Giacomo Poselli ( sq, Xhakom Pozelli; 22 July 1922 — 30 August 2007) was a Greek-born Albanian football player of Italian descent, who was naturalised as an Albanian citizen during his time with Flamurtari Vlorë, becoming the first foreign-born player to play for the Albania national team.

Club career

Born in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, Greece into an Italian family, he moved to Albania in 1932 with his family. His father was a building contractor, he obtained important building contracts in

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and th ...

and

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foo ...

. Giacomo then went on to play for Flamurtari Vlorë before becoming a naturalized Albanian citizen in order to compete in the

1946 Balkan Cup The 1946 Balkan Cup was the 8th edition of this tournament. The participanting teams were Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and for the first time ever, Albania, who ended up winning the tournament in their first try. Squads *The four men ...

, which Albania won. Totally, has made 8 appearances for Albania, but only 7 are considered official games.

International career

He made his debut for

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in an August 1946

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and earned a total of eight caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a June 1948

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Romania, ...

match against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Personal life

His brother in law, Giuseppe Terrusi, an Italo-Albanian bank director in

was arrested in retaliation in 1945 under the order of Enver Hoxha, who as a student had previously been in love with but was rejected by Terrusi's wife, Aurelia Poselli. Terrusi, allegedly innocent, was arrested in 1945 on charges of embezzlement and died in prison of

Burrel Burrel (alternate forms ''Burrel'', ''Mat'') is a town in northern Albania, 91 km from Tirana. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Mat. It was the seat of the former District of Mat. ...

in 1952. The family Poselli / Terrusi returned to Italy as refugees in 1949. His true identity was hidden and masked by the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, who led the public to believe that he was indeed Albanian–born and was often referred to as Buzeli and Poselli. In December 2012, his story was reinstated into 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 F ...

museum.Kampioni ballkanik Poselli rihyn ne muze
/ref> The true family history Poselli / Terrusi was narrated in the book by Aldo Renato Terrusi: "Ritorno al Paese delle Aquile". The book was translated into Albanian under the title: "Brenga ime shqiptare".

References

1922 births 2007 deaths Footballers from Thessaloniki Albanian people of Italian descent Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers Albanian footballers Albania international footballers Flamurtari Vlorë players KF Tirana players Kategoria Superiore players Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Albania Expatriate footballers in Albania {{Albania-footy-goalkeeper-stub