Sulejman Demollari (born 15 May 1964 in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

) also known as Sul Demollari 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 former football player and coach.

Playing career

Early life

Demollari was born in

's capital

, where he was raised as a child and where he completed his primary education. He studied at the

Qemal Stafa High School The Qemal Stafa High School is a high school, located in Tirana, Albania. Founded in 1925 by Prime Minister Ahmet Zogu, as the ''Lyceum of Tirana'', it has many notable alumni, of whom 75 died in World War II and 14 were awarded the title People ...

, in

. From a young age he was part of 'KF Vojo Kushi', which was a sports institution. Despite still being in school, Demollari had impressed many football specialists and was quickly picked to play 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 ...

's youth team where he managed to become one of the best players on the team. At the age of just 15 he was called up to play for Dinamo's senior team, alongside fellow midfield legends such as Ilir Përnaska, Shyqyri Ballgjini and Muhedin Targaj.

Club

Demollari played his entire career in Albania for

, alongside fellow internationals Genc Ibro,

Eduard Abazi Edmond Abazi (born 29 January 1968) is an Albanian retired international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Abazi was born in Tirana. He made his league debut for Dinamo Tirana in 1985. He was one of the first players ...

and

Agim Canaj Agim Canaj (born 14 July 1962) is an Albanian football coach and former international player. As of March 2019, he is coaching Vllaznia Shkodër. Club career As a player, he played with Dinamo Tirana in the European Cup Winners' Cup 1989– ...

, winning two league titles. 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 Nat ...

, Demollari was among the first players to pursue a career abroad, signing for Romanian side

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

in 1991. He was wanted at Dinamo by coach Florin Halagian who saw him in a Albania U21 – West Germany U21 1–1. Demollari made his Divizia A debut on 25 August 1991 in a 6–0 victory against Petrolul Ploiești in which he scored two goals and gave an assist. In his first season spent at the club, Demollari scored 18 goals in 30 league games, being the team's second top scorer after Gábor Gerstenmájer, helping Dinamo win the title undefeated, also scoring the only goal in a 1–0 victory in a

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

against Steaua București. Demollari appeared in a total of 100 Divizia A matches in which he scored 36 goals and received only one yellow card, also he is considered one of the best foreign footballers that played in Romania. Demollari spent the last years of his career, having short spells in Greece with

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'') ...

and in Hungary with

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

. He played a total of 25 games, scoring three goals in European competitions, including appearing in

's 2–1 victory on aggregate against

Luis Figo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish language, Spanish form of the originally Germanic language, Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese language, Portuguese and ...

's Sporting Lisabona in the

1991–92 UEFA Cup The 1991–92 UEFA Cup was the 21st season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by Dutch club Ajax on away goals over Torino of Italy. The victory made Ajax only the second team – after Torino's cit ...

International

Sulejman Demollari was part of Albania U21's generation that finished the qualification group on the 1st position in front of West Germany U21 at the

1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 4th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1982–84) and had 30 entrants. Albania, Iceland and Wales competed in the competition for the firs ...

where in the quarter-finals they were eliminated by Italy U21 after a double 1–0 loss. Demollari played 45 matches and scored one goal at international level for

, making his debut on 27 April 1983 under coach Shyqyri Rreli in a Euro 1984 qualification match which ended with a 1–0 loss against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He played six games at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, including a 2–0 victory against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Demollari went on to play six games at the Euro 1988 qualifiers, six games at the 1990 World Cup qualifiers, five at the Euro 1992 qualifiers, nine matches in which he scored his only goal for the national team in a 3–1 loss against Lithuania at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and nine games at the Euro 1996 qualifiers. From his 45 caps, only three were friendlies, in 41 he was in the starting 11 and he was captain in 18 matches.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Demollari goal''.

Managerial career

In 2001, Demollari started his coaching career at Albania's national team having a total of 9 games (1 victory, 3 draws, 5 losses), including two at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. He also coached his former club,

. From 2011 until 2012 Demollari worked as a scout for

, bringing Elis Bakaj at the club.

Honours

Club

Dinamo Tirana *

Kategoria Superiore 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 ...

: 1985–86, 1989–90 * Kupa e Shqipërisë: 1985–86, 1989–90 * Superkupa së Shqipërisë:

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 humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

Dinamo București * Divizia A: 1991–92

Individual

*''Sporti Popullor'' player of the season (6) – 1983, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 *Mjeshtër i Merituar i Sportit (''Deserved Master of Sport'') *Nderi i Sportit Shqiptar (''Honour of Albanian Sport'') *Captain of Albania Senior, U-21 and

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

national teams

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demollari, Sulejman 1964 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian footballers Association football midfielders Albania under-21 international footballers Albania international footballers FK Dinamo Tirana players FC Dinamo București players Panionios F.C. players Győri ETO FC players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate footballers in Greece Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Hungary Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Liga I players Super League Greece players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Albanian football managers Albania national football team managers KS Lushnja managers Shkumbini Peqin managers FK Dinamo Tirana managers Qemal Stafa High School alumni