Vasillaq Zëri (4 August 1952 – 25 January 2019) was an

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 ...

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 ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origin, who played as a striker.

Club career

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 ...

, Zëri started his career with hometown club Shkëndija and was part of the 'Golden Age' of

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 1974 and 1988, where under the guidance of Skënder Jareci the club dominated Albanian football, winning five

championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

and three

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. Known for his dribbling skills and being able to play the ball with both feet, Zëri formed a successful offensive partnership with Ilir Përnaska 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. Zëri impressed

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

during Dinamo's

1980–81 European Cup The 1980–81 European Cup was the 26th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool, who beat six-time champions Real Madrid in the final. In the 11 seasons up to and ...

clash with the Dutch giants and the latter insisted on buying him but they were told Albanian players were not allowed to move abroad.

International career

He made his debut for

on 3 November 1976 in the 3–0 friendly win versus

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and earned a total of 6 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a September 1982 European Championship qualification match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

International statistics

Personal life

Zëri later worked for the Albanian Football Association. He was married to Vilma and they had two children, Julian and Ina.

Death

He died in January 2019 after a long illness.

Honours

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 ...

: 4 ::

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Albania - Championship Winning Teams
- RSSSF *

: 3 ::

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

Vasillaq Zëri, etaloni i teknikës që “loton” për Dinamon
- Time

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeri, Vasillaq 1952 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Tirana Albanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Albania men's international footballers Shkëndija Tiranë players FC Dinamo City players Kategoria Superiore players Albanian football managers FC Dinamo City managers Albania national under-21 football team managers 20th-century Albanian sportsmen