Vasil Shkurti (born Vassilis Skourtis-Shkurtaj; 27 February 1992) is an Albanian professional

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 ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Flamurtari.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

, Greece, to an 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 ...

family. Shkurti played youth football for four clubs, including

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. He arrived at the latter in January 2010 as compatriot

Igli Tare Igli Tare (; born 25 July 1973) is an Albanian football executive and former professional player who played as a forward. Currently, he is the sporting director of Serie A club AC Milan. He played as a forward in Germany and Italy, and later ...

acted as the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

. In the 2010–11 season, Shkurti made his senior debut, representing

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''), ...

in his country of adoption but also being loaned by the

Superleague Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

side to Thrasyvoulos in January 2011. Roughly one year later, he moved to

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 ...

with lowly

Vilaverdense Vilaverdense F.C. (known for 4 years as Länk FC Vilaverdense) is a Portuguese football club based in Vila Verde in the district of Braga. They currently play in the Liga 3, the third tier of Portuguese football. The club is affiliated to ...

, and the following campaign he signed with

Tondela Tondela () is a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, central Portugal, Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km2. History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carv ...

in that nation's Segunda Liga, led by former Benfica and

great

Vítor Paneira Vítor Manuel da Costa Araújo (born 16 February 1966), known as Vítor Paneira, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder, currently a manager. He excelled in the late 80s and early 90s with Benfica, to ...

. Shkurti did not settle with any team in the following years, representing in quick succession Roda (Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

Niki Volos Niki Volos Football Club () is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Volos, in the region of Magnesia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of Greek football. History Niki Volos was fou ...

Asteras Tripoli Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

and

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace. They play their home matches at Skoda Xanthi Arena Founded in 1967, Xanthi is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth set ...

(all in the Greek top level) and

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

from the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

Luftëtari

On 8 September 2017, Shkurti joined

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 Luftëtari on a one-year contract– as the transfer was done after the deadline, he remained ineligible to play for the club until the next transfer window. He made his competitive debut on 31 January 2018 in a 3–0 away loss against Laçi for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

, and first appeared in the league four days later in the goalless draw to Lushnja. Shkurti scored his first goals on 10 February 2018, in the 3–2 win at

Teuta Durrës Klubi i Futbollit Teuta, commonly referred to as ''Teuta'', is an Albanian professional football club based in Durrës. The club competes in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is the Niko Dovana Stadiu ...

. On 1 March, he netted the lone goal at Flamurtari to help the team climb to sixth place, also giving them the first win at

Vlorë Vlorë ( ; ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, third most populous city of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surr ...

in 40 years.

Kukësi

On 3 January 2019, Shkurti moved to Kukësi on a two-year deal. He was presented the following day, alongside his former teammate Eduart Rroca.

Career statistics

Honours

Kukësi *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shkurti, Vasil 1992 births Living people Footballers from Chania Albanians in Greece Men's association football forwards Greek men's footballers Albanian men's footballers Albania men's youth international footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers Panionios F.C. players Thrasyvoulos F.C. players Platanias F.C. players C.D. Tondela players Roda JC Kerkrade players Niki Volos F.C. players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players Aris Limassol FC players Luftëtari FC players FK Kukësi players Jiangxi Lushan F.C. players Flamurtari FC players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Eredivisie players Cypriot First Division players Kategoria Superiore players China League One players Kategoria e Parë players Greek expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Albanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in China Albanian expatriate sportspeople in China Olympiacos F.C. players 21st-century Greek sportsmen 21st-century Albanian sportsmen