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KF Tirana (v KF Egnatia), Air Albania Stadium

Competition: Albanian Superliga

Date: 18 January 2025

Result: KF Tirana 0 – 4 KF Egnatia

Tickets:  €21 (2,000 Albanian LEK, VIP section). Price would have been under €5 (400 Albanian LEK) for standard entry.

Attendance: circa 700, rough head count.

Game/ Experience Rating:  ☆☆☆

The Game: KF Tirana are something of a modern-day Man United of Albania: their most successful club, but currently really struggling. Here they hosted the reigning league champions (who went back top with a win), KF Egnatia, from a provincial crossroads town outside the capital.

The quality was not fantastic – in fact I’d rate the opening half as one of the worst halves of live football I’ve seen in a very long time. In the second half, though, Egnatia got their acts together and blew Tirana out of the water. The goals were generally quite messy efforts that found their way in via crosses or pinball in the box, but their literally about ten away fans appreciated them, and they were very much coming. The league seems tight and while it had a fair few foreign players as well as the locals, probably of a lower level than League of Ireland (insofar as you can judge based on one game).

A cool experience, but not a league you’d go out of your way to see lots of based on this game.

The ground: Air Albania is the Albanian national stadium, and it’s beautiful. A modern red and black-cladded outside gives way to a comfy little stadium that carries atmosphere. To get into my section, I had to walk up some ornate looking stairs into a small-ish side on section that would be incredible for international football (the other three sides were all far larger). The only time I’ve ever gone VIP at a football match (for 20 quid, why not), and while I’m not sure it added a whole lot, it was a cool experience.

Around the ground, Albanian coffee culture and lots of little shops were on full display – despite this being a modern arena on the edge of a large park, it’s still integrated into city life in a way a lot of modern arenas don’t seem to be. In fact, I think there were more people here for other things than the game. Definitely recommended as a spot to visit.

The place was very empty for this, but fair play to the lively KF Tirana ultra section behind the goal. They got frustrated at the end, understandably, but all the atmosphere came from them.

Extras: The VIP section that I shelled out all of €20 for came with padded seats, drinks holders and even a fresh seat cover. There was also a bar at the back showing live Premier League games, and momentos in it including signed Roma kit from the Conference League final that took place here a few years ago. I didn’t see a programme, but perhaps that’s because of the small turn outs.

Assorted asides: Tirana is so incredibly cheap to do cool stuff in. Highly recommended. I do slightly regret not buying a KF Tirana shirt to bring home (they were available in a shop under the stadium), but €50 felt like a lot in a local context.

My totals for the year so far:

Games: 1. Home wins: 0 Draws: 0 Away wins: 1

Goals: 4. Home goals: 0. Away goals: 4. Goals per game: 4

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