Hysen Zmijani
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Hysen Zmijani | ||
Date of birth | 29 April 1963 | ||
Place of birth | Shkodër, Albania | ||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
Position(s) | Right-back | ||
Youth career | |||
Vllaznia Shkodër | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1982–1991 | Vllaznia Shkodër | 67+ | (6) |
1991–1993 | GFC Ajaccio | 40 | (2) |
1993–1995 | Al Nassr | 44 | (10) |
1995–1996 | Sankt Pauli | 7 | (0) |
International career | |||
1983–1984 | Albania U21 | ||
1984–1995 | Albania | 36 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Hysen Zmijani (born 29 April 1963) is an Albanian retired professional footballer.
Club career
Zmijani has been regarded by many football pundits in Albania as Vllaznia Shkodër's greatest right-back in history.[1] He was born in Shkodër into a family of athlets; his uncle Sadetin Zmijani was the captain of Vllaznia in 60', while his other uncle was a boxer and his son was a cycler.[1]
Zmijani begun his professional career in the 1982–83 season, and helped the club to win the championship.[2] In 1985, Zmijani was the winner of questionary "10 best athletes in Albania" made by newspaper Sporti Popullor.[1] In the 1986–87 season, he won another individual award, as he was part of questionary "10 best athletes in Shkodër" and at the end of the season helped the team to win the Albanian Cup, defeating Flamurtari Vlorë 4–3 on aggregate.[3]
Later in his career, Zmijani played professionally in France, Saudi Arabia and Germany for Gazélec Ajaccio, Al Nassr and FC St. Pauli.[2]
Zmijani signed for Gazélec Ajaccio in the 1991; following the match against France, he was contacted by a journalist which proposed him to the club which was playing in Ligue 2 at that time.[1] He signed the contract after arriving in Albania, with the contract containing a friendly match between his new club and Vllaznia, a friendly which gave many players to opportunity for a new life away from Albania following the fall of communism.[1][4]
Zmijani signed with Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia in the 1993–94 season.[1] In his first season, he helped the club to win the championship after defeating Al-Riyadh SC 3–1 in the final.[5] The team repeated the success in the next season, this time winning in the final versus Al-Nassr.[6]
International career
Zmijani has been a part of Albania under-21 squad in their historic era in which they managed to qualify in an UEFA European Under-21 Championship for the first time in history.[1] He played in every qualifying match as Albania finished Group 6 in first place ahead of West Germany, Turkey and Austria.
He made his senior debut for Albania in an October 1984 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Belgium and earned a total of 36 caps, scoring 2 goals. His final international was a November 1995 European Championship qualification match against Wales.[7] He appeared in 18 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.[8]
Personal life
Zmijani's idol and greatest inspiration was former Argentine footballer Diego Maradona.[1]
Honours
- Vllaznia Shkodër[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Eduard Ilnica (17 December 2017). "Nga Vllaznia në Francë e Arabi, Hysen Zmijani rrëfen karrierën e tij" [From Vllaznia to France and Arabia, Hysen Zmijani confesses his career] (in Albanian). Konica.al. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ a b c "Hysen Zmijani". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ "Albania - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ "Exodus of Albanian nationals". Parliamentary Assembly. 27 January 1992. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia 1993/94". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia 1994/95". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ^ Hysen Zmijani – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Use dmy dates from December 2010
- 1963 births
- Living people
- Footballers from Shkodër
- Association football fullbacks
- Albanian footballers
- Albania under-21 international footballers
- Albania international footballers
- KS Vllaznia Shkodër players
- Gazélec Ajaccio players
- Al-Nassr FC players
- FC St. Pauli players
- Bundesliga players
- Albanian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia
- Expatriate footballers in Germany
- Albanian expatriates in France
- Albanian expatriates in Germany
- Albanian football biography stubs