Iljasa Zulfiu ( sr, Иљаса Зулфији, Iljasa Zulfiji, sq, Ilaz Zylfiu; born 27 March 1998) is a Serbian professional

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 ...

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 ...

descent who plays as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for Kazakhstani club Zhenis.

Club career

Radnik Surdulica

Born in Miratovac, a small town in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Preševo Preševo ( sr-cyrl, Прешево; sq, Preshevë, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. It is the southernmost town in Central Serbia and largest in the geographical region of Preševo Valley. Preševo ...

as a member of

ethnic group, Zulfiu started playing football at the age of 10. He was playing with football club Lugina, based in

Aliđerce Aliđerce ( sr-cyr, Алиђерце; sq, Geraj) is a village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller ...

, until he joined Radnik Surdulica as a youngster. After almost two years with youth team, Zulfiu signed a one-year scholarship contract with Radnik in February 2017. He was also loaned on dual registration to the

Serbian League East Serbian League East ( Serbian: Српска лига Исток / Srpska liga Istok) is one of four sections of the Serbian League, the third national tier. The other three sections are Serbian League Belgrade, Serbian League Vojvodina and Serbian ...

side Pukovac, making six appearances until the end of the 2016–17 campaign. In summer 2017, Zulfiu joined the first team of Radnik Surdulica under coach

Simo Krunić Simo Krunić (Serbian Cyrillic: Симо Крунић; born 13 January 1967) is a Bosnian-Serbian professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the coach of OFK Beograd. Playing career In the late 1980s, Krunić played f ...

, but moved on new loan deal to Ozren Sokobanja shortly after. He scored his premier goal for the first season victory of Ozren over

Timok The Timok ( Serbian and Bulgarian: Тимок; ro, Timoc), sometimes also known as Great Timok ( sr, Велики Тимок, Veliki Timok; ro, Timocul Mare), is a river in eastern Serbia, a right tributary of the Danube. For the last 15 k ...

on 16 September 2017. After the whole first-half season in the third-ranked league, a loan deal was terminated and Zulfiu returned to Radnik ending of November same year. On 29 November 2017, Zulfiu made his official debut for Radnik Surdulica, replacing Miloš Stanković in 69 minute of the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

match against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. He has been reported as the first Albanian footballer in the club history since finding in 1926. In February 2018, Zulfiu signed his first four-your professional contract with Radnik, after which he extended his loan deal to Ozren until the end of 2017–18 campaign. Returning from loan deal in summer 2018, Zulfiu started new season preparing under coach Mladen Dodić, but after being excluded from the

2018–19 Serbian SuperLiga The 2018–19 Serbian SuperLiga was the thirteenth season of the Serbian SuperLiga since its establishment. Red Star was the defending champions from the previous season. Teams The league consisted of 16 teams: fourteen teams from the 2017� ...

player list, Zulfiu mutually terminated the contract and left Radnik as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on the last day of July same year, along with teammate Krsta Đorđević.

Playing style

Zulfiu is a 1.67 m high attacker, who usually plays as a

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. He is characterized by speed and lucidity, affirmed as a goalscorer in the

. He has also promoted himself as a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

taker, scoring in a match against Jedinstvo Paraćin. He is often compared with

Fadil Vokrri Fadil Avdullah Vokrri ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Fadilj Avdulah Vokri, Фадиљ Авдулах Вокри; 23 July 1960 – 9 June 2018) was a yugoslavian football player and administrator of albanian origin. Arguably one of the greates ...

, a former

Kosovo Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

football forward.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zulfiu, Iljasa 1998 births People from Preševo Sportspeople from Pčinja District Living people Serbian men's footballers Kosovan men's footballers Albanians in Serbia Men's association football forwards FK Radnik Surdulica players FK Ozren Sokobanja players KF Flamurtari players KF Malisheva players KF Laçi players FC Zhenis players Serbian SuperLiga players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Kategoria Superiore players Kazakhstan Premier League players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Albania Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Albania Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan