Albanian Superliga

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MercedesBenz240
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Plako wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:19 pm I would take that over a league with Kukesi, Bylis, Laci and Kastrioti in it. Kukesi already trains in Tirana and only plays its matches in Kukes. The only reason they're in Supeliga is because Safet Gjici used it as a vehicle for his political ambitions. Also a centralized league would not necessarily be bad for Albanian football.
If we continue with that mentality then the rest of Albania will gradually become a desert in the future. All regions need development and investment and that includes football. As for the likes of Kukësi and Bylis, well it is what it is. If there are people willing, i don't see anything wrong with investing in clubs of smaller cities, as long as attention is given to youth football and developing the football in the region with proper facilities. Not creating a fake club with Brazilian and African players and being based in Tirana. It's a shame, as there are many other more historical clubs suffering in the lower divisions as: Besa, Besëlidhja, Tomori, Flamurtari, Elbasani, Luftëtari, Shkumbini etc. I don't know maybe you're a little biased cause you are a Tirons but i'm very glad that clubs in Albania are generally well spread out and i surely hope it continues that way.
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Plako
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MercedesBenz240 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 5:36 pm
Plako wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:19 pm I would take that over a league with Kukesi, Bylis, Laci and Kastrioti in it. Kukesi already trains in Tirana and only plays its matches in Kukes. The only reason they're in Supeliga is because Safet Gjici used it as a vehicle for his political ambitions. Also a centralized league would not necessarily be bad for Albanian football.
If we continue with that mentality then the rest of Albania will gradually become a desert in the future. All regions need development and investment and that includes football. As for the likes of Kukësi and Bylis, well it is what it is. If there are people willing, i don't see anything wrong with investing in clubs of smaller cities, as long as attention is given to youth football and developing the football in the region with proper facilities. Not creating a fake club with Brazilian and African players and being based in Tirana. It's a shame, as there are many other more historical clubs suffering in the lower divisions as: Besa, Besëlidhja, Tomori, Flamurtari, Elbasani, Luftëtari, Shkumbini etc. I don't know maybe you're a little biased cause you are a Tirons but i'm very glad that clubs in Albania are generally well spread out and i surely hope it continues that way.
I'm not biased because of where I'm from at all. I'm looking at it from a competitive perspective and how best to develop domestic football. You get more growth where there is competition. I wasn't even going to get into the historical clubs but that is a good point. We currently have 5 of the top 10 largest cities in Albania in the lower leagues (Vlora, Elbasan, Kamza, Berat and Lushnja). Apllonia and Skenderbeu look destined for relegation for that will make it 7 next year.

I'm not against team from outside of Tirana, I'm against these small towns teams like Shkumbini, Laci, Kastrioti, that are mainly used as political vehicles and do nothing for the development of domestic football. While these teams militate in Superliga we have team from some of the largest cities in Albania playing in the lower division. Maybe the solution is to expand the league to 20 teams and just play each home and away. I'm tired of this 10 team format to be honest. I want to see Partizani play away in Lushnje for example. Our fans had a few fights in Lushnje but they always brings massive support.
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Simboli i Diellit
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Always against extending the league. Actually i would like we had a 8 team superliga with another Albania-Kosovo joint league running on paralel but domestic games would become so boring .
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Plako
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Simboli i Diellit wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:09 pm Always against extending the league. Actually i would like we had a 8 team superliga with another Albania-Kosovo joint league running on paralel but domestic games would become so boring .
Maybe it's my bias from watching football in the 90's but our league was better when it had 14-16 teams back in the day. We are excluding a large chunk of the population from watching domestic football. Domestic games are already boring when you have to play the same team 4 times/season.
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artan
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Anything more than 10 teams for now is a big no no. The superliga is somewhat competitive with 10 teams where the quality of the first place team isn't much off than the 6th placed team. If we want to expand the size there's gonna need to be big investments in the first division as there's only a handful of competitive teams in the first division. It's a shame that historically big clubs like Flamurtarti and Elbasani have been ruined by incompetence and corrupt ownership with Elbasani bound to get relegated again to the second division and Flamurtari rotting. Luftetari has seemed to just collapsed, Kamza a team that was a fringe superliga team for years is dissolved. The depth of quality of has taken a hit in the first division which results in weaker teams getting promoted. There's also a bad habit of teams who get relegated practically folding as a club. I also do think Tirana has room for another club or two to float in the first division, it's big enough city to have around 5-6 teams in the first two divisions of the football pyramid (Partizani B doesn't count).

I also think instead of building a new 40 million stadium they should just use that and just fix up the infrastructure of 6-8 selected teams that have okay ownership. Give the stadiums an upgrade to the 21st century, make some investments in training/development, etc. Some cities like Berat, Kavaje, Kruje, Lushnja, Laci, deserve some investments.
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Plako
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artan wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:46 pm Anything more than 10 teams for now is a big no no. The superliga is somewhat competitive with 10 teams where the quality of the first place team isn't much off than the 6th placed team. If we want to expand the size there's gonna need to be big investments in the first division as there's only a handful of competitive teams in the first division. It's a shame that historically big clubs like Flamurtarti and Elbasani have been ruined by incompetence and corrupt ownership with Elbasani bound to get relegated again to the second division and Flamurtari rotting. Luftetari has seemed to just collapsed, Kamza a team that was a fringe superliga team for years is dissolved. The depth of quality of has taken a hit in the first division which results in weaker teams getting promoted. There's also a bad habit of teams who get relegated practically folding as a club. I also do think Tirana has room for another club or two to float in the first division, it's big enough city to have around 5-6 teams in the first two divisions of the football pyramid (Partizani B doesn't count).
The concentration of power in those 6-8 Superliga teams does not allow for other teams to break through. It's a bit like the Champions League concentrated among 8-10 teams where outsiders cannot break in. You need to have certainty of knowing you'd be safe in Superliga in order to make investments. Case in point is Flamurtari: they just got relegated so whatever project they may have had would be put on hold.

Vllaznia was in the second division only 2 years ago and now they're abut to win it all. Tirana 3 years ago got relegated and then won the year after getting promoted. That kind of instability is not good for the long term development of the league. We went from having a team dominate like Skenderbeu for almost a decade (also not good) to these last 5 years where we have two recently relegated teams winning (Vllaznia is about to) the league. Not sure how that helps our domestic football. Seems more like a play by Duka to hold on to power by spreading around the spoils of European football.
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artan
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Plako wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:00 pm
artan wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:46 pm Anything more than 10 teams for now is a big no no. The superliga is somewhat competitive with 10 teams where the quality of the first place team isn't much off than the 6th placed team. If we want to expand the size there's gonna need to be big investments in the first division as there's only a handful of competitive teams in the first division. It's a shame that historically big clubs like Flamurtarti and Elbasani have been ruined by incompetence and corrupt ownership with Elbasani bound to get relegated again to the second division and Flamurtari rotting. Luftetari has seemed to just collapsed, Kamza a team that was a fringe superliga team for years is dissolved. The depth of quality of has taken a hit in the first division which results in weaker teams getting promoted. There's also a bad habit of teams who get relegated practically folding as a club. I also do think Tirana has room for another club or two to float in the first division, it's big enough city to have around 5-6 teams in the first two divisions of the football pyramid (Partizani B doesn't count).
The concentration of power in those 6-8 Superliga teams does not allow for other teams to break through. It's a bit like the Champions League concentrated among 8-10 teams where outsiders cannot break in. You need to have certainty of knowing you'd be safe in Superliga in order to make investments. Case in point is Flamurtari: they just got relegated so whatever project they may have had would be put on hold.

Vllaznia was in the second division only 2 years ago and now they're abut to win it all. Tirana 3 years ago got relegated and then won the year after getting promoted. That kind of instability is not good for the long term development of the league. We went from having a team dominate like Skenderbeu for almost a decade (also not good) to these last 5 years where we have two recently relegated teams winning (Vllaznia is about to) the league. Not sure how that helps our domestic football. Seems more like a play by Duka to hold on to power by spreading around the spoils of European football.
I think it's more of incompetence from the Tirana teams to establish a dynasty like Skenderbeu. Partizani sacked Gega directly after winning the league and ruined their relationship with their two best players (Mala and Asani) and it seemed Edi Rama's brother became jealous and wanted to take credit for the project. Tirana also sacked Egbo after winning the league, hired Dede who starts the owners son every match despite him being an amateur and didn't get adequate reinforcements to start the league. Both teams could have easily repeated but pure incompetence from ownership. The Superliga is riped for the taking after the void Skenderbeu left. Maybe Vllaznia establishes something.

I personally don't think there's enough professional teams to realistically have the league greater than 12. Too many shady owners. Maybe for now they should limit the relegation to only 2 teams maybe even 1 max. I think the first division need another 3-4 competitive teams for the FSHF to consider expanding the size. Atleast guys like Gjici invests in his village club no matter how much of a dick he may be or if he's trying to run for some political position.
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Plako
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artan wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:33 am I think it's more of incompetence from the Tirana teams to establish a dynasty like Skenderbeu.
Well Dinamo was on it sway to establish a dynasty in 2010 (had won 2 of the last 3 titles) when PD and Duka decided to destroy it and build up Skenderbeu. Tey also stripped Dinamo of its clubs assets too which were literally the jewel of Albania. Partizani was also stripped of its club assets.
artan wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:33 am Partizani sacked Gega directly after winning the league.
Real did the same with Del Bosque. Coaches, while important, are not the difference makers when it comes to winning Superliga. It's your relationship with Duka, or whatever Duka has planned for you. Skenderbeu had 5-6 coaches during its dynasty years. Vllaznia was a relegation candidate last year and now they are top of the league.
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Simboli i Diellit
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Vllaznia beats Kukesi 1:0 and deepens the difference by 15 points with them. Partizani should get an easy win tomorrow against Skenderbeu.
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Plako
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Simboli i Diellit wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:57 pm Vllaznia beats Kukesi 1:0 and deepens the difference by 15 points with them. Partizani should get an easy win tomorrow against Skenderbeu.
They just tied Apollonia at home last week, with a shady penalty called against them in the last minute. I wouldn't take anything for granted.
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