Hysen Zmijani

Hysen Zmijani
Personal information
Full name Hysen Zmijani
Date of birth (1963-04-29) 29 April 1963
Place of birth Shkodër, Albania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position 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)
National team
1983–1984 Albania U21
1984–1995 Albania 36 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hysen Zmijani". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "Albania - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Exodus of Albanian nationals". Parliamentary Assembly. 27 January 1992. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "Saudi Arabia 1993/94". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Saudi Arabia 1994/95". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  8. ↑ Hysen Zmijani – FIFA competition record (archive)

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