Aleksander Koçi the “MIG” of Kuçova | A red card that cost him a prison sentence!

Aleksander Koçi, the footballer with the profession of teacher.

Number 7 on the jersey, was the most outstanding scorer of the Naftetari team as well as one of the most distinguished in Albanian football. An aggressive striker, “predator”, sniffer and often unforgiving there inside the penalty area, in front of the goalkeepers when it was time to score a goal.

Although he came from the suburbs, from a small-town team, like Kuçova, he had excellent scoring skills, a true goal scorer of the 80s, a killer instinct!
Absolute protagonist of  “Naftetari” who had managed to decide the fate of the match for his team more than once, especially when it came to the existence in the first category, but also against the strongest teams of Albanian football.

Partizani, Vllaznia, Dinamo, 17 Nentori, Flamurtari as well as the fields in Durres, Gjirokaster, Korce, Berat, Kavaje, Elbasan have recognized his striking power and his goal-scoring abilities Kuçova`s “MIG” bomber. It is believed that Koçi has scored 62 goals with the white shirts of Naftetari.

1.
The career beginnings of  “Naftetari” striker are the 70s when he was active with the youth team, under the guidance of coach Mukavelati.
Aleksander Koçi, is a discovery of the great coach Bejkush Birçe since 1974, where he stands out for his attacking skills and maneuver in front of the opposing goal.

However, the paths of the two never joined, even though Birce had expressed the idea of transferring him to Partizan. Birçe leaves for Vlora while Aleksander, still young at the time, ends up in Shkoder.

He had just finished high school and competed for ILKF where another big-name coach Shyqyri Rreli wanted to include the striker in the strong Shkendija team. But Aleksander Koçi was never included in the list of competitors.

Based on his father’s desire to get an education, Koçi then arrived in Shkodra, to study at the Institute of this city in the Chemistry-Biology department.

During his three-year stay from 1974 to 1977, he never played for Vllaznia, because there were no open spots and the local team had quality players.

Koçi, an unknown young man until then, played only for the Institute team until 1977, the year when he returned to Kuçova to his Naftetari.

From 1977 to 1988, after the dramatic match against Dinamo, he would never leave Naftetari, not even in the worst moments of his career, on the contrary becoming the protagonist of this team and one of the historical pillars of the Kucova team.

2.
The “MIG” of Stalin City – Kuçova, has soon started its engines, had begun flying, becoming well-known for scoring goals. However, in the late 1970s, an extraordinary event occurred, perhaps the only one in the entire history of world sports, regarding the punishment of a football player or even an athlete.

During a “Derby” match in Berat against the local Tomori, when the score
was 3-2 for the locals, the referee of the match, Pavlo Bukoviku, signals for a free kick. His decision angers the Naftetari players . They have surrounded him in protest. One of them, badly insults the referee, who without thinking long addresses the striker Aleksander Koçi with a red card.

According to later evidence, it was another player who should have been punished and not Koçi. He tries to tell the referee that he was not the culprit but someone else. The red card for him was just a mistake…
However, up to this point, the case seems normal with the norms established in sport.

Aleksander Koci not only leaves the field accompanied by two police officers, but right after the match he is sent to the police station along with his teammate, Fatmir Ismaili. But what really happened to get him sent to a police station?

His case goes beyond a normal punishment given to football players. He ends up in court. They wanted to know at all costs the name of the player who insulted the referee, which Koçi knew but testified that he would not reveal (among other things, the guilty player was a member of the Party).

Sentenced to one month in prison on the charge of “insulting the referee”, he worked in construction, in a building that was being built in the center of the city of Kuçova. Fans who passed by would greet their champion as soon as they recognized him…

After the end of his sentence, Koçi is welcomed in his city as a hero. There are hundreds of fans who have come out to welcome him, who stay all night under the balcony of their champion.

A feeling and an emotion that Koçi himself had never experienced. Aleksander, besides being a champion in football, was also a teacher, very connected to his students, their families, and ordinary people.

The event had caused a stir and the whole city was discussing how a football player could be sentenced to prison.

3.
A six-month ban against him was already in effect from the Albanian Football Association (FSHF)!

He could not immediately start playing, although Traktori had offered a solution to this problem if Koci would be transferred to them.

But Koci refuses, stating that he will never abandon Naftetari, the people of that city, and waits. He waits for the right moment, for the lucky day that never delays and comes.

Initially, he returned to the profession of Chemistry teacher at the night high school “Myrteza Kepi”. While the first match of his return to football will be the one between Luftetari and Naftetari in the first week of the 1980-1981 season, a season that will rank him among the best scorers in the country, with decisive goals in the fate of the Naftetari team.

The “MIG” is flying back again, stronger than before!

The contact with the goal, the enthusiasm, the ego, the desire will not be lacking also during the 80s, until after the dramatic match against Dinamo in 1988, where Koçi will always be among the best scorers of each season.

He always played with the number 7 as the heir of the famous player and veteran Nasho Filipi, whose families were friends.

After 1990 Aleksander Koçi lives in Athens, Greece.

© Reserved Material | Exclusivity on this page is dated July 31, 2025

By Pjerin Bj
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Sports Vision +Plus / Champions Hour in activity since 2013

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