Ilir Jonuz Përnaska (born 7 May 1951) is an Albanian former

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 lea ...

who played as a striker for

Dinamo Tirana Football Club Dinamo City, commonly referred to as Dinamo City and colloquially known as Dinamo, is an Albanian professional football club based out of Tirana. They compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Founded i ...

between 1967 and 1981, as well as the Albania national team. He is one of Dinamo's most famous players who is known for being one of the most prolific goalscorers in Albanian history, topping the domestic league's goalscoring charts for six successive seasons.

Club career

Përnaska is a product of the famous Dinamo academy and in 1967 Skënder Jareci promoted him along with Faruk Sejdini to the Dinamo first team, where at the age of just 16 he was in the usual starting eleven. On his debut in 1967 in an away match against Traktori Lushnja, Përnaska helped his side to a 3–1 win, scoring 2 goals at the age of 16 on his professional debut. Ilir was part of the 'Golden Age' of Dinamo between 1971 and 1981, where under the guidance of Skënder Jareci the club dominated Albanian football, winning 5

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

titles and 3

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

s. Përnaska formed a successful offensive partnership with Vasillaq Zëri and

Shyqyri Ballgjini Shyqyri Ballgjini (born 14 March 1954) is an Albanian former footballer, who spent most of his career, except one season, playing with Dinamo Tirana, as well as Albania. During his career, Ballgjini has scored more than 100 league goals and mor ...

which is considered to be the best offensive trio in Dinamo's history. He was crowned top scorer in the league for 6 consecutive seasons between 1971 and 1977, becoming the second most frequent winner of the Albanian Golden Boot, behind Partizani Tirana's

Refik Resmja Refik Shaban Resmja (1 January 1931 – 6 September 1997) was an Albanian professional footballer. He started his career with Tirana, but shortly after signed with Partizani Tirana where he established himself as one of the greatest players of ...

, although Përnaska is the player who has been top goalscorer more than any other player in history as Resmja was only joint top scorer in 1955 and 1959. Ilir retired from professional football in 1981 at the age of 30 after 14 years at Dinamo where he scored 136 goals and left his mark in the history of the club as well as Albanian football. Following his retirement he received a letter from Albania's Stalinist dictator

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

along with a pair of shorts, which the player himself found to be a humourus act on the state's behalf.

International career

He made his debut for

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in a May 1971

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

qualification match against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in Tirana and earned a total of 15 caps, scoring 5 goals. His final international was a September 1981

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

International goals

''Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first.''

Honours

Dinamo Tirana *

(5):

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80 *

: 1970–71, 1973–74, 1977–78 *Spartakiada Kombëtare: 1959, 1969, 1974 *Kupa e Ushtrisë Popullore: 1973, 1978 *Kupa e 500 vjetorit të Skënderbeut: 1968 Individual * Albanian Golden Boot (6): 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77 *Mjeshtër Sporti *Mjeshtër i Merituar i Sportit *Mjeshtër i Madh *Order of Naim Frashëri

Personal life

Përnaska was born in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 ov ...

, his father Jonuz Korça was from the southern city of

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

and his mother from the Këllezi clan in Tiranë, the last name 'Përnaska' was given to him over time. He moved to

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; ; ) is a (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche. Geography The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto, River Tronto and the small Castellano (river), River Castell ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1992, where he resides with his wife and 2 daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pernaska, Ilir 1951 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Albania men's international footballers FC Dinamo City players Kategoria Superiore players Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Albanian sportsmen