2017–18 Kategoria e Parë

The 2017–18 Kategoria e Parë was the 70th official season of the Albanian football second division since its establishment. The season began on 16 September 2017 and ended on 16 May 2018. There were 20 teams competing this season, split in 2 groups, each with 10 teams. The top 5 teams from each group qualified to the promotion round, while the last teams qualified to the relegation round. The 2 winners of the qualification round gained promotion to the 2018–19 Kategoria Superiore, and played the division's final against each other. Kastrioti and Tirana were promoted to the 2018–19 Kategoria Superiore. Naftëtari, Shkumbini, Tërbuni, Vllaznia B were relegated to the 2018−19 Kategoria e Dytë. Tirana won their first Kategoria e Parë title on 16 May 2018 after beating Kastrioti in the final match.

Kategoria e Parë

Season	2017–18
Champions	Tirana 1st title
Promoted	Kastrioti Tirana
Relegated	Naftëtari Shkumbini Tërbuni Vllaznia B
Matches played	261
Goals scored	577 (2.21 per match)
Top goalscorer	Albi Çekiçi (17 goals)
Biggest home win	Tirana 6−0 Pogradeci (17 December 2017)
Biggest away win	Shkumbini 0–6 Tirana (14 October 2017)
Highest scoring	Turbina 5–3 Iliria (12 May 2018)
Longest winning run	6 matches Tirana
Longest unbeaten run	19 matches Tirana
Longest winless run	11 matches Besa
Longest losing run	5 matches Besa Naftëtari Tërbuni
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Changes from last season

Team changes

From Kategoria e Parë

Promoted to Kategoria Superiore:

• KF Lushnja
• FC Kamza

Relegated to Kategoria e Dytë:

• Adriatiku
• KF Elbasani
• Sopoti

To Kategoria e Parë

Relegated from Kategoria Superiore:

• KF Tirana
• Korabi

Promoted from Kategoria e Dytë:

• FK Egnatia
• Naftëtari
• Vllaznia B

Locations

Besa

Besëlidhja

Dinamo Tirana

Burreli

Erzeni

Egnatia

Korabi

Kastrioti

Tërbuni

Vllaznia B

2017–18 Group A Kategoria e Parë teams.

Apolonia

Bylis

Iliria

Shënkolli

Pogradeci

Shkumbini

Naftëtari

Tirana

Tomori

Turbina

2017–18 Group B Kategoria e Parë teams.

Stadia by capacity and locations

Group A

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Besa	Kavajë	Besa Stadium	8,000
Besëlidhja	Lezhë	Brian Filipi Stadium	5,000
Dinamo Tirana	Tirana	Selman Stërmasi Stadium	9,600
KS Burreli	Burrel	Liri Ballabani Stadium	2,500
KF Erzeni	Shijak	Tofik Jashari Stadium	4,000
Egnatia	Rrogozhinë	Egnatia Stadium	4,000
KF Korabi	Peshkopi	Korabi Stadium	6,000
Kastrioti	Krujë	Kastrioti Stadium	8,400
KF Tërbuni	Pukë	Ismail Xhemali Stadium	1,950
Vllaznia B	Shkodër	Reshit Rusi Stadium	1,200

Group B

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Apolonia	Fier	Loni Papuçiu Stadium	6,800
Bylis	Ballsh	Adush Muça Stadium	5,200
KS Iliria	Fushë-Krujë	Redi Maloku Stadium	3,000
FK Shënkolli	Shënkoll	Kastrioti Stadium	8,400
KS Pogradeci	Pogradec	Gjorgji Kyçyku Stadium	10,700
Shkumbini	Peqin	Shkumbini Stadium	5,000
Naftëtari	Kuçovë	Stadiumi Bashkim Sulejmani	5,000
KF Tirana	Tirana	Selman Stërmasi Stadium	9,500
Tomori	Berat	Tomori Stadium	14,750
Turbina	Cërrik	Nexhip Trungu Stadium	6,600

Source:^[1]

First phase

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kastrioti	18	14	2	2	24	7	+17	44	Qualification for the Promotion round
2	Egnatia	18	8	5	5	18	11	+7	29
3	Erzeni	18	7	5	6	22	20	+2	26
4	Besëlidhja	18	7	3	8	19	16	+3	24
5	Dinamo Tirana	18	6	6	6	10	12	−2	24
6	Korabi	18	6	5	7	18	20	−2	23	Qualification for the Relegation round
7	Besa	18	6	3	9	15	21	−6	21
8	Tërbuni	18	5	5	8	16	23	−7	20
9	Burreli	18	5	4	9	12	18	−6	19
10	Vllaznia B	18	5	4	9	10	16	−6	19

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tirana	18	14	3	1	46	6	+40	45	Qualification to the Promotion round
2	Bylis	18	12	5	1	34	13	+21	41
3	Apolonia	18	9	4	5	31	19	+12	31
4	Pogradeci	18	8	3	7	23	24	−1	27
5	Tomori	18	8	2	8	23	20	+3	26
6	Iliria	18	8	1	9	19	21	−2	25	Qualification to the Relegation round
7	Shënkolli	18	7	2	9	21	31	−10	23
8	Turbina	18	4	3	11	19	33	−14	15
9	Shkumbini	18	4	3	11	9	29	−20	15
10	Naftëtari	18	2	2	14	13	42	−29	8

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)

Second phase

Promotion round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Kastrioti (P)	8	5	2	1	39	13	+26	39	Promotion to the 2018–19 Kategoria Superiore
2	Egnatia	8	5	0	3	31	22	+9	30
3	Erzeni	8	5	0	3	34	30	+4	28
4	Besëlidhja	8	2	2	4	25	26	−1	20
5	Dinamo Tirana	8	0	2	6	14	25	−11	14

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(P) Promoted

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Tirana (C, P)	8	7	1	0	66	13	+53	42	Promotion to the 2018–19 Kategoria Superiore
2	Bylis	8	2	2	4	43	24	+19	29
3	Apolonia	8	2	2	4	38	30	+8	24
4	Tomori	8	2	3	3	34	33	+1	22
5	Pogradeci	8	2	2	4	33	39	−6	22

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Relegation round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
6	Korabi	8	3	2	3	28	30	−2	23
7	Burreli	8	3	3	2	20	24	−4	22
8	Besa	8	3	2	3	28	34	−6	22
9	Vllaznia B[a] (R)	8	3	2	3	20	27	−7	21	Relegation to 2018–19 Kategoria e Dytë
10	Tërbuni (R)	8	2	3	3	21	29	−8	19

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vllaznia B was automatically relegated to the 2018−19 Albanian Second Division, after the relegation of the main team to the Albanian First Division.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
6	Iliria	8	3	1	4	33	35	−2	23
7	Shënkolli	8	3	1	4	36	50	−14	22
8	Turbina	8	4	1	3	36	49	−13	21
9	Shkumbini (R)	8	3	2	3	21	39	−18	16	Play-out relegation to 2018–19 Kategoria e Dytë
10	Naftëtari (R)	8	3	3	2	23	51	−28	16	Relegation to 2018–19 Kategoria e Dytë

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played.)
(R) Relegated

Final

Tirana	2−0	Kastrioti
Greca 64', 71'

16 May 2018

17:00

Elbasan Arena, Elbasan

Referee: Enea Jorgji

Relegation play-offs

Shkumbini	0−1	Veleçiku
		Çokaj 80' (pen.)

19 May 2018

16:30

Selman Stërmasi Stadium, Tirana

Season statistics

Scoring

As of 16 May 2018^[2]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Albi Çekiçi	Pogradeci	17
2	Ruben Danaj	Shënkolli	16
3	Bedri Greca	Tirana	14