Kushtrim Munishi

Kushtrim Munishi is a Kosovan–Albanian professional football manager and former player who is currently in charge of women's Kosovo U19 and U17 teams.

Playing career

Club

Kushtrim Munishi started his career in 1990 making his first appearance for FC Prishtina at the age of 17. He made 5 appearances and scored one goal in 1990–91 Yugoslav Second League and one appearance in 1991–92 Yugoslav Second League.
In 1993, he joined Zagłębie Lubin from Poland. From 1993 to 1999, he played for DSV Leoben, Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Bulgaria and Partizani in Albania.
After the end of the war in Kosovo he returned playing initially for FC Prishtina and then for Besiana, KF Kosova, Flamurtari, Gjilani and Hysi. In his last season he played for FC Prishtina, and was a crucial player in winning the Champion of Kosovo title.
While playing overseas he was put in the position of midfielder, which was not his natural role; in Kosovo he was a striker.
After 2000, while playing in Kosovo, he was awarded as Best Soccer Player in Kosovo and Best Sportsman and won Best Goal Scoring Award three times.
He retired in 2008 and currently he is the head coach of Kosovo's female national squad in the U-19 and U-16 category.

International

On 1 February 1993, Munishi received a call-up from Kosovo for a friendly match against Albania, and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's only goal during a 3–1 away defeat.

Coaching career

After retiring from football, he attended UEFA Coaching License training and obtained a UEFA Pro License. Since 2000, he worked as a coach for Prishtina's youth teams and was the director of their football academy. In 2016, he was appointed manager of Prishtina's senior team, and won the Kosovar Supercup shortly after. He managed his team to six league victories and one draw, leading the Kosovo Superliga ranking. Following a disagreement on a professional basis and since he didn't want to work without a professional contract, he left the club.
Since February 2017, he has been in charge for Kosovo women's U19 and U17 teams. With the U16 generation he won an international tournament in Tallinn, Estonia which became the first ever UEFA tournament won by Kosovo.

Honours

As a player

Prishtina

Football Superleague of Kosovo: 1991–92, 1995–96, 1996/97, 1999–2000, 2007–08
Kosovar Cup: 1993–94
Kosovar Supercup 1994

Besiana

Football Superleague of Kosovo: 2001–02
Kosovar Cup: 2001–02
Kosovar Supercup: 2002

Kosova Prishtinë

Kosovar Cup: 2003–04

Individual

Football Superleague of Kosovo top scorer: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07
Best football player of Kosovo announced by FFKfor the year 2001
Best sportsman of the year 2001 by Koha Ditore newspaper
Best sportsman of the year 2001 by Kosova Sport newspaper
Second best football player of Kosovo announced by FFKfor the year 1999
Third best football player of Kosovo announced by FFK for the year 2000

As a manager