Naim Kryeziu

Naim Kryeziu (4 January 1918 – 20 March 2010) was a Kosovar football player who played as a right winger. He is most remembered for the fame he achieved while playing in Italy in the 1940s and 1950s.

Club career Born in Gjakova, Kosovo, Kryeziu was a particularly quick right winger able to run 100 m in 11 seconds. He left his town in Kosovo as a youngster to join his brother in Tirana, making his footballing debut in the domestic top flight at the age of 15. Following the 1939 Italian invasion of Albania, he was noted by an Italian sports professor who suggested him to AS Roma. As he was considered an Italian following the annexation of Albania, he was allowed to enrol in the Rome ISEF (Italian sports university) whilst also playing for AS Roma, where he won an Italian title in 1941–42.