Refik Resmja

Resmja joined 17 Nëntori Tirana in 1946 where he was just 15 years old as a goalkeeper. He made his competitive debut on 28 February 1948 as a goalkeeper against Vllaznia Shkodër. His debut came as a result of goalkeeper Giacomo Poselli not appearing in the match and the staff selected Resmja to replace him. After beginning his career initially as a goalkeeper, Resmja was later converted into a forward. This happened during a training session with his teammate where Resmja preferred to play as a forward, surprising everyone with his moves, which eventually made him left the position as goalkeeper. He played with Tirana until October 1950. On 20 October 1950, he was forced to join military by communist regime and eventually signed with the army team Partizani Tirana where he played until the end of his career. In the 1951 Albanian Superliga, Resmja recorded an astonishing 59 goals in just 23 matches, averaging 2,57 goals per match, the highest ratio in history of football. He also scored 10 hat-tricks, setting the record for most hat-tricks scored in the history of Albanian Superliga, a record which still stands. Resmja also become the only player in the history of Albanian football to score six and seven goals in one match; the striker reached the feat in the matches versus Puna Berat (14–0), Puna Fier (11–0), Spartaku Qyteti Stalin (9–0) and Puna Gjirokastër (8–0). Despite scoring this much, Resmja's goals were not enough to secure Partizani the title which was won by…

Despite having great individual and collective success at club level, Resmja's international career was tepid as he collected only six appearances and scored once. He earned his first cap on 29 November 1952 in the 3–2 friendly win versus Czechoslovakia. He scored his first goal in his third cap, netting the second of a 2–0 home win over Poland. Resmja earned his final cap on 2 June 1963 in a 1–0 home loss to Bulgaria for the 1964 Summer Olympics qualifying phase which was also his first competitive match.

Resmja's managerial career begun with Partizani Tirana Youth in 1967 as he liked to work with the younger players. He stayed there until 1968, and restarted the work again in 1971 by managing Lokomotiva Durrës (modern day Teuta Durrës). In the meantime he also coached Albania under-21 squad.

Resmja was born in Tirana from an ethnic Albanian family and started to play the game at a very young age along with his friends at "Xhamija Sherif" street (modern-day "Ali Demi Street"). He also used to go with his friends at Shallvare ground, playing and watching his club Tirana play. In his youth, Resmja dreamed of becoming a goalkeeper, idolizing players such as Niko Dovana or Giacomo Poselli.