Bahri Kavaja

Bahri Ahmet Kavaja (23 August 1924 – 19 August 1987) was an Albanian football player who played for Vllaznia Shkodër and Dinamo Tirana as well as the Albania national team.[3]

Bahri Kavaja
Personal information
Full name Bahri Ahmet Kavaja
Date of birth (1924-08-23)23 August 1924[1]
Place of birth Shkodër, Albania
Date of death 19 August 1987(1987-08-19) (aged 62)
Place of death Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1942–1949[2] Vllaznia
1949–1950 Dinamo Tirana
International career
1946–1950 Albania 13 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

International career

He made his debut for Albania in an October 1946 Balkan Championship match against Yugoslavia and earned a total of 13 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a June 1950 friendly match against Bulgaria.[4]

Defection

In September 1950 after a game in Hungary, he escaped his team along with Sulejman (Bule) Vathi after swimming the strait of Bosphorus, and did not return to the Communist regime in Albania, eventually settling in New Zealand.[5][6] He became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1965,[1] and died in Adelaide, South Australia, on 19 August 1987.[7]

Honours
1950[8]

References
  1. "New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981". Ancestry.com Operations. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  2. e Kampionatit të parë mbarëkombëtar të futbollit
  3. EU Football profile
  4. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  5. Magelanet Shqiptare te futbollit
  6. "Imigrimet e para të shqiptarëve në Zelandën e Re". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  7. "Deceased search results". Centennial Park Cemetery. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  8. Albania - Championship Winning Teams - RSSSF


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