Zamir Shpuza

Zamir Shpuza
Personal information
Date of birth	26 June 1968
Place of birth	Shkodër, Albania
Date of death	10 January 2014 (aged 45)
Place of death	Speyer, Germany
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
?–1987	Vllaznia Shkodër
1987–1988	Veleçiku
Senior career*
Years	Team
1988–1989	Vllaznia
1989-1990	Partizani
1990–1991	Vllaznia
1991	Budućnost
1992–1993	Vllaznia
1994–1995	FV Speyer
1995–1996	Waldhof Mannheim
1996–1997	Viktoria Griesheim
2000–2007	FV Speyer
International career
	Albania U-21
	Albania Olympic
1991–1997	Albania
Managerial career
2000–2007	FV Speyer
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Zamir Shpuza (26 June 1968 – 10 January 2014) was an Albanian international football player and coach.^[1]

Club career

Born and raised in a traditional family from Shkodër, Shpuza was noticed on the U19 team of KF Vllaznia Shkodër, debuting for the senior squad in the season 1988–89.^[2] At that time Albania was still ruled by a communist regime, and in a secret meeting of the local communist party committee, Zamir was playing for Vllaznia U17 team, were expelled from the team as party enemies because their uncles were considered undesired by the party. Their uncle was caught illegally crossing the border and then labeled as "traitor". Nicknamed Tutoja, Zamir and his brother didn't give up football, and joined Veleçiku from Koplik.^[2] Soon after, democratic transition began in Albania, and Zamir and Luan joined democratic and anti-communist moviments in Shkodër. They joined the Democratic Party. Coaches Astrit Hafizi and Neptun Bajko took Zamir to the capital to join Albanian giants FK Partizani Tirana.^[2] He had the opportunity to show his exceptional talent there, and was rewarded with first calls to Albanian national U21 and Olympic teams.^[2]

In 1991 he moved to the Yugoslav side Budućnost Titograd along his compatriot Ramiz Bisha.^[2] He played in the 1991–92 Yugoslav First League.^[3] and became known as "Albanian Belodedici".^[2] In 1992 he returned to Albania, joining KF Vllaznia Shkodër and winning the Albanian championship in 1992.^[4] In 1994, he moved to Speyer, Germany, asking for asylum, where is a large Albanian community.^[2] There he joined local side FV Speyer.^[2] In the 1995–96 season he played with 2. Bundesliga side Waldhof Mannheim but failed to make any league appearance.^[5] In 1996 he joined Viktoria Griesheim.^[6] Between 2000 and 2007 he was a player-coach of FV Speyer.^[7]

International career

He played for Albanian national U21 and Olympic teams before debuting for the main team in 1991.^[2] He made his senior debut for Albania in a May 1991 European Championship qualification match against Czechoslovakia and earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a June 1997 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Portugal.^[8]