Ilir Bozhiqi

Ilir Bozhiqi (born 22 May 1965) is an Albanian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Dinamo Tirana.

Career

He was the first foreign goalkeeper to play in the Romanian football.[1] He transferred from Dinamo Tirana to FC Braşov in 1991, where he stayed for four seasons, before moving to fellow-citizen team Tractorul Braşov in 1995. In his spell at FC Braşov he came up to 57 caps in the first division, although having toguh competition from teammates Şanta, Todericiu and Adrian Ene. In this time he also developed good romanian language, saying a in visit back there: "The time spent in Romania was the most beautiful of my career. I can not forget Braşov and the colleagues that I had, starting from Şanta and Ene, up to Săvoiu and Marian Ivan."[1]

He is now coaching goalkeepers at the Albanian national football team and Dinamo Tirana.

He belongs to Montenegrin minority in Albania. Born in Vraka, a village near Shkodër, his real name is Slobodan Božić in Serbo-Croatian language.

References