Albanian Football Forum

Simboli i Diellit wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 10:26 pm Lol your last phrase is a masterpiece trolling
Just admit that you’d make compromisses with the devil unlike some of us that match fixing goes against our moral principles.

For someone who started following Albanian football in 2010 I wound't disagree that Skenderbeu is the greatest side ever. I have watched Albanian football since the days when Beslidjhja was a regular Kategoria e Pare side and SportKlub Skenderbeu was only a contender in Women's Voleyball

Plako wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:28 pm
For someone who started following Albanian football in 2010 I wound't disagree that Skenderbeu is the greatest side ever. I have watched Albanian football since the days when Beslidjhja was a regular Kategoria e Pare side and SportKlub Skenderbeu was only a contender in Women's Voleyball

So what happened before 2010 that we don't know about?

I could understand being nostalgic and bragging about history IF there was some sort of past success but what is there to be proud of when your history only consists of failures?

Partizani (for example) having a "longer" history than Skenderbeu only emphasizes how horrible they have been. They have had DECADES of opportunities more than Skenderbeu to do something positive but they failed every time.

30 ties in Europe..... 26 eliminations. That's fvcking mind boggling. Has to be a world record.

I know you are thinking of domestic success but for a tiny country like Albania that's irrelevant. Europe is the barometer. Right now you're bragging about being the best doctor in your village. Wow congratulations.

Unfortunately, Skenderbeu was only getting started when politics got in the way of their growth. Had they still been around, one can only imagine what kind of legacy they would have built up.. Anyways, in their short time they still defied the odds with wins over Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kyiv and the historic EL qualification/elimination of Dinamo Zagreb. For a Superliga side, those victories alone are good enough to make us proud.

Princ wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:45 am Unfortunately, Skenderbeu was only getting started when politics got in the way of their growth. Had they still been around, one can only imagine what kind of legacy they would have built up.. Anyways, in their short time they still defied the odds with wins over Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kyiv and the historic EL qualification/elimination of Dinamo Zagreb. For a Superliga side, those victories alone are good enough to make us proud.

Why are we talking about these 'victories' like they are not totally worthless after all the cheating that happened , like it has been said you don't see people marvel about Lance's Tour De France 'victories' , they were cheating so nothing they did counts.

Dallku wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:35 am So what happened before 2010 that we don't know about?

I could understand being nostalgic and bragging about history IF there was some sort of past success but what is there to be proud of when your history only consists of failures?

Partizani (for example) having a "longer" history than Skenderbeu only emphasizes how horrible they have been. They have had DECADES of opportunities more than Skenderbeu to do something positive but they failed every time.

30 ties in Europe..... 26 eliminations. That's fvcking mind boggling. Has to be a world record.

I know you are thinking of domestic success but for a tiny country like Albania that's irrelevant. Europe is the barometer. Right now you're bragging about being the best doctor in your village. Wow congratulations.

I'm a Partizani fan but I'm not trying to claim Partizani had the most success of any Albanian clubs, although Partizani won the now defunct Balkans Cup in 1970. In the 1980s they beat Celtic and Austria Wien and tied Malmo at home. They also never got to play their home tie against Benrfica as they were forbidden by the party to play after getting 4 red cards in Portugal.

Flamurtari in the late 1980s ended up playing and getting eliminated by Barcelona two years in a row. On their way to meeting Barcelona they eliminated Partizan Belgrade which for me is the greatest triumph of Albanian club football.

Tirana's greatest triumph was eliminating Dinamo Bucharest in 1986 by beating them at home and away. This is the same year when another Bucharest team, Steaua won the European Cup (today's Champions League). Tirana also tied Ajax at home 2-2 the year they won the European Cup in 1971. In the 180's Tirana won their first round play only to lose to Dinamo Kyiv, Malmo. Gotenborg, and Bayern Munich.

I mean you are pointing at Skenderbeu's qualifying over Dinamo Zagreb with two ties as their greatest achievement but the 1980's was the golden age of Albanian football and at least these 3 teams had better performances than Skenderbeu, although understandably this is all subjective.

Princ wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:45 am Unfortunately, Skenderbeu was only getting started when politics got in the way of their growth. Had they still been around, one can only imagine what kind of legacy they would have built up.. Anyways, in their short time they still defied the odds with wins over Sporting Lisbon, Dynamo Kyiv and the historic EL qualification/elimination of Dinamo Zagreb. For a Superliga side, those victories alone are good enough to make us proud.

Are you guys for real? Skenderbeu started as a political project when PD's Ridvan Bode and Minister of Finance started backing them. CAS specifically cited Bode's involvement.
https://www.firstpost.com/sports/court- ... 84041.html

They fucked over Besnik Sula who took over Dinamo and had them win 2 titles in 3 years. Berisha and Sula did not see eye to eye and this was during Berisha's second term. They also stripped Dinamoo of its club grounds which were butlt in the late 1980's and were by far the best in the country and gave it to KOKSH (Albanian Olympic Committee). Not that it means much, but Sula brought Zlatko Dalic (manager who took Croatia to the WC final) to manage Dinamo in 2009.

Dinamo, 18 times champions of Albania, have been in the lower division for a decade now and they will likely never come back but hey Skenderbeu made the EL group stage once so it's all good now.

Skenderbeu was built on the back of criminal activity and political nepotism and that eventually bit them in the ass, but that doesn't mean their success was bad for Albanian football. That's how life works. Vegas/NY were built the same way, but it doesn't mean they're not world class cities.

They pioneered our success in Europe. We weren't winning shit for decades before their success.

CanaYouDoIt wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:17 am Why are we talking about these 'victories' like they are not totally worthless after all the cheating that happened , like it has been said you don't see people marvel about Lance's Tour De France 'victories' , they were cheating so nothing they did counts.

Lance Armstrong’s case was super public since he is a legend but don’t confuse opinions of regular people with those of actual cycling fans.. many see him as a scapegoat targeted by USADA just like many of us see Skenderbeu as the targets of UEFA. Nobody dared to go after Lance when he was making sponsors bank in the prime of his career. It was only when he was old and washed up that the stories began.

When the system encourages such behaviour, the fault does not lie on the single actor but the system as a whole.

CanaYouDoIt wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:17 am
Why are we talking about these 'victories' like they are not totally worthless after all the cheating that happened , like it has been said you don't see people marvel about Lance's Tour De France 'victories' , they were cheating so nothing they did counts.

This is very bad equivalency.

Maradona was doing coke before games and we still hail him as one of the greatest. That's more equivalent to your Lance example.

Dallku wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 4:16 pm

CanaYouDoIt wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:17 am
Why are we talking about these 'victories' like they are not totally worthless after all the cheating that happened , like it has been said you don't see people marvel about Lance's Tour De France 'victories' , they were cheating so nothing they did counts.

This is very bad equivalency.

Maradona was doing coke before games and we still hail him as one of the greatest. That's more equivalent to your Lance example.

Cocaine doesn’t enhance your game , systemic doping and systemic cheating like Lance and Skenderbeu did does