Ilir Bozhiqi (born 22 May 1965 in Qyteti Stalin) is an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n retired

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Dinamo Tirana Futboll Club Dinamo Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital Tirana. They play in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football, in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1950 during the communist r ...

Club career

Bozhiqi started his career with hometown club Naftëtari Qyteti Stalin, before moving to

, with whom he won two league titles and two Albanian cups in six years. He played in the infamous promotion/relegation playoff match in Qyteti Stalin against his former club Naftëtari in June 1988, which ended in riots and burning of the Dinamo team bus and led to the suspension of Naftëtari from playing football for a year. He was the first foreign goalkeeper to play in the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n football.Stranierii din campionatul Romaniei (II) : sezonul 1991-1992
/ref> He transferred from

to FC Brașov in 1991, where he stayed for four seasons, before moving to another Romanian team Tractorul Braşov in 1995. In his spell at FC Braşov he came up to 57 caps in the first division, although having tough competition from teammates Şanta, Todericiu and Adrian Ene. In this time he also learned

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, saying in a visit back there: "The time spent in Romania was the most beautiful of my career. I can not forget Braşov and the colleagues that I had, starting from Şanta and Ene, up to Săvoiu and

Marian Ivan Marian Ivan (born 1 June 1969 in Bucharest) is a retired Romanian 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 ...

Retirement

He is now goalkeeper coach at the Albania national team and at Skënderbeu Korcë. He also worked for Dinamo as a coach from 1997 to 2012.

Honours

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 ...

: 2 ::

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Albania - Championship Winning Teams
- RSSSF

References

1965 births Living people People from Kuçovë Association football goalkeepers Albanian footballers KF Naftëtari players FK Dinamo Tirana players FC Brașov (1936) players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania {{Albania-footy-goalkeeper-stub