As in the previous year, the league comprised 18 teams. In the season 1995/96 were KS Kastrioti and Besëlidhja Lezhë relegated from the Kategoria e Pare. For the new season KS Lushnja came after two years of abstinence and KS Bylis Ballsh , who completed its first season in the highest Albanian football class, added. KS Sopoti Librazhd had changed its name to Albania Tabak Librazhd before the start of the season , but this was reversed during the year. The defending champion was SK Tirana .
The championship was originally supposed to be played in a regular season with a round trip, each team should compete twice against every other team. The point rule from the previous year, which said that a home win brought two points, but an away win three, was no longer applied in 1996/97; instead, the three-point rule was used for the first time in the history of the categoria e parë . After the first half of the season, gaming operations had to be canceled due to the economic crisis in Albania and the lottery uprising. It was not until August 1997 that the season was brought to an end by dividing the league into three groups of six, each tied to one or two venues, based on the table status of the 17th match day, in which each team competed once against each other team and with the one before points reached in the first half of the season started. Thus, the first six teams fought for the championship in Tirana , the second six clubs made the next placements among themselves in Kavaja and Durrës , and the last six clubs played in Elbasan . Due to the late end of the season, there was neither a relegation to the then still second-rate category e dytë nor qualification places for the European Cup competitions.
A total of 437 goals were scored, which corresponds to an average of 2.3 goals per game. Viktor Paco from KS Flamurtari Vlora was the top scorer with 14 goals .
Last year's fourth Flamurtari Vlora was three points ahead of defending champion SK Tirana at the top of the table after the first half of the season. Behind them, in addition to Partizani Tirana with Vllaznia Shkodra , Apolonia Fier and Shkumbini Peqin, three clubs qualified for the subsequent championship round, which had been placed in midfield in the previous season. KS Laçi and newly promoted KS Lushnja narrowly missed the leap into the first group and, like Besa Kavaja , Teuta Durrës , Albania Tabak Librazhd and Tomori Berat , who only scored ten goals for five wins and five draws, entered the second group . The 13th Berat took the place of Bylis Ballsh , who actually came in ninth, but was still in the group of the last six teams. The reasons for this classification are not known; possibly the table status after 16 and not after 17 match days was taken into account in the grouping. In addition to newcomer Ballsh, KF Elbasani , Shqiponja Gjirokastra , Olimpik Tirana , otherwise a top team, Albpetrol Patos and Skënderbeu Korça had to compete in the group of the last six.
Defending champion SK Tirana was able to use his home advantage in the championship round, conceded only one goal and still caught Flamurtari Vlora - but also because of four penalty points for the first round. For the first time since 1977 (Dinamo Tirana), a team had managed to win three titles in a row. With the seventeenth championship in the club's history, the SK remained the sole record champions of Albania. Behind them Vllaznia Shkodra also benefited from Flamurtari's point deduction and moved up to second place. Also Partizani Tirana could be improved in comparison to the regular season, namely from fifth to fourth place. Cut off followed Apolonia Fier , that all five games of the feature round lost, and Shkumbini Peqin .
KS Lushnja and Teuta Durrës were the most successful teams in the second group with four wins from five games each and consequently finished seventh and eighth. Also Sopoti Librazhd could still improve, namely from twelfth to ninth place. It was followed by KS Laçi , Besa Kavaja and Tomori Berat .
As in group two, no sporting decisions were made in group three apart from the playing off of the final placements, as there should not be any relegated from the league this season. Shqiponja Gjirokastra didn't even register for the additional games and was therefore placed in last place. The host KF Elbasani secured first place in the group ahead of Bylis Ballsh and Skënderbeu Korça , who took three wins and one draw from four games, making them the most successful team of the season. Behind Olimpik Tirana , Albpetrol Patos came in 17th after four defeats.
Giovanni Armillotta: Almanaku i kategorisë së dytë (1930 / 2008-09) dhe i futbollit shqiptar . Aracne Editrice Srl, Rome 2009, ISBN 978-88-548-2585-7 .
