Vasil Shkurti (born Vassilis Skourtis-Shkurtaj on 27 February 1992) is an Albanian 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 ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Laçi in the Kategoria Superiore.

Club career

Early years

Born in Chania, Greece, Shkurti played youth football for four clubs, including Ajax,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

and

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. He arrived at the latter in January 2010 as compatriot

Igli Tare Igli Tare (; born 25 July 1973) is an Albanian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the sporting director at Serie A club Lazio. Tare joined Partizani Tirana as a 9-year-old in 1982, and would later go on to make his ...

acted as the club's director of football. In the 2010–11 season, Shkurti made his senior debut, representing

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

in his country of adoption but also being loaned by the Superleague side to

Thrasyvoulos Thrasyvoulos Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Θρασύβουλος Φυλής) is a Greek football club based in Fyli, Attica, currently in the A EPSDA. It was founded in 1938 and named after Thrasybulus, an ancient Athenial General who used Fyli as ...

in January 2011. Roughly one year later, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

with lowly Vilaverdense, and the following campaign he signed with Tondela in that nation's Segunda Liga, led by former Benfica and

great

Vítor Paneira Vítor Manuel da Costa Araújo (born 16 February 1966), known as Vítor Paneira, is a Portuguese former football player and manager. A midfielder, he excelled in the late 80s and early 90s with Benfica, to where he arrived from the lower lea ...

. Shkurti did not settle with any team in the following years, representing in quick succession Roda (Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

), Niki Volos,

Asteras Tripoli Asteras Tripolis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αστέρας Τρίπολης), commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis (meaning "Star of Tripoli"), is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greec ...

and

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xan ...

(all in the Greek top level) and

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium. ...

from the Cypriot First Division.

Luftëtari

On 8 September 2017, Shkurti joined

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

side Luftëtari on a one-year contract– as the transfer was done after the deadline, he remained ineligible to play for the club until the next transfer window. He made his competitive debut on 31 January 2018 in a 0–3 away loss against Laçi for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup ( sq, Kupa e Shqipërisë) is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit (English:"The King's Cup"). Just after a year the cup was suspended as the Second World War st ...

, and first appeared in the league four days later in the goalless draw to Lushnja. Shkurti scored his first goals on 10 February 2018, in the 3–2 win at

Teuta Durrës Teuta ( Illyrian: *''Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; grc, Τεύτα; lat, Teuta) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agro ...

. On 1 March, he netted the lone goal at

Flamurtari Flamurtari FC is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Albania, and it is also on ...

to help the team climb to sixth place, also giving them the first win at

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothi ...

in 40 years.

Kukësi

On 3 January 2019, Shkurti moved to Kukësi on a two-year deal. He was presented the following day, alongside his former teammate Eduart Rroca.

Club statistics

Honours

Kukësi *

: 2018–19

References

External links

Vasil Shkurti
at the Albanian Football Association
Vasil Shkurti
at TheFinalBall * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shkurti, Vasil 1992 births Living people Footballers from Chania Greek people of Albanian descent Association football forwards Greek footballers Albanian footballers Albania youth international footballers Albania under-21 international footballers Panionios F.C. players Thrasyvoulos F.C. players Platanias F.C. players C.D. Tondela players Roda JC Kerkrade players Niki Volos F.C. players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players Aris Limassol FC players Luftëtari Gjirokastër players FK Kukësi players Jiangxi Beidamen F.C. players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Eredivisie players Cypriot First Division players Kategoria Superiore players China League One players Greek expatriate footballers Albanian expatriate footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Portugal Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Albanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in China Albanian expatriate sportspeople in China