Mentor Zhdrella (born 10 June 1988) is a Kosovan 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 ...

official and a former

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the sporting director for Llapi. He has been hailed as one of Kosovo's greatest talent, having been named four times as Footballer of the Year of Kosovo, in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Mentor Zhdrella is known for his pace, dribbling and his speciality is free kicks.

Club career

Drita

On 28 March 2014, Zhdrella joined fellow top flight side Drita for the remaining part of 2013–14 season.

Partizani Tirana

In June 2014, Zhdrella signed with

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

side

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's home ground is the newly built sta ...

and was handed squad number 7. He left the club after only one month after being unable to live away from his family.

Prishtina

On 22 July 2014, Zhdrella completed a transfer 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 ...

by penning a one-year contract. He was presented on the same day and was assigned squad number 7, stating: Prishtina is the biggest club of country, it's normal to be part of it." He made his debut on 16 August in the opening matchday of

2014–15 Football Superleague of Kosovo Raiffeisen Superliga 2014–15 was the 16th season of top-tier football in Kosovo. The season began on 16 August 2014. Kosova (V) are the defending champions. A total of 12 teams competed in the league: 10 sides from the 2013–14 season and ...

against Istogu where his cross in the ninth minute turned into an own goal by Istogu's Elvis Gacaferri in an eventual 2–1 away win. His first score-sheet contributions came in his sixth appearance for the club on 20 September, netting in the 1–1 home draw against Vëllaznimi, ending a run of defeats. He had to wait until 1 April of the following year to score his second goals, netting the second in the 3–0 home win over

Drenica Drenica (, ), also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Drenas and Skenderaj, and several villages in Klina, Zubin Potok, Mitr ...

. He finished the season with 5 goals in 33 league appearances, being ever-presented as Prishtina finished 3rd in the championship. Following the end of the contract, Zhderlla left as a free agent.

Feronikeli

On 3 August 2015, Zhdrella joined Feronikeli on a one-year deal. In his first season, he played 22 matches and scored 6 goals as the team won the championship in the 2015–16 season. In the 2016–17 season, he played 20 matches and scored 5 goals but Feronikeli didn't retain the title. In January 2017, Zhdrella was named in the Best XI of Football Superleague of Kosovo for 2016. He left the club on 12 July 2017. His departure was confirmed by Feronikeli's chairman, Arton Berisha.

Llapi

On 14 July 2017, Zhdrella signed a contract with Llapi as a free agent. He took the squad number 7, and made his debut on 19 August in the opening match of championship against

which finished in a 1–0 home win. He opened his scoring account on 29 October in the matchday 13 against bottom side Vllaznia Pozheran, netting twice inside eight minutes, including one with free kick, to overturn the score from 0–1 to 2–1 in an eventual 4–1 home win.

International career

On 19 May 2014. Zhdrella received a call-up from

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 ...

for the

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

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 ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. On 21 May 2014, he made his debut with Kosovo in friendly match against Turkey after coming on as a substitute at 72nd minute in place of

Dardan Rexhepi Dardan Rexhepi (born 16 January 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker. He was raised in Sweden and played for their youth football teams before playing for the senior Kosovo national team. Club career Malmö FF Rexhepi mo ...

Personal life

Zhdrella is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. On 20 July 2015, he became a father for the first time when his wife gave birth to the couple's first son, named Kaon.

Honours

Feronikeli *

Football Superleague of Kosovo The Football Superleague of Kosovo (), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo () for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Football in Kosovo#Men's, Kosovar football league system. The Superleague is organized by t ...

: 2015–16 Individual *Best Footballer of the Year of Kosovo: 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 *

Best XI: 2016

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhdrella, Mentor 1988 births Living people Footballers from Pristina Kosovo Albanians Men's association football midfielders Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers FC KEK-u players FC 2 Korriku players FC Prishtina players KF Hysi players FC Drita players FK Partizani Tirana players FC Feronikeli 74 players KF Llapi players KF Dukagjini players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Kategoria Superiore players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Albania Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Albania