Drilon Hajrizi (born 17 January 1991) is a Kosovan professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and he is currently playing with the

Trepça Trepca ( / ''Trepča'', ) may refer to: * Trepça Mines, an industrial complex in Mitrovica, Kosovo * KB Trepça, a basketball club in Mitrovica founded in 1947 * KF Trepça, a football club in Mitrovica founded in 1932 * KH Trepça, a handball clu ...

of the

Kosovo Basketball Superleague The Kosovo Basketball Superleague (Albanian: Superliga e Kosovës në Basketboll) and known as the ProCredit Superliga due to sponsorship reasons is the top men's professional basketball league in Kosovo. Basketball Superleague was founded in 1991 ...

Professional career

Kanazawa Samuraiz

On 3 January 2018, Hajrizi joined

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

side

Kanazawa Samuraiz Kanazawa Samuraiz () is a professional basketball club based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The club plays in the third division of the B.League, which is the 3rd tier of basketball in the country. Team Current roster ...

, on a six-month contract. On 17 January 2018, Kanazawa Samuraiz announced the transfer of Hajrizi via a status on their official

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account.

Bashkimi Prizren

On 28 January 2019, Hajrizi joined

side

Bashkimi Prizren Klubi i Basketbollit Bashkimi, also known as K.B. Bashkimi or simply Bashkimi , is a professional basketball team based in Prizren, Kosovo. Bashkimi is the oldest basketball team in Kosovo and competes in the top professional men's basketball lea ...

. On 2 February 2019, he in his debut scored 14 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists completing the game with

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

in a 75–83 home defeat against

Ponte Prizreni KB Prizreni, formerly KB Kalaja and Ponte Prizreni, also known as Proton Cable Prizreni due to sponsorship reason, is a professional basketball club based in Prizren, Kosovo. The club currently plays in the Kosovo Basketball Superleague. The 20 ...

Return to Peja

On 11 September 2019, Hajrizi returned to

club

Peja Peja or Peć, ), is the fifth most populous city in Kosovo and serves as the seat of the Peja Municipality and the District of Peja. It is located in the Rugova region on the eastern section of the Accursed Mountains along the Peja's Lumbar ...

Return to Trepça

On 3 January 2021, Hajrizi signed for

KB Trepça Klubi i Basketbollit Trepça is a professional basketball club based in Mitrovica, Kosovo. The club competes domestically in the Kosovo Basketball Superleague and Kosovo Cup (basketball), Kosovo Cup and internationally in the Fiba Europe Cup. Tr ...

of the

International career

Hajrizi was one of the first players of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and his official debut with Kosovo came on 31 August 2016 in the

EuroBasket 2017 qualification This article describes the qualification procedure for EuroBasket 2017. Qualification format All teams which didn't qualify yet for EuroBasket 2017 were divided into six groups of four teams and one more of three. The winners of each group and the ...

match against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Controversial transfers

Prishtina (2016)

After Hajrizi transferred to

Prishtina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdom. The heritage of th ...

, he and the club faced massive criticism from the supporter's group

Plisat Football Club Prishtina (, ), commonly known as Prishtina, is a professional football club based in Pristina, Kosovo. The club plays in the Football Superleague of Kosovo. It is the most successful domestic club. History The club was founded i ...

, who were against the former Trepça player. As a result, Plisat demanded a resignation from the board members.

Undesirable return to Trepça

In January 2021, Torcida, the Trepça supporters who share a fierce rivalry with Prishtina, announced that they oppose the return of Hajrizi. On June 12, 2024,

announced Hajrizi as the new captain of the squad which immediately was criticized by Torcida, who declared they would boycott KB Trepça's games due to the decision.

Awards and accomplishments

;Prishtina *

: (

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

) * Kosovo Cup: (2017) ;Peja *2× Kosovo Cup: (2015, 2020) *Kosovo Supercup: (2015) ;Trepça *3×

: (2012, 2024, 2025) *5× Kosovo Cup: (2012, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) *

Liga Unike Liga Unike () is a professional basketball league in Albania and Kosovo. The first inaugural season will start on 6 April 2021, and the league was praised from Turgay Demirel, president of FIBA Europe, who was present at the inauguration. Teams To ...

champion (

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

) ;Individual awards * 4× Kosovo League MVP (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) * 5× Kosovo Cup MVP (2012, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024)

References

External links

Drilon Hajrizi
at eurobasket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hajrizi, Drilon 1991 births Living people Kosovo Albanians Basketball players from Mitrovica, Kosovo Kosovan men's basketball players Power forwards KB Trepça players KB Peja players KB Prishtina players Kanazawa Samuraiz players Bashkimi Prizren players Kosovan expatriate basketball people in Japan