Apart from the fact that he obsessively built thousands of bunkers across the country due to fear of imaginary enemies, Enver Hoxha - dictator and supreme leader of Albania from World War II until the 1950s - also had an influence on football, so on his initiative Dinamo was born in Tirana in XNUMX.
Perhaps today, for some, that is an unusual name for a club from Albania, but as in most communist countries at the time, it was expected that Hoxha and the Ministry of Internal Affairs would want to have their own Dinamo. Especially since the army already had a team called Partizani.
Thus, Dinamo became the national champion the same year, and then for the next fifteen years it alternated on the throne with the Partizani team. It was dominant during the seventies, winning subsequent titles and is currently the second most trophy-winning club in Albania - behind Tirana, which was the champion 26 times, while Dinamo remained at 18 titles, Partizani at 17...
The last title came in 2010, and then came the darkest period in the club's history - two years later Dinamo was relegated to the Second League, on the verge of even the third tier. It returned after almost a decade, and since then the club's leaders have been trying to restore its former glory.
One of the ideas was to change the name, so Dinamo became Dinamo City in 2023. As there was increasing talk in Albania during those years that the famous “City Group”, which also owns the mighty Manchester City, would open an Academy in this country, there were those who claimed that this was why the new name of the club from Tirana appeared.
However, the then English champions did not want another satellite club around the world, but to start from scratch - from an Academy, but one that was not affiliated with any club.
Thus, Dinamo ended up a little southeast of Tirana, in the vicinity of Elbasan, where it plays its home matches, while the Academy sprang up west of the capital - in Durres. That Dinamo was not completely left out of this story is evidenced by the fact that it was chosen as the contractor for the construction of the “Durres City Football Academy” complex.
Such talented children from Albania are now training by the Adriatic Sea, and who knows, maybe one day they will wear the blue jersey of Dinamo City.
In the meantime, the former police club has returned to important stories, this summer it opened the doors to Europe, and two nights ago it eliminated Hajduk from Split and will fight against the Polish Jagiellonia for the group stage of the Conference League.
What is ultimately most important is that Albania has gained the Academy of one of the strongest clubs in the world and once again sent a message to Montenegro on how it should work when it comes to sports...
After bringing the Giro D'Italia to this country, building top-notch stadiums, and even appearing in the Alpine Skiing World Cup.
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