasaj 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Eric Oguocha’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Lushnja
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Lushnja are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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 Lushnja know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Leon Kozi
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 124% of the Lushnja 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Lushnja's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lushnja has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Igli Koca
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igli Koca, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.76 on the card, and the Lushnja support went home talking about one name.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bekim Daci was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Lushnja dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Besa Kavajë, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Enis Fazlagic 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adriatik Basha, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Françesko Hasaj 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Lushnja dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Onome Onotafe 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No place in the plan for Leon Kozi
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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Leon Kozi faces his old club
Korabi Peshkopi next, and one man in the Lushnja dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lushnja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giulio Veliaj, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lushnja are still strangers to each other
21 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.66. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match12 Sep 2026
Lushnja and Laçi take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bekim Daci was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Lushnja dressing room was either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Nadon Kouassi 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 Lushnja can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 26 gone
That is the business done at Lushnja 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Skënderbeu Korçë, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Enis Fazlagic 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
3 academy graduates step up at Lushnja
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kristian Xhemajli has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market31 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ramiz Gjoshi 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
One of our own: Sokol Arifi joins the Lushnja first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sokol Arifi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ildi Xhakaj, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Lushnja
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Françesko Hasaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Enis Fazlagic 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Lushnja asked and Pescara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Onome Onotafe 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Xheron Osma, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Lushnja know which stage they are at.
Market24 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Donart Ibraimi in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lushnja are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Matteo Enza is in the works
Lushnja have made the call to Reggiana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Stripfing 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Lushnja did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lushnja have done the hard part with Forli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lushnja
Eric Oguocha 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizani Tirana have kept their man, and Lushnja go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Onome Onotafe 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lushnja, another week without a signature from Eric Oguocha.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Lushnja
19 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Potenza 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
As if he never left: Adriatik Basha returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Adriatik Basha is a Lushnja player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Reild Kurti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mujahid Ibrahim and Lushnja agree another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Françesko Hasaj 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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. Lushnja will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Lushnja go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jurgen Peqini and Lushnja agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Lushnja
Ibrahim Romeo Olola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Vora 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Lushnja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Ribaudo 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.