Dževad Prekazi (, , ; born 18 August 1957) is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Born in Mitrovica to ethnic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

parents, Prekazi made his first football steps at his local club Remont, being registered for their youth team in early 1974. He soon gained attention as one of the most promising young talents in Yugoslav football and signed with

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

in December 1974. With the ''Crno-beli'', Prekazi won the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

three times ( 1975–76, 1977–78, and 1982–83). In the 1984 winter transfer window, Prekazi switched to fellow Yugoslav First League club

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. He spent less than a year at

Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. Th ...

, before moving to the United States and joining the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In the summer of 1985, Prekazi returned to Europe and signed with Turkish side Galatasaray. He played for the club over the next six and a half years, collecting 185 league appearances and scoring 40 goals, while helping them win back-to-back championship titles in 1986–87 and 1987–88. In late 1991, Prekazi departed Galatasaray and joined Altay until the end of the 1991–92 season. He also briefly played for

Bakırköyspor Bakırköyspor is a Turkish sports club from Bakırköy, Istanbul. The club was founded in 1949. The colours of Bakırköyspor are green-black. Bakırköyspor played in the Turkish Super League for 3 years, but after several unsuccessful seasons, ...

in the fall of

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. After returning to Yugoslavia, Prekazi ended his playing career with Trudbenik in the

Serbian League North Serbian League North () was one of the sections of the Serbian League, serving as the third level football league in FR Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1995. It was subsequently split into two separate sections: Serbian League Belgrade and Serbian Le ...

International career

Prekazi represented Yugoslavia at the

1976 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1976 Final Tournament was held in Hungary. It also served as the European qualification for the 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship. Qualification Teams The following teams qualified for th ...

. He was also capped for Yugoslavia at under-21 level.

Post-playing career

After hanging up his boots, Prekazi served as manager of

Železnik Železnik ( sr-cyr, Железник, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Železnik is located in the central part of the Čukarica municipality, southwest from downt ...

on two occasions. He also worked in the youth setups at Sinđelić Beograd,

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburma, ...

, and

Personal life

Born to Kosovo Albanian parents, Prekazi identifies himself as Yugoslav. He also holds

Turkish citizenship Turkish nationality law is based primarily on the principle of ''jus sanguinis''. Children who are born to a Turkish mother or a Turkish father (in or out of marriage) are Turkish citizens from birth. The intention to renounce Turkish citiz ...

. His older brother, Ljuan, also played for

. Prekazi had a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

upbringing and considers himself a "liberal Muslim".

Career statistics

Honours

Partizan *

: 1975–76, 1977–78, 1982–83 Galatasaray * 1.Lig: 1986–87, 1987–88

Notes

References

External links

NASL stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prekazi, Dzevad Altay S.K. footballers Men's association football midfielders Bakırköyspor footballers Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate soccer players in the United States FK Partizan non-playing staff FK Partizan players FK Železnik managers Galatasaray S.K. footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Kosovo Albanians Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Naturalized citizens of Turkey Sportspeople from Mitrovica, Kosovo Süper Lig players Turkish people of Albanian descent Turkish people of Yugoslav descent Yugoslav expatriate footballers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav footballers Yugoslav people of Albanian descent Yugoslavia men's under-21 international footballers 1957 births Living people