Fadil Muriqi (

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

: Fadil Murići / Фадил Мурићи; born 17 November 1959) is a former

Kosovar 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 ...

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, rugb ...

who is best known for his time with

FC Prishtina Football Club Prishtina ( sq, Klubi Futbollistik Prishtina, ; sr, Фудбалски клуб Приштина, Fudbalski klub Priština), commonly known as Prishtina, is a professional football club based in Prishtina, Kosovo. The club play i ...

during the 1980s as part of the "Golden Generation".

Career

Prishtina

Muriqi began playing football in

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

club FK Budućnost Peć but, after only one season there, he moved to KF Pristina, where he played for five seasons in 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, ...

from 1982 to 1988. He was nicknamed ''Maradona of Kosovo'' from the fans of Prishtina because of the similarity of the physique and playing style with the ''El Pibe de Oro''. Together 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 greate ...

and Kujtim Shala he led the team of FC Prishtina in their most successful years

NK Rijeka

In the 1989–90 season together with his younger brother Xhevdet, he moved to NK Rijeka and played there another season in the

before moving to Australia.

Australia

Fadil Muriqi became the first ethnic Albanian footballer to play in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in Australia. He joined

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

(today Sydney United) and played the 1991–92 season with them having 23 appearances and scoring 3 goals. In the following season he moved to another Croatian Australian club,

Canberra FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1958 the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capi ...

where he played for two seasons before joining the Albanian club of

South Dandenong Dandenong South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 31 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Greater Dandenong local government area. Dandenong South recorded a population of 125 at t ...

(

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandenon ...

) helping them to get promoted up to

Victorian State League Division 1 State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian league ...

. In 1997, he played for the Fawkner Blues in the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

and in the following season moved back to South Dandenong for their first ever season in the

Family

Fadil Muriqi is married to Lumnije Muriqi and has three children. The eldest being Rinor Muriqi, the second eldest, Margarita Muriqi and the youngest Gentiana Muriqi.

External links

Oz Football profile

Stats from Yugoslav 1 and 2 leagues at Zerodic
(temporarily dead link, the exact copy data is found o
EX YU Fudbalska Statistika po godinama
at B92) {{DEFAULTSORT:Muriqi, Fadil 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Peja Association football midfielders Kosovan footballers KF Besa players FC Prishtina players HNK Rijeka players Sydney United 58 FC players Dandenong Thunder SC players Yugoslav First League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Kosovan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Croatia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate soccer players in Australia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Kosovan football managers FC Drita managers FC Prishtina managers Kosovan expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in Australia