Fadil Muriqi (

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

: Fadilj Murići / Фадиљ Мурићи; born 17 November 1959) is a former Yugoslav

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

of Kosovar Albanian descent who is best known for his time 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 ...

during the 1980s as part of the "Golden Generation".

Career

Prishtina

Muriqi began playing football in

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

club Budućnost Peć but, after only one season there, he moved to

, where he played for five seasons in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

from 1982 to 1988. He was nicknamed ''Maradona of Kosovo'' from the fans of Prishtina because of the similarity of the physique and playing style with the ''El Pibe de Oro''. Together with

Fadil Vokrri Fadil Avdullah Vokrri (23 July 1960 – 9 June 2018) was a Kosovan football administrator and formerly Yugoslav player. Arguably one of the greatest Kosovan footballers, he was the president of the Football Federation of Kosovo from 16 Februar ...

and

Kujtim Shala Kujtim Shala (; born 13 July 1964) is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented Croatia at international level. International career Shala made one appearance for the ...

he led the team of FC Prishtina in their most successful years

NK Rijeka

In the 1989–90 season together with his younger brother Xhevdet, he moved to NK Rijeka and played there another season in the

before moving to Australia.

Australia

Fadil Muriqi became the first ethnic

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 ...

footballer to play in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

in Australia. He joined

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

(today Sydney United) and played the 1991–92 season with them having 23 appearances and scoring 3 goals. In the following season he moved to another

Croatian Australian Croatian Australians (), Australian Croats (''Australski Hrvati'') or Croats in Australia (''Hrvati u Australiji'') are Australian citizens of Croats, Croatian ancestry. Croatia has been a source of Human migration, migrants to Australia, parti ...

club, Canberra FC where he played for two seasons before joining the

club of South Dandenong ( Dandenong Thunder) helping them to get promoted up to

Victorian State League Division 1 The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

. In 1997, he played for the Fawkner Blues in the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

and in the following season moved back to South Dandenong for their first ever season in the

Family

Fadil Muriqi is married to Lumnije Muriqi and has three children. The eldest being Rinor Muriqi, the second eldest, Margarita Muriqi and the youngest Gentiana Muriqi.

References

External links

Oz Football profile

Stats from Yugoslav 1 and 2 leagues at Zerodic
(temporarily dead link, the exact copy data is found o
EX YU Fudbalska Statistika po godinama
at B92) {{DEFAULTSORT:Muriqi, Fadil 1960 births Living people Footballers from Peja Men's association football midfielders Kosovan men's footballers FC Besa Peja players FC Prishtina players HNK Rijeka players Sydney United 58 FC players Dandenong Thunder FC players Yugoslav First League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Kosovan football managers FC Drita managers FC Prishtina managers Kosovan expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in Australia