With memories of the golden years (80's) of the albanian football still fresh on her mind, Albania is now attempting to recreate its strong football legacy. As young players start making their names abroad, the future is looking bright for Albanian football!
It's so bad now that even small teams from Luzembourg, Malta, Andorra, Iceland, etc, are giving Albanian teams fit. This would probably be unimaginable 10-15 years ago (even if Albanian teams then were just as bad). Albanian teams have no organization and structure from top to bottom. In a way it mirrors Albania as a country.
artan wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2024 8:58 pm
It's so bad now that even small teams from Luzembourg, Malta, Andorra, Iceland, etc, are giving Albanian teams fit. This would probably be unimaginable 10-15 years ago (even if Albanian teams then were just as bad). Albanian teams have no organization and structure from top to bottom. In a way it mirrors Albania as a country.
It still shocks me how Tirana teams are this bad.
In that Starova video I posted, he mentioned something like football youth development in Albania is worse now than during communism. I'd go so far as to say that all football is worse. The fact that Flamurtari was beating and tying Barcelona in ties is unfathomable now.
It's not a matter of structure. It's a matter of incentives. The leaders own everything, and everything is their property and is done to benefit them personally.
"Cheap things you can buy in bulk, but Bulku is priceless" Ervin Xhevahir Bulku
Albanians love football, but they love to watch it not to play it. During communism they were forced to play it that's why it produced a bit more.
The neighbors like the slavs love to play it. It's in their DNA in general to play sports. Albanians have a spectator love for sports not a participant.
Albanians are more sport participant when they move abroad because they adopt more of a fighter mentality and copy other immigrants too.
Albanians love football, but they love to watch it not to play it. During communism they were forced to play it that's why it produced a bit more.
The neighbors like the slavs love to play it. It's in their DNA in general to play sports. Albanians have a spectator love for sports not a participant.
Albanians are more sport participant when they move abroad because they adopt more of a fighter mentality and copy other immigrants too.
Can we stop with this nonsense about DNA? Is Xhaka not Albanian by DNA? Why can't Albania or Kosovo produce a player like that? It's not lack of participation when everyone and their mother pushes their kids to play football.
The reality is other countries have sporting hubs in their biggest cities. It's not villages that are the hubs. Belgrade and Zagreb became major hubs for a country of 20+ million. Albania's capital teams are worse than a village team like Egnatia because Tirana historically WAS a village up until Zogu/Enver Hoxha made it a big city. Half of Albania moving there did not change the governing culture in sports or anything else. Tirana has very little sporting tradition apart from like 2-3 decades during communism.
Tirana of the 2020s is still at its core the Tirana of the 1920s. The 1920s might seem far off, but our great-grandparents and some of our grandparents were alive then. Tirana back then was like Rrogozhine or Kukesi today. Their teams play like village teams because Tirana at its core is just an overgrown village.
"Cheap things you can buy in bulk, but Bulku is priceless" Ervin Xhevahir Bulku
