The Albanian Football Federation has announced the decision to build two sports fields in Përrenjas. Yes, in Përrenjas – a city that currently does not have a single team registered with the Albanian Football Federation, neither for professional nor amateur football.
Does this community deserve such an investment? Without a doubt, yes. Every community has the right to public and sports investments. But usually, investments of this nature are made on the basis of a study: where there is the greatest need, where there is a larger population, where there is a sports tradition, or where there are infrastructure development projects that justify the intervention. Përrenjasi, no matter how sports-loving its residents are, does not meet any of these criteria.
Such an investment by the Albanian Football Association could very well have been made in Elbasan or Pogradec, where hundreds of young people have nowhere to train and where parents are forced to pay significant amounts out of pocket for their children's sports activities. But no. Armand Duka has chosen Përrenjas.
Why Përrenjasin? Because in this area it is expected that the Democratic Party will make way for the Agrarian Party of Agron Duka, his brother. Investing in this way serves several purposes at the same time: it creates some jobs, employs some people, does a "wash" to the community, brings some sports figures for inaugurations with "bread and circuses", and politically kills several birds with one stone. But in reality, it serves no purpose for football.
This is not the first time that millions of euros have been spent on investments that have produced no real effect. Just ask about the Kukes airport: 11 million euros of investment and today it is barely good enough to take pictures.
Albanian football has real, urgent and measurable needs. But such decisions show once again that the priority is not sport, but political calculation.
