Debatik Nazmi Curri (born 28 December 1983) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current assistant manager of

Prishtina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

. From 2006 to 2015 he was also part of Albania national team, collecting 44 appearances and scoring once. He began his career as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, but his position was changed to a centre back when he joined the Albania national team in 2006.

Club career

Early career

Curri began his professional career with

Vorskla Poltava

On 1 July 2005, Curri signed with Ukrainian side

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( uk, ФК «Во́рскла» Полта́ва ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava that competes in the Ukrainian Premier League, the top flight of Ukrainian football. History Kolos Poltava The clu ...

. He played for many years on the team, together with fellow Albanians,

Armend Dallku Armend Sabit Dallku (born 16 June 1983) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is a current manager of Dukagjini, he represented Albania at under-21 and full international level collecting 64 international senior caps ...

& Ahmed Januzi.

Genclerbirliği

On 16 May 2010, Curri signed a three-year contract with Turkish Süper Lig side Gençlerbirliği.

Hoverla Uzhhorod

On 23 July 2013 he returned to

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

by signing a two-years contract with

FC Hoverla Uzhhorod Football Club Hoverla Uzhhorod ( ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Uzhhorod. Following the end of the 2015–16 season it was expelled from the Ukrainian Premier League because of debts to (current and former) players.

Sevastopol

After he prematurely ended his contract with

, where he had a deal until 2015, he returned to

on 18 January 2014, signing with

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

, joining

Besart Ibraimi Besart Ibraimi (Macedonian: Бесарт Ибраими; born 17 December 1986) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Struga. Early life Born in Kičevo, SFR Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. he is Macedonian by nation ...

, an Albanian from

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. After some games as an unused substitute, he made his debut on 29 March 2014 against

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

, playing a full 90 minutes in a match which finished in a goalless draw. For the next fixture match, a week later on 4 April 2014, Curri played another full 90-minutes against his former team for 5 consecutive seasons

, which finished in a 1–0 victory. He became a regular starter in the team as he continued by playing the entire match against Tavriya Simferopol on 17 April 2014, a match that ended in the 0–2 victory.

Tirana

At the beginning of the summer transfers window for 2014, numerous Albanian clubs, such as

Flamurtari Vlorë Flamurtari FC is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Albania, and it is also one ...

and

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and 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 overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

showed interest in signing Curri, who was a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Initially, Tirana withdrew due to the financial requests of Curri. However, on 27 July, Tirana agreed terms with Curri to sign with them. He made it his debut on 24 August 2014, playing the full 90-minutes against

Apolonia Fier KF Apolonia is an Albanian football club based in Fier. The club was founded on 17 June 1925 and took its name from the nearby ruins of the ancient city of Apollonia. The club currently compete in the Kategoria e Parë and they play their hom ...

, in the opening day of 2014–15 season, winning the match 3–0. He scored his first goal on 14 September 2014, to give his team the 2–1 victory by scoring at the end of stoppage time, in the 90+3' minute against

Elbasani Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Al ...

. On 18 October 2014 Curri scored his second goal for Tirana, scoring against Kukësi, after he noticed the wrong placement of

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Argjent Halili, and taking a shot from the midfield.

Flamurtari Vlorë

He remained in Albania after his contract with

had expired, as he signed a one-year contract with

with the option of a further year. On 10 August, during the training session in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

, Curri suffered a bone-breaking in the calf below the knee on the right leg after a collision with Bruno Telushi, thus keeping him sidelined for the next three months.

Prishtina

On 14 June 2016, Curri returned to

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

to join his first club

, signing a one-year contract, taking the vacant squad number 6. He was presented on the same day along with players such as Ahmed Januzi and

, his former international teammates. Curri made his official debut with the club on 13 August in the Kosovan Supercup, where Prishtina beat 1–0 Feronikeli to win the first silverware of the season. He made his league debut on 19 August in the opening league match against Llapi, playing full-90 minutes in a 3–1 home success. He scored his first goal of the season on 24 September against Feronikeli, the lone goal of the match which allowed Prishtina to take the first spot in the league. Five days later he scored another matchwinner, this time against

Ferizaj Ferizaj, . or Uroševac, . Also formerly known as Ferizovići ( tr, Firzovik). is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and seat of Ferizaj Municipality and Ferizaj District. Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by th ...

to give Prishtina another three points to extend the league lead. He played 28 matches and scored twice as Prishtina finished runner-up in the championship.

International career

Albania

Curri received the Albanian citizenship on 28 February 2006. Curri made it his international debut with Albania national team on 22 March 2006 by playing in starting line up under the coach

Otto Barić Otto Barić (; 19 June 1933 – 13 December 2020) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. Coaching career 1970s to 1980s Born in Eisenkappel, near Klagenfurt, Barić started his coaching career in 1969 at West German club Ger ...

in a goalless draw against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, where he completed the first half and was substituted by

Klodian Duro Klodian Duro (; born 21 December 1977) is an Albanian retired professional football and current coach of Lushnja of the Kategoria e parë. He was a versatile midfielder who usually played in an attacking role. His brother Albert Duro was also ...

at the half-time. Curri scored his first goal for his national team on 11 October 2006 against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualification finished in the 2–1 loss in where Curri scored in the 64th minute the match closing goal. In the

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Africa), CONCA ...

, under a new coach

Arie Haan Arend "Arie" Haan (; born 16 November 1948) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He scored 6 goals in 35 matches for the Netherlands national team of the 1970s. At club level, he enjoyed a successful career ...

, Curri was ever-presented, playing every minute of all 10 matches of the

Group 1 Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N * Group ...

. He formed the duo-centerbacks partnership with

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional footballer. He is currently the Grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 2017. Cana played in th ...

mostly and a few times with his teammate at

and once with

Elvin Beqiri Elvin Beqiri (born 27 September 1980) is a former Albanian footballer, who spent the mayority of his career playing Vllaznia Shkodër. Beqiri was also an international footballer, having 47 caps for the Albania national team. His former teams in ...

. Albania was ranked in the 5th place behind of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, Sweden,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

and only above

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, by where collected 1 win, 4 draws and 6 goals for, 13 goal against. In the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

Curri played just four out of ten matches, all as a starter, in which he was substituted off just once. He mostly wasn't available for selection by the coach

Josip Kuže Josip Kuže (13 November 1952 – 16 June 2013) was a Croatian football manager and footballer. He was a player and later a manager of Dinamo Zagreb where he played for 10 years, making a total of 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals. Playing ...

due to injuries. For the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by ...

Curri was called up to participate in five of the eight matches, in which he had game time just twice, as this time the new Albania coach

Gianni De Biasi Giovanni "Gianni" De Biasi (, sq, Xhovani "Xhani" De Biazi), born 16 June 1956 is an Italian football coach and former player. He holds dual Italian and Albanian citizenship. De Biasi was the first coach of the Albania national team to lead t ...

had created a strongly duo-partnership in defense with

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the national team

and Mërgim Mavraj. Curri was an unused substitute in the opening match of the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro ...

against

on 7 September 2014. He played as a substitute in the 2nd Group I match against

on 11 October 2014. Curri officially announced his retirement from Albania against

Kosovo

On 21 May 2014 Curri played for his original country's birthplace,

, a full 90-minutes match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

finished in the 1–6 home loss at the

Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium The Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Olimpik Adem Jashari) is a multi-purpose stadium in Mitrovica, Kosovo, which is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of KF Trepça. The stadium has a capacity of around 35,000 p ...

Mitrovica, Kosovo Mitrovica ( sq-definite, Mitrovicë; sr-cyrl, Митровица) or Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-cyrl, Косовска Митровица) is a city and municipality located in Kosovo. Settled on the banks of Ibar and Sitnica rivers, the city is ...

Style of play

Curri is considered a defensive all-rounder, as he can be deployed in any defensive position. Curri's main playing position is as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, but he can also be deployed as right or left-sided full-back and also as a

. He played in that position in his early days with Albania national team before converting into a centre back, forming a partnership with

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 16 November 2015. Albania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Curri goal.''

Honours

Club

;Vorskla Poltava *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

: 2008–09 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football competition season in Ukrain ...

Runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Prishtina *Kosovar Supercup: 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curri, Debatik 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Pristina Kosovo Albanians Association football defenders Association football midfielders Kosovan footballers Albanian footballers Albania international footballers Kosovo international footballers Dual internationalists (football) FC Prishtina players FC Vorskla Poltava players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers FC Hoverla Uzhhorod players FC Sevastopol players KF Tirana players Flamurtari Vlorë players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Kategoria Superiore players Ukrainian Premier League players Süper Lig players Albanian expatriate footballers Kosovan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine