Selman Stërmasi (9 May 1908 – 9 October 1976) was an Albanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach who was an instrumental figure in the early history of

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

. He is generally considered to be one of the club's greatest figures and KF Tirana along with the

Albanian Football Association The Albanian Football Association ( sq, Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. It organises the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the Fir ...

honoured him in 1990 by renaming the Dinamo Stadium to the

Selman Stërmasi Stadium The Selman Stërmasi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Selman Stërmasi) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tirana, Albania. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of KF Tirana. The stadium holds 9,500 people (all seated). It i ...

. In 1934 he won the record of jumping ().

Club career

Stërmasi was born in

Tiranë Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

on 9 May 1908 to a wealthy family of traditional Albanian patriots, where he grew up surrounded by patriotic sentiment and sport. At the age of just 17 in 1925 he became an executive committee member of the Agimi Sports Society, and two years later he would initiate the renaming of the club to Sportklub Tiranë. In 1928 he moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to study at the

Fascist Male Academy of Physical Education The Academia della Farnesina, also known as the Accademia fascista maschile di educazione fisica or Accademia fascista della Farnesina, was a centre for sport and political education in Fascist Italy. The Fascist School of Physical Education ...

, before returning to Tiranë in 1930 to participate in the first Albanian National Championship, where he was player-manager in the title winning team. In 1939, he negotiated the sales of SK Tirana players

Riza Lushta Riza Lushta (22 January 1916 – 6 February 1997) was a Kosovar Albanian football striker. Career Early career Lushta was born on 22 January 1916 in Kosovska Mitrovica, Kingdom of Serbia (present day Mitrovica, Kosovo). It was in his hometown ...

and

Naim Kryeziu Naim Kryeziu (4 January 1918 – 20 March 2010) was an Kosovo Albanian football player famous in Italy in the 1940s and 1950s. Club career Born in Gjakova, Republic of Kosovo, Kryeziu was a particularly quick right winger able to run 100 m in 1 ...

to Italian clubs

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

respectively, and despite the Italian clubs offering Stërmasi 60% of the transfer fees he waived these fees in order to give it all to the players themselves in order to set up their new lives in Italy.

Honours

Sportklub Tiranë *

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

(6):

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

Albania - Championship Winning Teams
- RSSSF

References

1908 births 1976 deaths Footballers from Tirana Albanian footballers Association footballers not categorized by position KF Tirana players Besa Kavajë players Kategoria Superiore players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Albanian football managers KF Tirana managers {{Albania-footy-bio-stub