Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elton Vata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Teuta Durrës are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
2‑3 to Dinamo City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ardit Toli 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.
Something was said to Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Aleksandro Hoxha left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutSherif Kallaku has become a man the manager trusts
Gentian Selmani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Teuta Durrës, and 6 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
A 3‑0 win over Kukësi, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
A brace, and Ramiz Ndoj takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramiz Ndoj provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Kukësi spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Looking aheadTop-of-the-table clash for Teuta Durrës
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Teuta Durrës and Skënderbeu Korçë in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artan Jazxhi 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aleksandro Hoxha, on a 4‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Position 2, 18 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elton Vata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Skënderbeu Korçë in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Teuta Durrës has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Gentian Selmani 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.
This is not rotation. Abdurraman Fangaj has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gentian Selmani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Teuta Durrës have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harallamb Qaqi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Teuta Durrës will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ardit Toli 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.
“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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aleksandro Hoxha after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Toli 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teuta Durrës can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ardit Toli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Rangers International to sit and watch. I want to come back to Teuta Durrës and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kastrioti Krujë in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ardit Toli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Gentian Selmani: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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. 15 actions, 7.52, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
1 for Artan Jazxhi, marked 5.88, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
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 dugout27 Sep 2027
Artan Jazxhi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 Esat Mala is on it.
Bylis next, and one man in the Teuta Durrës dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Flamurtari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elton Vata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sherif Kallaku, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Aleksandro Hoxha kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Martelo has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Kastrioti Krujë have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elton Vata. The answer from Teuta Durrës has not changed — yet.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teuta Durrës told Artan Jazxhi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aleksandro Hoxha after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Looking ahead13 Sep 2027
Teuta Durrës take on the side everybody is chasing
Partizani Tirana arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Teuta Durrës 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abdurraman Fangaj 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.
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 Sherif Kallaku is on it.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Lushnja moved on, Grei Kuqi reports back to Teuta Durrës, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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 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 name of Shisaked Hasanbelli has come up in conversations Teuta Durrës were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Pedro Martelo is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teuta Durrës, and both men came out saying it was fine.
25 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
In brief
SquadArtan Jazxhi is not doing himself any favours
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
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 Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teuta Durrës, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Apolonia Fier waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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; Teuta Durrës are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Vllaznia Shkodër have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elton Vata. The answer from Teuta Durrës has not changed — yet.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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 name of Shisaked Hasanbelli has come up in conversations Teuta Durrës were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I watch every Teuta Durrës game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rangers International runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vllaznia Shkodër waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Gentian Selmani 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 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 name of Grei Kuqi has come up in conversations Teuta Durrës were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Teuta Durrës have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gentian Selmani 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 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Polissia for Xhovalin Trifoni 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.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vasilis Zogos and Teuta Durrës agree another 2 years.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vasilis Zogos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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 Jun 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aristidi Kolaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ventspils waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Add another name to the list: Kukësi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elton Vata. The answer from Teuta Durrës has not changed — yet.
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 Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Teuta Durrës have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Teuta Durrës have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gentian Selmani 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 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Etar for Xhovalin Trifoni 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.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teuta Durrës can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Ardit Toli 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kukësi will make the call about Vasilis Zogos this week. Teuta Durrës have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Teuta Durrës had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
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 Pedro Martelo is on it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Xhovalin Trifoni, and the manager let it.
Market31 May 2027
Elton Vata returns from a loan that taught him nothing
3 appearances and 1 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gentian Selmani 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 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.
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Aleksandro Hoxha left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira is on it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Erisjon Balla has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 May 2027
Ardit Toli 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Artan Jazxhi
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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.
“I did not go to Korabi Peshkopi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Teuta Durrës and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Xhafkollari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Esat Mala is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Pedro Martelo is on it.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ardit Toli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Position 6 on 25 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harallamb Qaqi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Xhafkollari 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sherif Kallaku signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vasilis Zogos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
“I watch every Teuta Durrës game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Korabi Peshkopi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gentian Selmani signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Teuta Durrës will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sherif Kallaku provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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; Teuta Durrës are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Aleksandro Hoxha on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Pedro Martelo is on it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernesto Bakiu 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.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdurraman Fangaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
25 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
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 Sherif Kallaku is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sherif Kallaku signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Teuta Durrës would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teuta Durrës they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Toli 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.
“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 Teuta Durrës know it.
Something was said to Florjan Përgjoni and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Teuta Durrës has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gentian Selmani signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Teuta Durrës know it.
Something was said to Artan Jazxhi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Teuta Durrës no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Xhafkollari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Teuta Durrës know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Teuta Durrës have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
“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 Teuta Durrës know it.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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 loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Teuta Durrës no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Teuta Durrës would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gentian Selmani 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.
This is not rotation. Erisjon Balla has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ardit Toli 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.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sherif Kallaku signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muço Boçi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Visar Jazxhi on the training pitch
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vasilis Zogos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teuta Durrës the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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 Esat Mala is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Teuta Durrës has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gentian Selmani signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Teuta Durrës will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Teuta Durrës spent the window trying to move Aristidi Kolaj on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
In brief
The dugoutVasilis Zogos knocks on the manager’s door
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Teuta Durrës have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Vllaznia Shkodër for Muço Boçi 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.
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.
Shisaked Hasanbelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Klejdi Daci
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Klejdi Daci has come out of that comparison in the side, and Teuta Durrës have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Martelo has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Teuta Durrës close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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; Teuta Durrës are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Teuta Durrës than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Gentian Selmani 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.
6 goals in one match, Pedro Martelo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Teuta Durrës and Besa Kavajë.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑2, Aleksandro Hoxha could afford to be generous.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Teuta Durrës have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teuta Durrës is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ernesto Bakiu
Player ratingsThe one thing Pedro Martelo could not do
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Teuta Durrës have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vasilis Zogos has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira and Teuta Durrës agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ardit Toli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Teuta Durrës, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Teuta Durrës had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“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 Teuta Durrës, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gentian Selmani 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.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teuta Durrës can pretend not to have heard.
Gentian Selmani 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 Dec 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Teuta Durrës pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Aleksandro Hoxha on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Muço Boçi
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qendrim Ismajli 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Dec 2026
After 8 games, Teuta Durrës finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dinamo City; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Florjan Përgjoni 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Teuta Durrës, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Aleksandro Hoxha to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Pedro Martelo takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pedro Martelo provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
11 combined actions and 6.79. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Teuta Durrës prefer.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Teuta Durrës, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 93% of the Teuta Durrës income
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Teuta Durrës know it.
Gentian Selmani 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.
He is 23 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Xhafkollari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vllaznia Shkodër next, and one man in the Teuta Durrës dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës 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.
Egnatia Rrogozhinë next, and one man in the Teuta Durrës dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Teuta Durrës know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Pedro Martelo had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and AF Elbasani were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 16 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Marked 9.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Half the programme played, position 6, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.10 for the rest of it.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Teuta Durrës and Flamurtari in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I watch every Teuta Durrës game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Korabi Peshkopi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Teuta Durrës and Tirana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.23, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Toli 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.
“I watch every Teuta Durrës game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Besa Kavajë runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Aleksandro Hoxha on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teuta Durrës will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Gentian Selmani 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 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.
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 Wankewai Rooney is on it.
Bylis next, and one man in the Teuta Durrës dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Teuta Durrës the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Përgjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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
129% of the income goes out in wages at Teuta Durrës
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.57, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
8 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teuta Durrës will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.40 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ergis Arifi, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Teuta Durrës know it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Ergis Arifi 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Vora tried to reorganise, Teuta Durrës did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Teuta Durrës game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Besa Kavajë runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Aleksandro Hoxha left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Xhafkollari 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo City in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
7 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Melos Fangaj 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Aleksandro Hoxha could afford to be generous.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Partizani Tirana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Teuta Durrës is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
That is the business done at Teuta Durrës 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.
Florjan Përgjoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Toli 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
8 new faces, and Teuta Durrës 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.
Vllaznia Shkodër next, and one man in the Teuta Durrës dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Teuta Durrës would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Gentian Selmani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Teuta Durrës
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Melos Fangaj is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Visar Jazxhi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sokol Sali is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aleksandro Hoxha after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teuta Durrës this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Wotlai’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Teuta Durrës needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Elton Vata signs something — a contract at Teuta Durrës or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at Teuta Durrës misheard it.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Luftëtari paid $15.0K and Teuta Durrës took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teuta Durrës people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Teuta Durrës, another week without a signature from Florjan Përgjoni.
8 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Luftëtari will make the call about Arbion Megjidi this week. Teuta Durrës have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gentian Selmani and Teuta Durrës agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teuta Durrës can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Gentian Selmani 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Teuta Durrës training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Përgjoni 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.
Add another name to the list: Luftëtari have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arbion Megjidi. The answer from Teuta Durrës has not changed — yet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Teuta Durrës, another week without a signature from Daniel Wotlai.