Murati: When Pristina was more than club, Vorri was more than player

The chairman of the Movement for the Union, Valon Murati, after dividing the life of Albanian football legend Fadil Vokri, has estimated that in the 1980s, with entry into the First League of the former Yugoslavia, Pristina's football team became a greater platform than sports.

Valon Murati has also indicated he was with the NFF chairman when he suffered the attack.

The kids today have a Mass and Ronaldon. We worshipped Fadil Vokrin. Sad that he did not survive the attack. Even sader, that I witnessed this battle. Let his soul rest in peace! ”He wrote Murati.

Fadil Vokrri passed away today after a heart attack. His death has shaken not only the spectrum of Kosovo football, but all the people who have known him.

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When Pristina was more than a club, and Vorri was more than a player

1. In the 1980s, with entry into the First League of the former Yugoslavia, Pristina's football team became a larger platform than sports. Not only did the best Albanian players of other Kosovo teams gather around her, but Pristina's Sunday games were a national holiday for all Albanians in the former Yugoslavia. Her games were not just sports manifestations but, above all, cultural and political. Pristina Stadium was the only public space where we gathered up to 30,000 Albanians to empty our wills, our desires, our goals. Remember, it was this post 1981 period, where every smaller gathering of Albanians was viewed with suspicion.
2. I've been following Pristina since 1982. As a 7-year-old with my dad, I've been in my first game at the stadium, in my famous Tetovo Tetex duel, and I've been watching almost every game until there's a team that fell from First League. As today I remember the fan groups in our Pristina, coming from Struga, and Gostivar, from Tetovo and Presevo, not to mention Kosovo cities. On Sundays when Pristina played, the city had a public wedding. It was time when Pristina was more than a club. If in Franco's time, Barcelona and Atletico Bilbao were also symbols of anti-fascist resistance and Catalan and Basque national pride in the 1980s, Pristina played the same role for Albanians in the former Yugoslavia. For Pristina, it was all Albanians without differences, and through Pristina's support, they conveyed the messages of national pride and identity.
3. Pristina was great, because it was more than a team, it was the hope and pride of a nation that has been swept away. Pristina was great because representing a nation, it played with the heart. And every big team, there are big players, but there's also a leader, a symbol. And that great player, symbol, leader, was an extraordinary talent, was Fadil Vokry. He was our pride, he was our idol, he was the hope that we can, we know, we can do it. We grew up in Maradona's time, but on the streets where we played soccer - a booming name - Vorri, Vokrri! Of course, not only the greatest talent of its generation, but I believe also the best Albanian football player of all time. I remember, the boasting we had when he asked for Juventu, and the despair we had when, because of the laws of the state back then, he couldn't go abroad without military service. Although his career would take a completely different turn, he shone on Partizan, Fenerbachen, and wherever he played. I remember his games, his drives, and his ability to stand fast after each duel. But today, in the last duel of his life, he failed to get up. However, the inspirer of generations of athletes will always stand to continue to inspire in the future.