REPUBLISHED

Conflict-of-interest concerns in three stadium design competitions

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 14 July 2025

The National Territorial Planning Agency (AKPT) organised design competitions for the stadiums in Durrës, Vlorë and Korçë, but suspicions of possible conflicts of interest hang over the process. Architects serving on the selection juries had connections to the studios that won the projects.

The questionable competitions

In 2023, AKPT organised competitions to revitalise the “Niko Dovana” (Durrës), “Flamurtari” (Vlorë) and “Skënderbeu” (Korçë) stadiums. A total of 42 studios took part, submitting 86 projects.

The winners were announced in April 2023. For Durrës, 51N4E & Plan Comun were selected.

In Korçë, the Cebra & ARUP & UNO consortium won. In Vlorë, XDGA was selected with Albanian and international partners.

But looking back at the process, the selection raises concerns over a lack of transparency and possible conflicts of interest. The juries included members with connections to some of the participating studios.

The most concerning case was that of Belgian studio XDGA. Its founder, Xaveer de Geyter, sat on the jury for the Durrës stadium, where 51N4E won. He appears to have had connections with 51N4E’s administrator, Johan Anrys.

Anrys is a co-founder of local studio “iRI”, in which he was a shareholder at least until April 2023. XDGA has worked with “iRI” on several projects, including the Detailed Local Plan for the former Republic Guard site.

So de Geyter, sitting on the Durrës jury, took part in selecting his collaborator Anrys’s project as the winner.

Peter Wilson, Špela Videčnik and Diogo Brito, from the Korçë jury, faced other circumstances of possible conflicts of interest. So did Marco Casamonti, Jesus Hernandez and Odile Decq, from the Vlorë jury, as well as Pablo Bofill and Caterina Memeo from the Durrës jury.

These architects sat on the juries even though their studios had competed for the stadium projects.

AKPT told Citizens.al that the juries operated in the second stage. They were established after a technical commission had made a preliminary selection of projects. According to AKPT, these architects’ participation on the juries did not constitute a conflict because their studios had been eliminated from the competition.

Nevertheless, the XDGA case highlights the close connections within the international network of studios.

The sidelining of local government in Vlorë also stands out in the competitions. AKPT appointed Culture Minister Elva Margariti to the jury rather than Mayor Dritan Leli, whose political relationship with Prime Minister Rama was troubled at the time.

The government paid for the designs with public funds without securing specific investors to build them. Now, two years later, it has begun offering them to private developers through the Albanian Investment Corporation (KISH).

The first case is the “Niko Dovana” stadium in Durrës, for which KISH opened a call this week.

Public money for private projects

The government paid the winning studios 1.2 million euros for the designs of the three stadiums and surrounding areas. The payments were made for the masterplan of the “Niko Dovana” stadium complex in Durrës and the “Mandatory Local Plans” of the “Flamurtari” complex in Vlorë and the “Skënderbeu” complex in Korçë.

For the “Niko Dovana” stadium in Durrës, 51N4E and Plan Comun were paid 368 thousand euros.

Yet by the beginning of 2025, no investor had come forward to build them. The stadium project remained at the level of 3D visualisations, without a specific implementation plan.

Prime Minister Rama announced in April 2025 that KISH was preparing the competition for developers. But the Corporation had not opened any specific call for investors.

On its official website, the projects appeared without descriptions or set deadlines, at least until June.

On 19 June 2025, the government approved a Council of Ministers decision transferring the “Niko Dovana” stadium to the Corporation. It was authorised to negotiate development contracts directly with private investors.

The process excludes competition over the design concept, which in other cases is left to investors. In this case, the government paid for the designs itself, handing the private sector a ready-made package.

On Wednesday, 9 July, KISH opened the call for investors, with a deadline of 15 September.

As with the “Selman Stërmasi” stadium and the former “Qemal Stafa”, no guarantees have been given about which football clubs will play there. Teuta, for example, is currently without a stadium.

The 51N4E and Plan Comun project covers more than 76 thousand m² of land and, in addition to the stadium (27 thousand m²), envisages a multifunctional centre, hotel facilities, commercial premises and residences.

Under the specifications, the private partner must have financial capacity and liquidity, or access to financing, of at least 9.5 million euros.

The basic criterion for qualifying bids will be the ability to allocate 45% of the area to the public, with an advantage for the investor offering the highest percentage.

To date, KISH has opened several competitions to develop public properties. The latest was for the “Asllan Rusi” Sports Palace, for which the call was extended until the end of July.

Winners had previously been announced for “VOID Tower”, the “Selman Stërmasi” stadium and the government villas in Velipojë and Vlorë.

* This article was reviewed and corrected on 8 October 2026.