Niko Dovana

Niko Dovana
Personal information
Full name	Niko Dovana
Date of death	1949
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team
1930–194?	Teuta Durrës
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Niko Dovana was a former

Teuta Durrës

's most important players and was the main financier of the club until his death in 1949.

The club's stadium was renamed to the Niko Dovana Stadium in the early 1990s in honour of the goalkeeper. He lived in Milan, Italy for the latter stages of his life where he was a prominent trader.

Personal life

He was born in Durrës as the oldest of five children to Vlash and Mellani Dovana (née Terka). His father Vlash was a trader who along with Niko's uncle Laz owned the Dovana Brothers trading company. His mother was born into a prominent family in Durrës and her father Pavlo Terka was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania between 1914 and 1916.^[1] His only brother Alfons was a poet and writer, whose main area of expertise was the reform of the Albanian language.^[2]

Club career

Dovana was an integral part of Teuta's early history as he was a key player and financier, helping the club reach the championship playoff finals in 1931 and remain in the top tier division throughout the 1930s. At the time of his playing career he was living in

Albanian Football Association on the grounds that a registered goalkeeper cannot play as an outfield player, but these complaints were not heard and SK Tirana went on to win the second leg of the tie 0–3 in Durrës and win their second consecutive championship.^[3]

References

This biographical article related to association football in Albania, about a goalkeeper, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Familja dhe jeta...

[2] Alfons Dovana, autori i Rimarit të pabotuar

[3] Dovana, portieri që shënoi në Tiranë

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