FCZ professional farewell legend: Ex-Nati buddy warns Dzemaili about the seniors

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In mid-May, two big names in Swiss football meet at a charity event in Rüschlikon ZH. Former Nati stars Blerim Dzemaili (37) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (39) help raise money for the clown performances at the Zurich Children’s Hospital.

Lichtsteiner, who retired in 2020, and Dzemaili, who will play his last FCZ match on Whit Monday, also talk about football. About senior football. Dzemaili reports on the conversation: «I can’t imagine stopping sports overnight. That’s why I plan to occasionally play soccer in a senior team. But Stephan said to me, ‘Think twice!'”

His former international plays for the seniors from Wettswil-Bonstetten and explains that as a well-known ex-pro you sometimes have to deal with overmotivated opponents, which can spoil the fun.

Seniors of FC Thalwil want to get Dzemaili

But as Dzemaili is rooting for a future on the left bank of Lake Zurich by building a house, he himself is thinking of playing for a senior team nearby.

The seniors of FC Thalwil also want him. Board member Gezim Alija is a former colleague of Dzemaili and tells Blick: “It would be great for us, even if Blerim only comes to train and not play matches.”

Will the greatest living FCZ legend soon actually end up in regional senior football? It stays open. The departing midfielder takes his time with an acceptance or rejection. His future is not yet planned, neither professionally nor privately. A very conscious choice, says the 37-year-old one day after his fabulous last city derby with the winning goal against GC.

“A new phase of life is dawning for me. First I want to turn off and shut down. It may be that I do nothing for a year except as a TV expert and just spend a lot of time with my family and my son (lives in Italy with his mother; editor’s note) spend,” says Dzemaili. He had officially submitted his resignation last week and therefore invited the media, who had followed him closely throughout his career, to the “Home of FCZ” for a resignation interview.

In addition to the supposed senior kicks, Dzemaili has already discovered a golf sport that he wants to do more than ever after retirement. His handicap is already 12. Making one on Gareth Bale, who now even plays PGA tournaments after his career, is not on the priority list at the moment. “My first golf teacher said I had great potential and I should start a career. Golfing is a passion of mine. But at the moment it’s a nice hobby,” Dzemaili assures.

A critical look at the football business

With his diploma in sports management, Blerim Dzemaili thinks more about a job at a club (“working for FCZ is not unlikely”) or as a player advisor – although he looks critically at this business: “Many consultants often promise the moon. My focus would be to really help a player, even with criticism.”

In any case, his professional backpack is full: 20 years of professional football – when Dzemaili plays against Lugano in the Letzigrund for the last time on Whit Monday, he has teammates around him who were not yet born when he made his FCZ debut. He played at the highest level for two decades and witnessed the huge transformation from football to big business.

Therefore, the conversation at the FCZ headquarters quickly turns to its beginning in July 2003. At the age of 17, the teenager from Zurich-Oerlikon played almost right back in the test against Kaiserslautern under coach Lucien Favre that the fans were the number 6 Dzemaili: «I thought I was just living a dream that will surely pass soon. As a junior I never saw myself as an exceptional talent.”

At the age of 14, Jung Blerim did not feel like playing football for a few months and preferred to spend time in neighborhood clubs. But then a coach convinces him to move to YF Juventus.

The rest is history. The FCZ quickly seizes the talent who becomes a professional at the age of 17 and a national player at the age of 19. Dzemaili shakes his head at the fact that players’ agents are already trapping 12-year-olds with hopes of a great career.

“Those were different times. There was no one at our U18 games, today everything is full of advisors. I signed my first contract with Axel Thoma alone.” Despite two championship titles and a cup win, this first contract remained unchanged until the move to Bolton: “That never bothered me. Because we often won, I earned more from the bonuses than from the monthly salary. »

GC also hunted the super talent

Axel Thoma (58), FCZ’s sports director at the time, called: he no longer remembers the numbers in Dzemaili’s apprenticeship contract – the youngster was doing an internship as an athlete in the office. But to something else. Thoma: «I absolutely loved taking him over from YF Juventus. Because GC and Winterthur were also very interested. The FCZ had done a lot for Dzemaili then. But after that he gave the club a lot back.”

The son of a working-class Albanian family from Macedonia becomes a Swiss football star. He can’t remember exactly when Dzemaili made his first million. With the first real money he has a house built for his parents to give something back: “My father even went to work for us on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Dzemaili does not live up to the cliché of the aloof football millionaire. tattoo? trendy hairstyle? golden steaks? Expensive cars? He doesn’t have it, does he? He smiles and shows a small tattoo dedicated to son Luan hidden under the watch.

But the hassle with the cliché doesn’t go far enough for him anyway. “Everyone can do what they want. As long as the performance on the field is good,” says Dzemaili. “You can treat yourself to something. I also owned a Ferrari once. But I quickly realized that this is not a car for me But flying to Ibiza for three days and leaving 100,000 francs behind: I’ve never done anything like that.”

Now only 90 minutes are missing until Dzemaili is football retired. Buddy Gezim Alija hopes that one day he will tie his shoelaces again as a senior at FC Thalwil. Because he can think of another argument with which he wants to make amateur golfer Dzemaili an amateur footballer: “There is also a driving range in Thalwil…”

Source : Blick