Early years (1925–44) Klubi Sportiv Besa was founded on 25 October 1925 as "Shoqata Kulturore Sportive Adriatiku", which was a multi-disciplinary sports club based in
Kavajë,
Albania. In 1930, the club changed its name to "Sport Klub Kavajë". That same year the football team played its first ever friendly at Mali i Robit,
Golem, against an amateur team formed of students from the Albanian-American Institute of Agriculture. A short time later, SK Kavajë joined the newly formed
Albanian Football Federation and participated in the 1930 second tier championship where they would repeat their participation for the next two seasons, before joining the top tier
Kategoria e Parë in 1933. In their first top flight championship, SK Kavajë finished last in the 5 team league, losing 7 games and winning just one, a 2–1 victory over local rivals
Teuta Durrës. In 1935, under the leadership of chairman Irfan Berati, the club became an organised entity. The vice-chairman was Fehmi Kazazi, its secretary was Dervish Cara, and the committee included members Sulejman Karkini and Reshat Asllani. Rasim Sulejmani served as clerk, while Dhori Fora managed the trade of craft. The following year, the club was renamed "Besa Kavajë", also known as "Besa Sport Klub", derived from the name
Besa, the Albanian cultural precept meaning "to keep the promise" and "word of honour". During
World War II, many members of the club lost their lives as soldiers, including Mehmet Babamusta, Adil Alushi, Sami Karriqi and Millan Radosalja. The activities of the club became very limited and support came primarily from the local residents of the city. There were no official competitions held in Albania at this time.
Rise (1945–65) But between 1945 and 1950, the club experienced a revival which was due to young talented players coming through the ranks of the youth teams, including the likes of
Qamil Teliti who went on to receive national success. During the 1945–46 season, the club won the unofficial Sports Federation President's Cup. In 1958, the club achieved a second-place finish in the top tier Albanian Championship, narrowly losing out to
Partizani Tirana for the title by one point. During that same season, they reached the semi-final of the
Albanian Cup, again losing out to eventual winners Partizani. The club would go on to reach the finals of the Albanian Cup in 1961, losing to Partizani once again and also the following season in 1962–63, where they lost on penalties to
17 Nëntori. In 1963, Besa won the unofficial cup competition held by "Sporti" newspaper, and in 1965 it won the "Bashkimi" newspaper competition.
Golden generation (1965–75) The period between 1965 and 1975 has been called the golden generation of football in Kavajë, due to the domestic achievements especially in the Albanian Cup which resulted in the club's first ever European games. In 1971, they finished as runners-up in the Albanian Cup after losing 2–0 in the finals to
Dinamo Tirana. They repeated this feat the following year, losing on penalties in the cup final following a 2–2 draw with
Vllaznia Shkodër, but as Vllaznia also won the league in that same year, this gave Besa the opportunity to participate in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1972–73 season. Their first European opponents were Danish side,
Fremad Amager, who Besa managed to overcome on away goals following a 1–1 draw away in
Copenhagen and a goalless draw at home. In the next round however they were beaten by Scottish side
Hibernian, whom they lost to on aggregate 2–8, following a 1–7 away loss and a 1–1 draw at home. The end of the golden era was marked with the completion of the club's first purpose-built stadium,
Besa Stadium. Construction was completed in 1974 with the new stadium having a capacity to seat 9,000 spectators.
Recent seasons Besa confirmed their place in the
2007–08 UEFA Cup after a 3–2 win against neighbours
KS Teuta in the 2006–07 Albanian Cup final. They met
Bežanija of Serbia in the first qualifying round, drawing 2–2 away and 0–0 at home to progress on away goals. In the second qualifying round, they fell 0–3 in each leg to Bulgarian side
Litex Lovech. In 2008, they qualified for the
Intertoto Cup due to their third-place finish in the league, drawing
Ethnikos Achna 0–0 at home and 1–1 in
Cyprus and continued on away goals. In the 2nd round of the Intertoto cup they were eliminated by
Grasshopper Zürich from Switzerland.
Legacy Since its inception, many of the club's players have gone on to represent the
Albania national team at all levels of international competition. Notably,
Qamil Teliti scored the winning goal in the
1946 Balkan Cup final. The depth of talent emerging from Besa's youth system was evident in the 1956 derby between
Dinamo and
Partizani, which featured seven players deriving from the club's ranks, including legendary goalkeepers
Qemal Vogli and
Sulejman Maliqati. Two-time league top scorer
Dashnor Bajaziti scored a hat-trick to crown the
U–21 national team Balkan champions in 1978.
Parid Xhihani would go on to score 7 goals in eight appearances for the same youth national team.
Altin Rraklli was the national team's top scorer during the 1990s.
Andi Lila and
Sokol Cikalleshi represented Albania in its first ever qualification of a major international tournament, the
UEFA Euro 2016. At the youth level, Besa U–19 have been crowned national champions twice, during the 1992–93 and 2008–09 seasons, respectively. Besa U–17 earned its only championship title during the 2017–18 season. ==Besa in European competitions==