Veldin Hodža (; born 15 October 2002) is a professional

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 plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

. Born in Croatia, he represented that nation at youth international levels but in 2025 switched to play for Kosovo national team at senior level.

Club career

On 7 October 2020, Hodža made his senior competitive debut against

Dilj Dilj is a low mountain in south-central Slavonia, located in eastern Croatia. Of all the mountains in Slavonia, Dilj is the lowest-lying, at 471 meters. It is located north of Slavonski Brod and south of Krndija. Dilj mountain contains a forest th ...

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

first round. He scored a goal in the 69th minute and Rijeka won 6-0. On 26 November 2020, Hodža made his first appearance in a UEFA competition, coming in as a substitute in the 87th minute for Gnezda Čerin in their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

group stage match against

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. He then joined Orijent on loan in the winter transfer window. He was taken off loan to Orijent and moved back to Rijeka, where his contract was formally terminated, and he joined the newly promoted club Hrvatski Dragovoljac to help with their relegation battle. On 20 June 2022, Hodža rejoined his former club Rijeka, signing a contract until summer 2024. On 12 September 2024, Hodža signed a four-year contract with

in Russia.

International career

From 2018, until 2024, Hodža has been part of Croatia at youth international level, respectively has been part of the U17, U18, U19 and U21 teams and he with these teams played thirty matches and scored three goals. On 15 June 2023, Hodža was included in Croatia U21's 23-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2023 held in Georgia and Romania, where he played in two of the three

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

matches, one as a substitute, and one as a starter as Croatia finished third in their group and did not advance to the knockout stage. In October 2023, Hodža's agent confirmed that the Kosovo national team had shown interest in him, following a meeting between

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo (; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, it has since be ...

president Agim Ademi and the player three months earlier after his 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round match with

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

against Dukagjini. On 12 June 2025, the Football Federation of Kosovo announced that he had decided to represent their national team.

Personal life

Born in

, Hodža is of Gorani origin from

Restelicë Restelicë () is a Gorani village in the south of Kosovo, the largest in the municipality of Dragash Dragash or Sharr ( sq-definite, Dragashi or ''Sharri;'' sr-cyr, Драгаш) is a town and municipality located in the Prizren District of ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodza, Veldin 2002 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Men's association football midfielders Kosovan men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers HNK Rijeka players HNK Orijent players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players FC Rubin Kazan players Croatian Football League players Gorani people Russian Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Russia 21st-century Croatian sportsmen 21st-century Kosovan sportsmen