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A century of love for football, but without a stadium

2025-05-25 14:45:02Sport SHKRUAR NGA GëZIM KABASHI
A century of love for football, but without a stadium
Installation at the entrance to the city of Kavaja for 'KS Besa'

As the legendary Kavaja club prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the team plays its matches outside the city, awaiting a new stadium that has been promised for years.

"Besa" of Kavaja will celebrate next October 25, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the sports club.

A well-known poet has written the lyrics for the song that will accompany the jubilee ceremony, however, Cavaliers fans are talking about some shortcomings.

The city, passionate about football, has not had a stadium for years, while the "heart team" continues to swim in the second league of the championship - known as the First Category.

In the absence of a stadium, the "Besa" team currently plays its championship matches in other cities, or in the old field, built almost 80 years ago.

Bujar Haxhialushi grew up in a family where the sport of football was a cult and where the hospitality of fellow footballers was a pleasure.

“Two large rooms were available to visiting teams when they played their next matches in Kavaja,” Bujari told BIRN.

"We are talking about the period before World War II, when women from Kavaja started attending matches, albeit with their heads covered with a sheet," he explained.

Haxhialushi, who is over 80 years old, does not feel good about the lack of a stadium, which was depreciated a few years ago, and at the same time the team was relegated to the lower league.

"They said it would be built with financing from an Arab company, but the central grandstand building and the stairs are completely destroyed," he complains.

Sources from the Municipality of Kavaja told BIRN that the stadium will be rebuilt with a joint investment with the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), which will finance the majority of the amount.

The future stadium is expected to have larger dimensions than the one built 50 years ago and will host up to 8,000 spectators at a time.

"FSHF aims to build a multifunctional facility and we will support the prepared project," said a city hall official.

However, there is little information about the investment at the construction site.

The sign located where the main grandstand and athletes' rooms once stood does not contain any information about the stadium that has been expected to be built for years.

In the reproduced photos and sketches, the public only finds the Municipality's decision which states: Plan-decision for the approval of the Construction Permit "Demolition of the existing facility "Besa" Stadium / "Taulantia" Street with developer Kavaja Municipality.

Since the beginning of this year, heavy vehicles have already demolished the main elements of the sports complex, which was built in 1974 and was permanently damaged by the earthquake of November 26, 2019.

Part of the territory is surrounded by metal fences, while on the eastern side, on Sundays, part of the village fruit and vegetable market can be seen.

Kasemi is a tall man who sells garden produce, while behind him is the green field of the former stadium, where two horses graze peacefully.

When the clients leave, he says that he used to come from Rrogozhina, where he lived, to watch "Besa", while now that he lives in Kavaja, he goes to Rrogozhina to watch "Egnatia", which was declared the Super League champion a year ago.

"Do the math: The Rrogozhina team now shows its jersey number to "Besa," says Kasemi, recalling an old expression about the rivalry between teams from the same district.

When coming from Durrës, a large decorative soccer ball is seen at the entrance to the city.

The authors of the urban sculpture have chosen the favorite motif of Kavaja, the city that continues to be strongly linked to football, even though its followers seem pessimistic about the future.

Nimet Merhori wore the "Besa" jersey when the team from Kavaja was winning domestic cups and competing with dignity in the European arena, even advancing to the second round of the qualifying matches.

"It was the '70s, exactly the time when the "Besa" stadium was built," former footballer Merhori testifies to BIRN, recalling in detail the people and companies that contributed to the establishment of the sports institution.

While he lingers longer with the names of the team's coaches and athletes until the end of the last century, Nimet feels sad about the current state of the stadium and the team.

"I hope it is built as soon as possible, but it will be difficult to celebrate the 100th anniversary in the new stadium," he concluded./BIRN


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