Fier Fair Football Tournament

The 1911 Fier Fair Football Tournament (Albanian: Turneu Futbollistik i Panairit të Fierit 1911) is widely considered to be the first football competition to take place in Albania, which was then administration by the Ottoman Empire. The tournament ran between 7–14 April 1911 and consisted of 8 teams, which were Tirana, Elbasani, Kavaja, Berati, Peqini, Vlora, Fieri and Lushnja. Tirana won the tournament after defeating Peqini 6–1 in the final.

The tournament is not officially recognised by the Albanian Football Association or UEFA. The Albanian Football Association did not organise the tournament as the organisation was not formed until 1930. Although not officially recognised, it is often considered to be the predecessor to the Albanian National Championship, now known as the Albanian Superliga.

Overview

The details of the competition remained unknown until 2012, which was when historians discovered articles from the period in archives that referred to the tournament. It was held in Rahije, Fier, which was in Sanjak of Avlona, Janina Vilayet at the time, as Albania had not yet declared independence from the Ottoman Empire. An article from Zgim e C`qipërisë which was written by the editor Abdyl Kadri documented the tournament and revealed that the competition employed a single-elimination format and Tirana won 6 gold coins for winning the tournament, with the trophy being awarded to the team's captain Zyber Hallulli, who would later become the Mayor of Tirana.^[1][2] The teams to compete in the tournament were not part of organised clubs, as such clubs did not exist at the time, meaning players were simply local residents and villagers of the towns and cities represented, such as the 68 year old Zyber Hallulli who was an Imam at the time.

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final

References