Sokol Kushta (born 17 April 1964) is an Albanian retired

football player 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 was arguably one of his country's best players in the second half of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s and one of the first to be allowed by the communist party to play abroad. Kushta was a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

and was ranked 30th in the 1987

European Footballer of the Year The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (foun ...

, matching in the ranking players such as

Alessandro Altobelli Alessandro Altobelli (; born 28 November 1955) is a former professional Italian footballer who played as a forward, and who won the 1982 World Cup with Italy. Nicknamed ''Spillo'' ("Needle") for his slender build, Altobelli was a prolific goals ...

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and Swi ...

, and

Rudi Völler Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (; born 13 April 1960), nicknamed "''Tante Käthe''" ("Aunt Käthe"), is a German former professional football player and manager who serves as the sporting director for Bayer Leverkusen. A forward, Völler won the FIFA Wor ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Kushta spent the large part of his Albanian league career with hometown club

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 ...

during the 1980s, the club's golden years alongside fellow international players like Alfred Zijai,

Kreshnik Çipi Kreshnik Çipi (born 15 February 1958) is an Albanian retired football player and was a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania for the Democratic Party of Albania. Football career Club Çipi started out as a winger, moved to fullback ...

Petro Ruçi Petro Ruci (3 March 1957 – 2 July 2009) was an Albanian football defender. Club career Ruci had a spell at Dinamo Tirana and was part of Flamurtari's golden team of the mid-1980s who played Spanish giants FC Barcelona in two successive UEFA C ...

Alfred Ferko Alfred Ferko (born 15 October 1964) is a former Albanian association football, football player and coach. Club career As soon as Albanians were free to leave the country after the end of the communist era, Ferko moved abroad to play alongside com ...

and Rrapo Taho. In the 1987–88 season, he and his Flamurtari teammates managed to knock out

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

and

Wismut Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

, before losing for a second successive year to Spanish giants

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup.Alfrd Zijai: “Ishim një brez i artë”
– Telegraf He also had three seasons with army club

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's curren ...

. One of the most high-profile Albanian players at the time, Kushta moved abroad following the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

and joined Greek side Iraklis Saloniki alongside fellow international and Flamurtari goalkeeper

Anesti Arapi Anesti Arapi (born 6 July 1963) is an Albanian retired footballer, who played the majority of his career as a goalkeeper for Flamurtari Vlorë. He also played for the Albania national team. Club career A soon as Albanians were free to leave th ...

and later played for

Apollon Kalamarias Apollon Kalamarias (Greek: Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς) is a Greek sport's club from Thessaloniki founded in 1926. The club is named after Apollo, the mythical Greek god and its colors are red and black. History When thousands of Pontic ...

and in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

for

Ethnikos Achnas Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club currentl ...

and

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cy ...

. Kushta is the current joint-top goalscorer of

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double (association foot ...

along with

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

Mahir Halili Mahir Halili (born 30 June 1975) is an Albanian retired footballer. He played for Tirana, Dinamo Tirana, Kastrioti Krujë and his last team Partizani Tirana. He also played abroad in Switzerland with SR Delémont in the 1997–98 season and in ...

, having scored a hat-trick in the 1990 edition against

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 ...

International career

Kushta made his debut for

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 ...

in a March 1987 European Championship qualification match away at

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 ...

and earned a total of 31 caps, scoring a then national record 10 goals. His final international was an October 1996

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match against

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 ...

Honours

;Partizani *

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 ...

: 1986–87 ;Flamurtari *

: 1990–91

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Footballers from Vlorë Albanian footballers Association football forwards Albania international footballers Flamurtari Vlorë players FK Partizani Tirana players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players Athinaikos F.C. players Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Apollon Pontou FC players Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia players Ethnikos Achna FC players Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players Albanian football managers Flamurtari Vlorë managers {{Albania-footy-forward-stub