Yksel Osmanovski (Macedonian Cyrillic: Иксел Османовски,
Iksel Osmanovski) (born February
24, 1977 in Skrävlinge, Malmö
) is a former
Swedish
football forward. His parents originate from the region of
Prespa
Lake
, Republic of Macedonia
and he is of Turkish
descent. He is the first
Muslim to
represent Sweden in football. He has played 14 international
matches for the
Sweden
national team, and was a squad player for the
Euro 2000. He played for
Malmö BI and
IFK Malmö as a child,
but joined
Malmö FF in 1987 where he
eventually made his debut in 1995. He gradually became a star in
the
Swedish league, and was bought by
Italian
Serie A outfit
AS
Bari. After three seasons he moved on to
Torino Calcio, but struggled to capture a
first team place. He therefore returned to Malmö FF in 2004.
Yksel grew
up in Rosengård
, where fellow Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović also grew
up. In an early interview, Zlatan said that "within a few
years, I'll play in Italy, and eventually the national team. I want
to follow in Yksel's footsteps. We know each other, even if he is
four years older than me. I got his autograph when he started
playing for Malmö FF, when I played in Malmö BI. When he came to
Rosengård and played and dribbled with us kids, we were all
shouting "Yksel, Yksel, Yksel!" -
Ibrahimović, in
2000
In February
2008, Yksel announced his
retirement from professional soccer.
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