Fadil Avdullah Vokrri (23 July 1960 – 9 June 2018) was a Kosovan

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 ...

administrator and formerly Yugoslav

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. Arguably one of the greatest Kosovan footballers, he was the president of the

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo (; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, it has since be ...

from 16 February 2008 until his death on 9 June 2018.

Early life

Born in Podujevë,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

(modern

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 ethnic Albanian parents, Vokrri was known for his

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

-like approach with quick movement and strong shooting (where he established his strong shooting reputation at FC Prishtina). He won a number of international caps for the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in the mid-1980s and was unlucky to not win more caps where he was one of Yugoslavia's favourite football talents. He played in a star-studded lineup that included Agim Cana, Edmond Rugova and Fadil Muriqi, as well as other Kosovan players who were part of the Golden Generation in the 1980s. Vokrri's FC Prishtina went on to beat

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

at the

Red Star Stadium The Rajko Mitić Stadium (, ), previously known as Stadion Crvene zvezde (), also known as Marakana ( sr-Cyrl, Маракана), is a multi-use stadium in Belgrade, Serbia which has been the home ground of Red Star Belgrade, Crvena zvezda sinc ...

and record a historic away victory for the Kosovan team.

Club career

Vokrri scored a total of 121 goals and had 363 club appearances, he began his career at the age of 16 years old at Llapi. He then moved to Prishtina in 1980 and played there until 1986, scoring 55 goals and making 172 appearances. Vokrri was very successful with Partizan from

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

where he scored 18 goals and had 55 appearances. He was key to both the team claiming the 1986–87 Yugoslav First League title, and their successful run in the 1988–89 Yugoslav Cup, notably scoring in the final as Partizan won 6–1 against Velež Mostar. In between the two trophy successes, Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

showed interest in signing Vokrri. However, as he had not completed the then-compulsory two years' military service, he was unable to travel abroad, and so had to turn down the offer. He eventually completed the requirements for military service while playing for Partizan, fulfilling light tasks during the week around training and in between matches. He also played for Nîmes Olympique, Fenerbahçe where he played for the successful coach

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

. Vokrri was a favourite of Fenerbahçe fans but was not as productive as he was with FC Prishtina and Partizan because of his older age.

Post-retirement

After the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

ended, Vokrri returned to his country and became the sporting director of Prishtina. On 16 February 2008, he was elected as the president of the

for a four-year mandate.

Personal life

Vokrri and his wife Edita had two sons, Gramozi and Albert, and a daughter named Albana. He had a degree in the Faculty of Management and Business. Apart from his native

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 ...

, he was also fluent in French, Serbian and Turkish. On 17 May 2018, he earned his Albanian passport.

Death

On 9 June 2018, Vokrri suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while he was exercising and died on his way to the emergency room. Later that day, the Prishtina City Stadium was renamed to the

Fadil Vokrri Stadium The Fadil Vokrri Stadium (), previously known as Pristina City Stadium (), is a multi-purpose stadium in Pristina, Kosovo, which is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Prishtina and the Kosovo national football team. The ...

in his honor. Vokrri was given a state funeral on 10 June 2018 and was buried at the

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

City Cemetery. President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi marked the day as a national day of mourning, with all flags lowered at half mast across Kosovo, and at embassies all over the world.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honors

Partizan *

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) ...

: 1986–87 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1988–89

References

External links

Profile
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vokrri, Fadil 1960 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Podujevë Footballers from the District of Pristina Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Albanian men's footballers Kosovan men's footballers Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in France Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Men's association football forwards Yugoslav First League players FC Prishtina players FK Partizan players Ligue 2 players Nîmes Olympique players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Bourges 18 players Montluçon Football players 20th-century Albanian sportsmen