Debatik Nazmi Curri (born 28 December 1983) is a Kosovar professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. 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 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. ...

, 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

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 ...

Vorskla Poltava

On 1 July 2005, Curri signed with Ukrainian side

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava. The team set to compete in Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Football in Ukraine, Ukrainian football after relegation from Ukrainian Premier League in ...

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

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

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

Ahmed Januzi Ahmed Januzi (born 8 July 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Kosovar club KF Llapi. Born in Kosovo, he represented the Albania national team. Club career Early career Ahmed Januzi was born in Vučitrn to Kosovar Al ...

Genclerbirliği

On 16 May 2010, Curri signed a three-year contract with

Turkish Süper Lig Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The wor ...

side Gençlerbirliği.

Hoverla Uzhhorod

On 23 July 2013 he returned to

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

by signing a two-years contract with

FC Hoverla Uzhhorod Football Club Hoverla Uzhhorod ( ) was a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Uzhhorod. Following the end of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League, 2015–16 season it was expelled from the Ukrainian Premier Leagu ...

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 ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

, joining Besart Ibraimi, an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

from

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. 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. In 2020–21 the club was reorganized and changed owner. During that period there existed two clubs with the same name, one at professional level competitio ...

, 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 Sports Club Tavriya () was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League 1992, Ukrainian Premier League making them one of three team ...

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 Football Club is an Albanian professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria Superiore, which is the first tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Alba ...

and

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 ov ...

showed interest in signing Curri, who was a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. 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 Futboll Klub Apolonia Fier 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 competes in Kategoria e Parë, the secon ...

, 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. 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 that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

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, 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 ...

, 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, 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 ...

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

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,, or Uroševac sr-Cyrl, Урошевац, . Also formerly known as Ferizovići (). is a city and a municipality in Kosovo. It is the third largest city in Kosovo by population and also the seat of Ferizaj Municipality and ...

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 an Austrian-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 Germa ...

in a goalless draw against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, 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 Gjilani of the Superliga e Kosoves. He was a versatile midfielder who usually played in an attacking role. His brother Albert Duro was al ...

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

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualification Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others in their group on a hom ...

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 confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

, under a new coach

Arie Haan Arend "Arie" Haan (; born 16 November 1948) is a Dutch Association football, football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He scored 6 goals in 35 matches for the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team of ...

, 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 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

. He formed the duo-centerbacks partnership with

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional Association football, footballer. He is currently the grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 201 ...

mostly and a few times with his teammate at

and once with Elvin Beqiri. Albania was ranked in the 5th place behind of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and only above

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, 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 across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

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#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

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 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 or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the national team

and

Mërgim Mavraj Mërgim Mustafë Mavraj (born 9 June 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in Germany, he represented the Albania national team from 2012 until 2020. Mavraj previously played for Germany U21 team, as we ...

. 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 2 ...

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, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

finished in the 1–6 home loss at the

Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium The Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Mitrovica, Kosovo, which is used mostly for football matches and has been the home ground of the Kosovan football club KF Trepça since 1999. The stadium has a capacity of around ...

Mitrovica, Kosovo Mitrovica ( Albanian indefinite form: ''Mitrovicë''; sr-Cyrl, Митровица, Mitrovica), also referred to as Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-Cyrl, Косовска Митровица, Kosovska Mitrovica; Albanian: ''Mitrovica e Kosovës'') an ...

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 Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, 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

:''Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Curri goal.''

Honours

;Vorskla Poltava *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) 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 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2008–09 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () 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 (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

Runner-up:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

;Prishtina *Kosovar Supercup: 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curri, Debatik 1983 births Living people Footballers from Pristina Kosovo Albanians Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Kosovan men's footballers 21st-century Kosovan sportsmen Albanian men's footballers Albanian sportsmen Albania men's international footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) FC Prishtina players FC Vorskla Poltava players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers FC Hoverla Uzhhorod players FC Sevastopol players KF Tirana players Flamurtari FC players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Kategoria Superiore players Ukrainian Premier League players Süper Lig players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Albanian football managers FC Prishtina managers Football Superleague of Kosovo managers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen