Veldin Hodža

Hodža had spent six years in Croatia's youth system — U17 through to U21, thirty caps in all, twenty-one of them at U21 level, and a place in the squad at the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Then, in 2025, he opted for Kosovo. FIFA approved the change on 2 September 2025, and six days later he came off the bench in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Sweden, which Kosovo won 2-0.

He had been at HNK Rijeka since he was six, joining the youth set-up in 2008 and making his senior debut in October 2020. The path to regular football ran through the lower reaches: a loan to Orijent 1919 in the winter of 2021 brought 30 appearances and a goal, and a spell at Hrvatski Dragovoljac in early 2022 added 16 more. He went back to Rijeka that June on a contract to the summer of 2024.

That second stint is where the numbers changed. Hodža made 70 league appearances and scored eight goals , five of them in the 2023/24 season alone — and the one that priced him out of Rijeka's reach.

On 12 September 2024 he signed a four-year deal with FC Rubin Kazan. Nogomania and Fiuman.hr both put the fee at €3.0 million.

Some databases credit him with Rijeka's 2019/20 Croatian Cup. He did not play in that competition; his senior debut came the following October.