KB Tirana

KB Tirana
Nickname	Bardheblutë (The White and Blues)
Leagues	Albanian Superliga Balkan League Albanian Cup
Founded	1946
History	1946–present
Arena	Farie Hoti Sports Palace Asllan Rusi Sports Palace
Capacity	1,000 (Farie Hoti) 2,800 (Asllan Rusi)
Location	Tiranë, Albania
Team colors	Blue, White
President	Spiro Kokela
Vice-president(s)	Angelo Kokela
Team manager	Melzin Lazimi
Head coach	Slobodan Petrovski
Championships	18 Albanian Superligas 17 Albanian Cups 7 Albanian Supercups
Uniforms
Home Away

Active branches of KF Tirana
Football (Men's)	Football (Women's)	Football (B team)	Football (Youth)
Futsal	Basketball	Volleyball (Men's)	Volleyball (Women's)

KB Tirana is an Albanian professional basketball team based in Tiranë, which is the basketball branch of SK Tirana. They compete in the Albanian Basketball Superliga of the Albanian Basketball League and the Balkan International Basketball League. The club plays its home domestic games at the Farie Hoti Sports Palace, and they play their international games at the Asllan Rusi Sports Palace. Tirana are one of the most successful teams in the history of Albanian basketball, having won the Albanian League 18 times, the Albanian Cup 17 times and the Albanian Supercups 7 times.^[1] They have won a total of 42 trophies, and only BC Partizani Tirana have won more in Albania with 48.

History

Early years (1920–43)

On 15 August 1920, shortly after Tirana became the capital city of Albania, patriot and football enthusiast Palokë Nika, who had already formed Vllaznia Shkodër built and trained a new team in Tirana, with A. Erebara, P. Jakova, A. Hoxha, Anastas Koja, P. Berisha, Avni Zajmi, H. Fortuzi, B. Pazari, L. Berisha, S. Frasheri, H. Alizoti, A. Gjitomi, and V. Fekeci. The name of the team was Gjurmuesit Republikanë, which a few months later was changed into Agimi Sports Association. The name Agimi (in English: Dawn), was taken from the building in the centre of Tirana near to where they would hold meetings. ^[2]In 1925 the association's governing council was elected and its members were Avni Zajmi, Selman Stërmasi, B. Toptani, Irfan Gjinali and Anastas Koja. On 16 August 1927, which was the seventh anniversary of the formation of the Agimi Sports Association, the club's name changed into Sportklub Tirana, which would be commonly referred to as SK Tirana.^[3] On that day the president of the club was Teki Selenica.^[4] Although SK Tirana's early history was dominated by its emphasis on its football department, basketball was experiencing a rise in popularity in Albania at the time and basketball clubs across the country were being set up and friendly games were occasionally being played between clubs from different cities.

Dominance (1944–72)

After the end of World War II and the liberation of Albania in 1944 Albania fell in the hands of the socialist dictator Enver Hoxha, and soon after sport in the country became organised, with national teams and domestic competitions being set up by the communist regime, and this happened with basketball in 1946. In early March 1946 at the Nacional movie theatre in Tirana, the ruling Communist Politburo had instructed the club to change its name to 17 Nëntori in honour of the Liberation of Tirana which took place on 17 November 1944 and later that year 17 Nëntori became a founding member of the Albanian Basketball League and they won the inaugural National Championship that took place in 1946. They failed to retain the title the following season as local rivals Partizani won the National Championship, but 17 Nëntori were to win 3 consecutive titles between 1948 and 1950.

Recent history (2016–present)

On 30 August 2016 it was announced that Tirana would compete in the 2016–17 Balkan International Basketball League, becoming only the second Albanian club to do so after BC Vllaznia.^[5][6] Ahead of the 2016–17 season they appointed Macedonian Slobodan Petrovski as head coach,^[7][8] and signed Albanian internationals Endrit Hysenagolli, Erkand Karaj as well as foreigners Nemanja Gavranić, Griffin Ramme and Manuel Johnson.^[9][10] Tirana played fellow debutants KB Trepça from Kosovo on 10 October 2016 at the Asllan Rusi Sports Palace in front of around 1,100 spectators, and they won 78–66 to claim a victory in their first ever Balkan League game.^[11][12]

Home arenas

Tirana plays its domestic homes games at the Farie Hoti Sports Palace, which has a capacity of around 1,000. Before this arena was built they played their home games at the 2,800 seater Asllan Rusi Sports Palace, which is the main sports arena in Tirana and indeed all of Albania. As of 2016, they play their Balkan International Basketball League home games at the Asllan Rusi Sports Palace as the Farie Hoti Sports Palace does not meet the licensing requirements to stage such games.

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  Asllan Rusi during Albania vs Slovakia.

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  Asllan Rusi during a Tirana game.

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  Asllan Rusi during a volleyball game.

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

KB Tirana roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 4 Ramme, Griffin 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 27 – 1 November 1989 SG 5 Vogli, Redi 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 29 – 29 April 1987 SG 7 Durrsi, Reldi 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 19 – 7 May 1997 SG 9 Petrovski, Luka 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 20 – 20 October 1996 PG 10 Karaj, Erkand 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 34 – 2 May 1982 SG 11 Lasku, Gerti 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 31 – 24 March 1985 PF 12 Gjyzeli, Abdel 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 23 – 24 February 1993 PF 13 Gavranić, Nemanja 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 23 – 18 March 1993 C 14 Hysenagolli, Endrit 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 110 kg (243 lb) 28 – 5 July 1988 PF 15 Shima, Gerti 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 30 – 6 May 1986 PF 20 Gjeci, Joans 200 m (656 ft 2 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 18 – 14 May 1998 PG 20 Pashaj, Kristian 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 17 – 4 June 1999 PF 21 Johnson, Manuel 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 33 – 1 February 1983 G 23 Hasani, Erin 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 118 kg (260 lb) 31 – 3 August 1985 PG 30 Hysa, Eldi 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 17 – 30 August 1999	Head coach Slobodan Petrovski Assistant coach(es) Erdal Borova Onaldo Ago Physiotherapist(s) Sabahat Kastrati Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster

2016–17 squad changes

In Position Player Moving from PF Gerti Shima[13] Sigal Prishtina Coach Slobodan Petrovski Free agent C Endrit Hysenagolli Bashkimi Prizren PF Endrit Hysenagolli KK Teodo Tivat PG Erkand Karaj BC Kamza Basket PF Nemanja Gavranić Garonne ASPTT Basket PG Griffin Ramme Bashkimi Prizren PF Joans Gjeci Superior Basket

Out Position Player Moving to PG Majk Vaqarri Free agent PF Marlin Sukaj Free agent SG Jeton Huqi Free agent PG Mired Jani Free agent

Honours

• Albanian League (18):

1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

• Albanian Cup (17):

1961, 1962, 1963, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016

• Albanian Supercup (7):

2001, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Tirana in Europe

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1970–71	FIBA European Cup Winner's Cup	1R	KK Zadar	62–72	60–73	122–145
1971–72	FIBA European Champions Cup	1R	CJS Aleppo	2–0	2–0	4–0
		2R	Jugoplastika	77–90	58–85	135–175
1973–74	FIBA European Cup Winner's Cup	1R	KK Crvena zvezda	83–99	70–114	163–213

Notes

• QR: Qualifying round
• 1R: First round
• 2R: Second round

Head coaches

Coach	Years active
Bujar Shehu	1966–2002
Bujar Shehu	2012–2015[14]
Roland Avrami	2015–2016[15]
Slobodan Petrovski	2016–

Management

• Club Owners: Municipality of Tirana and SK Tirana
• Executive director: Spiro Koleka
• General manager: Angelo Koleka
• Team manager: Melzin Lazimi

PBC Tirana (women)

For the women basketball team see PBC Tirana

References

1. Historia e kampioneve shqiptare meshkuj
2. Gjergj Kola. "Palok Nika, personazhi historik i sportit shqiptar" (in Albanian). Shkodra Sport. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
3. Kampionatet e kohës së Luftës II Botërore
4. Kur u themelua Sportklub Tirana? Besnik Dizdari on Panorama-Sport 7 November 2012
5. SK Tirana is the newest member of SIGAL-UNIQA Balkan League
6. BIBL visited SK Tirana
7. Tirana në Ligën Ballkanike, një trajner maqedonas në stol
8. Slobodan Petrvoski new head coach of SK Tirana
9. Tirana inks Johnson and Hysenagolli
10. Three new names for SK Tirana
11. SK Tirana celebrated its debut with a home victory
12. Liga Ballkanike / Tirana fantastike, mund Trepçen në debutim
13. Gerti Shima prezantohet zyrtarisht tek Tirana
14. Bujar Shehu: Fitoi sporti, urime kampionëve kuqeblu!
15. Revolucion te Tirana, rokadë brenda familjes në stol