Debatik Curri

Debatik Curri

Curri with Vorskla Poltava in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Debatik Nazmi Curri
Date of birth	(1983-12-28) 28 December 1983 (age 40)
Place of birth	Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Suhareka (assistant)
Youth career
0000–2001	Prishtina
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2005	Prishtina	75	(8)
2005–2010	Vorskla Poltava	148	(19)
2010–2013	Gençlerbirliği	33	(0)
2013	Hoverla Uzhhorod	5	(0)
2014	Sevastopol	7	(0)
2014–2015	Tirana	27	(2)
2015–2016	Flamurtari	8	(0)
2016–2018	Prishtina	58	(3)
Total		286	(24)
International career
2006–2015	Albania	44	(1)
2014	Kosovo	1	(0)
Managerial career
2018–2023	Prishtina (assistant)
2022	Prishtina (caretaker)
2023	Prishtina
2024–	Suhareka (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Debatik Nazmi Curri (born 28 December 1983) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player.

From 2006 to 2015 he was also part of Albania national team, collecting 44 appearances and scoring once. He began his career as a defensive midfielder, but his position was changed to a centre-back when he joined the Albania national team in 2006. ^[1]

Club career

Early career

Curri began his professional career with Prishtina.

Vorskla Poltava

On 1 July 2005, Curri signed with Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava. He played for many years on the team, together with fellow Albanians, Armend Dallku & Ahmed Januzi.

Genclerbirliği

On 16 May 2010, Curri signed a three-year contract with Turkish Süper Lig side Gençlerbirliği. ^[2]

Hoverla Uzhhorod

On 23 July 2013 he returned to Ukrainian Premier League by signing a two-years contract with FC Hoverla Uzhhorod. ^[3]

Sevastopol

After he prematurely ended his contract with FC Hoverla Uzhhorod, where he had a deal until 2015, he returned to Ukrainian Premier League on 18 January 2014, signing with Sevastopol, joining Besart Ibraimi, an Albanian from North Macedonia. ^[4] After some games as an unused substitute, he made his debut on 29 March 2014 against Karpaty Lviv, playing a full 90 minutes in a match which finished in a goalless draw. For the next fixture match, a week later on 4 April 2014, Curri played another full 90-minutes against his former team for 5 consecutive seasons Vorskla Poltava, which finished in a 1–0 victory. He became a regular starter in the team as he continued by playing the entire match against Tavriya Simferopol on 17 April 2014, a match that ended in the 0–2 victory.

Tirana

At the beginning of the summer transfers window for 2014, numerous Albanian clubs, such as Flamurtari Vlorë and Tirana showed interest in signing Curri, who was a free agent. ^[5] Initially, Tirana withdrew due to the financial requests of Curri. ^[6] However, on 27 July, Tirana agreed terms with Curri to sign with them. ^[7]

He made it his debut on 24 August 2014, playing the full 90-minutes against Apolonia Fier, in the opening day of 2014–15 season, winning the match 3–0. ^{[8] [9]} He scored his first goal on 14 September 2014, to give his team the 2–1 victory by scoring at the end of stoppage time, in the 90+3' minute against Elbasani. ^[10] On 18 October 2014 Curri scored his second goal for Tirana, scoring against Kukësi, after he noticed the wrong placement of goalkeeper Argjent Halili, and taking a shot from the midfield. ^{[11] [12]}

Flamurtari Vlorë

He remained in Albania after his contract with Tirana had expired, as he signed a one-year contract with Flamurtari Vlorë with the option of a further year. ^[13] On 10 August, during the training session in Slovenia, Curri suffered a bone-breaking in the calf below the knee on the right leg after a collision with Bruno Telushi, thus keeping him sidelined for the next three months. ^[14]

Prishtina

On 14 June 2016, Curri returned to Kosovo to join his first club Prishtina, signing a one-year contract, taking the vacant squad number 6. ^[15] He was presented on the same day along with players such as Ahmed Januzi and Armend Dallku, his former international teammates. ^[16] Curri made his official debut with the club on 13 August in the Kosovan Supercup, where Prishtina beat 1–0 Feronikeli to win the first silverware of the season. ^[17] He made his league debut on 19 August in the opening league match against Llapi, playing full-90 minutes in a 3–1 home success. ^[18] He scored his first goal of the season on 24 September against Feronikeli, the lone goal of the match which allowed Prishtina to take the first spot in the league. ^[19] Five days later he scored another matchwinner, this time against Ferizaj to give Prishtina another three points to extend the league lead. ^{[20] [21]} He played 28 matches and scored twice as Prishtina finished runner-up in the championship. ^[22]

International career

Albania

Curri received the Albanian citizenship on 28 February 2006. ^[23] Curri made it his international debut with Albania national team on 22 March 2006 by playing in starting line up under the coach Otto Barić in a goalless draw against Georgia, where he completed the first half and was substituted by Klodian Duro at the half-time. ^[1] Curri scored his first goal for his national team on 11 October 2006 against Netherlands in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualification finished in the 2–1 loss in where Curri scored in the 64th minute the match closing goal. ^[24]

In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, under a new coach Arie Haan, Curri was ever-presented, playing every minute of all 10 matches of the Group 1. He formed the duo-centerbacks partnership with Lorik Cana mostly and a few times with his teammate at Vorskla Poltava, Armend Dallku and once with Elvin Beqiri. Albania was ranked in the 5th place behind of Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Hungary and only above Malta, by where collected 1 win, 4 draws and 6 goals for, 13 goal against. ^[25]

In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Curri played just four out of ten matches, all as a starter, in which he was substituted off just once. He mostly wasn't available for selection by the coach Josip Kuže due to injuries. For the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification Curri was called up to participate in five of the eight matches, in which he had game time just twice, as this time the new Albania coach Gianni De Biasi had created a strongly duo-partnership in defense with Captain of the national team Lorik Cana and Mërgim Mavraj.

Curri was an unused substitute in the opening match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying against Portugal on 7 September 2014. He played as a substitute in the 2nd Group I match against Denmark on 11 October 2014. Curri officially announced his retirement from Albania against Kosovo. ^[26]

Kosovo

On 21 May 2014, Curri played for his original country's birthplace, Kosovo, a full 90-minutes match against Turkey finished in the 1–6 home loss at the Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium, Mitrovica, Kosovo. ^[27]

Style of play

Curri is considered a defensive all-rounder, as he can be deployed in any defensive position. ^[28] Curri's main playing position is as a centre back, but he can also be deployed as right or left-sided full-back and also as a defensive midfielder. ^[28] He played in that position in his early days with Albania national team before converting into a centre back, forming a partnership with Lorik Cana. ^{[29] [30]}

Career statistics

Club

As of 4 November 2017 ^{[31] [32]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Prishtina	2001–02	Football Superleague of Kosovo	14	0	0	0	—		14	0
	2002–03		23	0	0	0	—		23	0
	2003–04		25	3	0	0	—		25	3
	2004–05		13	5	0	0	—		13	5
	Total		75	8	0	0	0	0	75	8
Vorskla Poltava	2004–05	Ukrainian Premier League	14	1	0	0	—		14	1
	2005–06		28	4	0	0	—		28	4
	2006–07		24	1	0	0	—		24	1
	2007–08		28	6	2	1	—		30	7
	2008–09		28	4	3	0	—		31	4
	2009–10		26	3	2 [lower-alpha 1]	1	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	30	4
	Total		148	19	7	2	2	0	157	21
Gençlerbirliği	2010–11	Süper Lig	6	0	0	0	—		6	0
	2011–12		14	0	1	1	—		15	1
	2012–13		13	0	1	0	—		14	0
	Total		33	0	2	1	0	0	35	1
Hoverla Uzhhorod	2013–14	Ukrainian Premier League	5	0	0	0	—		5	0
Sevastopol	2013–14	Ukrainian Premier League	7	0	0	0	—		7	0
Tirana	2014–15	Albanian Superliga	27	2	4	0	—		31	2
Flamurtari Vlorë	2015–16	Albanian Superliga	8	0	1	0	—		9	0
Prishtina	2016–17	Football Superleague of Kosovo	28	2	2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	—		30	2
	2017–18		13	1	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	15	1
	Total		41	3	2	0	2	0	45	3
Career total			344	32	16	3	4	0	363	35

1. One appearance in Ukrainian Super Cup
2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
3. One appearance in Kosovar Supercup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^{[33] [34]}

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Albania	2006	4	1
	2007	9	0
	2008	7	0
	2009	9	0
	2010	5	0
	2011	3	0
	2012	2	0
	2013	2	0
	2014	3	0
Total		44	1
Kosovo	2014	1	0
Total		2	0

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

List of international goals scored by Debatik Curri ^[34]

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 2006	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands	4	Netherlands	1–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Honours

Vorskla Poltava ^[32]

• Ukrainian Cup: 2008–09
• Ukrainian Super Cup Runner-up: 2009

Prishtina ^[32]

• Kosovar Supercup: 2016

References

1. "Albania and Georgia national football teams played to a 0:0 draw". EU-Football.info. 22 March 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
2. Kel Naraci (16 May 2010). "Debatik Curri 3 vjet kontrate me Gençlerbirligi" (in Albanian). Albaniasoccer.com. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
3. "Debatik Curri rikthehet ne Ukraine" (in Albanian). aSport.al. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
4. "Curri rikthehet në Ukrainë, firmos me Sevastopol" (in Albanian). aSport.al. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
5. Leonard Karaj (4 July 2014). "Tirana sfidon vlonjatët për Debatik Currin, lojtari në dilemë. Malaj vishet bardheblu". Panorama Sport (in Albanian). Retrieved 4 July 2014.
6. "Klubi hoqi dorë se Curri donte 110 mijë euro". Panorama Sport (in Albanian). 24 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
7. "Debatik Curri lojtari me i ri i Tirones". Super Sport Albania (in Albanian). 27 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
8. "Tirana vs. Apolonia Fier 3 – 0". Soccerway. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
9. Adela Merko (25 August 2014). ""Fluturon" Tirana, gola dhe spektakël ndaj Apolonisë. Magani: S'duhet të shpërdoronim". Panorama Sport (in Albanian). Retrieved 25 August 2014.
10. "Fitore me drithërima, Tirana i falet Currit. Magani: E merituam, fitorja na ngjiti të parët". Panorama Sport (in Albanian). 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
11. Adela Merko (20 October 2014). "Fitore me supergola, Tirana merr kreun". Panorama Sport (in Albanian). Retrieved 20 October 2014.
12. "Tirana mund Kukësin dhe ngjitet në krye" (in Albanian). aSport.al. 18 October 2014. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2014. Në minutat e mbetura Kukësi e humbet qetësinë, ndërsa Tirana arrin të mbyllë llogaritë me një gol të rrallë, të denjë për të mbetur në histori. Debatik Curri, pasi sheh daljen e portierit Halilaj, gjuan drejpërdrejt në portë nga mesi i fushës. Trajektoria nuk kontrollohet dot nga portieri vlonjat, që thjesht e devijon paksa topin por pa mundur të shmangë golin e 3-1.
13. "Flamurtari zyrtarizon Currin, Miliev s'e pranon provën!". Sport Ekspres (in Albanian). 21 July 2015. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
14. Rinald Bregasi (10 August 2016). "Debatik Curri, 3 muaj jashtë fushës së blertë" [Debatik Curri, 3 months out of action]. SuperSport Albania (in Albanian). Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
15. "Prishtina me lojtarë me karrierë ndërkombëtare" [Prishtina with players with international careers] (in Albanian). Telegraf.al. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
16. "Prishtina e ka seriozisht, afron tre ish-lojtarë të Shqipërisë" [Prishtina is serious, approaches three ex-players of Albania]. Panorama Sport (in Albanian). 14 June 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
17. "Kosovë / Prishtina e Dallkut dhe Currit fiton Superkupën" [Kosovo / Prishtina of Dallku and Curri wins the Supercup]. Panorama Sport (in Albanian). 13 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
18. "Java I: Prishtina – Llapi 3:1" [Week I: Prishtina – Llapi 3:1] (in Albanian). PrishtinaFC. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
19. "Java VI: Feronikeli – Prishtina 0:1" [Week VI: Feronikeli – Prishtina 0:1] (in Albanian). PrishtinaFC. 24 September 2016. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
20. "Java VII: Prishtina – Ferizaj 1-0" [Week VII: Prishtina – Ferizaj 1-0] (in Albanian). PrishtinaFC. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
21. "Dy gola – gjashtë pikë: Debatik Curri" [Two goals – six points: Debatik Curri] (in Albanian). PrishtinaFC. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
22. "Java XXXIII: Drenica – Prishtina 1-3" [WEEK XXXIII: Drenica – Prishtina 1-3] (in Albanian). Prishtina FC. 28 May 2017. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
23. "PËR DHËNIE TË SHTETËSISË SHQIPTARE" [FOR GIVING THE ALBANIAN CITIZENSHIP] (in Albanian). Qendra e Botimeve Zyrtare. 28 February 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
24. "Stats for Albania vs. Holland". Soccerbase. 11 June 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
25. "Summary – WC Qualification Europe – Europe – Results, fixtures, tables and news". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
26. "Dallku e Curri përshëndeten nga Kombëtarja" [Dallku and Curri greeted by national team] (in Albanian). Telegraf.al. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
27. "International Friendly: Kosovo 1 Turkey 6". Sportal.co.nz. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
28. "Debatik Curri" (in Albanian). Prishtina FC. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
29. "Cana e Curri në mbrojtje ndaj rumunëve" [Cana and Curri on defence against Romanians]. Gazeta Express (in Albanian). 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
30. "Dëmtohet Curri, sërish bosh vendi i kapitenit Cana" [Curri injured, captain Cana's place is absent]. Sport Process (in Albanian). 5 June 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
31. "Debatik Curri". Prishtina FC. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
32. "Albania – D. Curri – Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
33. "Debatik Curri". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
34. "Debatik Curri – national football team player". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 27 September 2016.

External links

• Debatik Curri at National-Football-Teams.com
• Debatik Curri at UAF and archived FFU page (in Ukrainian)
• Debatik Curri at Soccerway