Sulejman Demollari (born 15 May 1964 in

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 ...

) also known as Sul Demollari is an Albanian former football player and coach.

Playing career

Early life

Demollari was born in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

's capital

, where he completed his primary education. He studied at the Qemal Stafa High School, in

. From a young age he was part of 'KF Vojo Kushi', which was a sports institution. Despite still being in school, Demollari had impressed many football specialists and was quickly picked to play for Dinamo Tirana's youth team where he managed to become one of the best players on the team. At the age of just 15 he was called up to play for Dinamo's senior team, alongside fellow midfield legends such as Ilir Përnaska, Shyqyri Ballgjini and Muhedin Targaj.

Club

Demollari played his entire career in Albania for Dinamo Tirana, alongside fellow internationals Genc Ibro,

Eduard Abazi Eduard Abazaj (born 29 November 1963) is an Albanian-Portuguese retired international footballer who played as a left-back. His sons Richard Abazaj (born 2003) and Romeu Abazaj are also Luso-Albanian footballers. Club career Abazaj was born in ...

and Agim Canaj, winning two league titles. Following the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

, Demollari was among the first players to pursue a career abroad, signing for Romanian side Dinamo București in 1991. He was wanted at Dinamo by coach

Florin Halagian Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname ''Armeanul'' (The Armenian). With 878 games, he is the manager who has the most matches in the Liga I, R ...

who saw him in a Albania U21 – West Germany U21 1–1, also he played against them and made a good impression while he was at Dinamo Tirana in the 2–1 loss on aggregate in the

1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1989–90 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won for the only time by Sampdoria in the final against Anderlecht, 2–0 at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, on 9 May 1990. They went on to win 1990–91 Serie A, also being runners-up in the ...

. Demollari made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 25 August 1991 in a 6–0 victory against Petrolul Ploiești in which he scored two goals and gave an assist, being nicknamed " Dobrin of Albania" by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' newspaper. In his first season spent at the club, Demollari scored 18 goals in 30 league games, being the team's second top scorer after Gábor Gerstenmájer, helping Dinamo win the title undefeated, also he became the first foreign player to score in the Eternal derby against Steaua București when he scored the only goal of a 1–0 victory. Demollari appeared in a total of 100

matches in which he scored 36 goals and received only one yellow card, also he is considered one of the best foreign footballers that played in Romania. Demollari spent the last years of his career, having short spells in Greece with

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

and in Hungary with

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

. He played a total of 25 games, scoring three goals in European competitions, including appearing in Dinamo București's 2–1 victory on aggregate against Luis Figo's Sporting Lisabona in the

1991–92 UEFA Cup The 1991–92 UEFA Cup was the 21st season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy, and at Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The compe ...

International

Sulejman Demollari was part of Albania U21's generation that finished the qualification group on the 1st position in front of West Germany U21 at the

1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 4th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1982–84) and had 30 entrants. Albania, Iceland and Wales competed in the competition for the firs ...

where in the quarter-finals they were eliminated by Italy U21 after a double 1–0 loss. Demollari played 45 matches and scored one goal at international level for

, making his debut on 27 April 1983 under coach Shyqyri Rreli in a Euro 1984 qualification match which ended with a 1–0 loss against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He played six games at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, including a 2–0 victory against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Demollari went on to play six games at the Euro 1988 qualifiers, six games at the 1990 World Cup qualifiers, five at the Euro 1992 qualifiers, nine matches in which he scored his only goal for the national team in a 3–1 loss against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and nine games at the Euro 1996 qualifiers. From his 45 caps, only three were friendlies, in 41 he was in the starting 11 and he was captain in 18 matches.

International goals

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

Managerial career

In 2001, Demollari started his coaching career at Albania's national team having a total of 9 games (1 victory, 3 draws, 5 losses), including two at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. He also coached the club at which he began his playing career, Dinamo Tirana. From 2011 until 2012 Demollari worked as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for Dinamo București, bringing Elis Bakaj at the club.

Honours

Club

Dinamo Tirana *

Kategoria Superiore 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 ...

: 1985–86, 1989–90 * Kupa e Shqipërisë: 1985–86, 1989–90 * Superkupa së Shqipërisë:

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Dinamo București *

: 1991–92

Individual

*''Sporti Popullor'' player of the season (6) – 1983, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 *Mjeshtër i Merituar i Sportit (''Deserved Master of Sport'') *Nderi i Sportit Shqiptar (''Honour of Albanian Sport'') *Captain of Albania

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, U-21 and

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

national teams

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Demollari, Sulejman 1964 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's international footballers FC Dinamo City players FC Dinamo București players Panionios F.C. players Győri ETO FC players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Liga I players Super League Greece players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Albanian football managers Albania national football team managers KS Lushnja managers Shkumbini Peqin managers FC Dinamo City managers Qemal Stafa High School alumni 20th-century Albanian sportsmen