Valon Ahmedi

Valon Ahmedi
Personal information
Date of birth (1994-10-07) 7 October 1994
Place of birth Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Maribor
Number 30
Youth career
–2011 Kastelbell
2011–2012 Südtirol
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2014 Südtirol 6 (0)
2014–2015 Celje 34 (5)
2016– Maribor 1 (0)
National team‡
2012–2013 Albania U19 7 (0)
2013–2015 Albania U21 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 May 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2015

Valon Ahmedi (born 7 October 1994) is an Albanian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Maribor in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. He was also part of the Albania national under-21 team.[2]

Career

Early career

Ahmedi was born in Ohrid, modern day Republic of Macedonia, to ethnic Albanian parents and was raised in Castellanza, Italy. He began his career with Kastelbell.[3] He moved to F.C. Südtirol in August 2011 after being spotted by the club's scout and was offered a place in the youth team.[4]

He made his senior debut for Südtirol on 22 December 2012 against Tritium during the 2012–13 season, coming on as an 89th-minute substitute for Alessandro Campo in the 1–1 draw.[5] His next and last senior appearance of the 2012–13 season came on 13 January 2013 against Pavia in a 2–1 loss, where he came on in the 67th minute of the game in place of Alessandro Furlan.[6]

Celje

In July 2014 Ahmedi signed with Slovenian PrvaLiga side NK Celje.[7] He made his debut in the opening match of the 2014–15 season against Zavrč playing the full 90-minutes.[8] He was considered as an important player for the team and regularly played for entire matches, and on 1 August 2014 he scored his first goal against Krka in the third round, helping his team to a 3–0 victory.[9] Ahmed had a three months break as he got injured in the start of the 2015 and missed out for two months until May 2015.

He finished his first season at Celje with 20 league appearances, scoring five goals. Celje finished as league runners-up and this made them to secure a place in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifiers.[10] Ahmedi also played five matches in the 2014–15 Slovenian Football Cup and scored one goal, as Celje finished runners-up losing to the final against Koper.[11]

He made his European debut on 2 July 2015 in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round against Śląsk Wrocław, where he played for 45 minutes before being substituted at the half-time for Sunny Omoregie.[12] In the second leg on 9 July, Ahmedi started from the bench and came in to play in the 79th minute in place of Danijel Miškić. The match ended in a 3–1 loss and it resulted in elimination of Celje 4–1 on aggregate.[13]

Maribor

He signed for Slovenian champions NK Maribor in January 2016.[14][15] He debuted on 20 April 2016 in a Slovenian Cup semi-finals against NK Zavrč, replacing Dare Vršič in the 64th minute. Maribor won the game 5–1 after extra time and secured a place in the final.[16]

International career

Ahmedi was eligible to represent Macedonia through birthplace, Italy through residence and Albania through his ethnicity.

Albania under-19

He caught the attention of the Albanian Football Association in 2012 with his performances in the youth team of Südtirol, and he accepted their invitation to the join Albania U19s for a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 on 8 May 2012, which he featured in from the start as a striker in the 3–1 win. Then, Ahmedi was called up against in August 2012 to participate with Albania U19 in a friendly tournament in Slovenia.[17]

Ahmedi was named in the Foto Strakosha squad for the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification from 12–17 October 2012 with opponents Italy U19, Belgium U19 and Belarus U19.[18] In the opening match of the tournament on 12 October 2012 against Italy U19, he made it his debut by playing as a starter and got substituted off in the 81st minute for Dardan Vuthaj in a 3–0 loss.[19] In the second match against Belgium U19 he was included in the starting line-up and played for 84 minutes as Albania U19 made a cruscial 3–1 victory.[20] In the closing match against Belarus, Ahmedi managed to play the full 90-minutes but, however, was unable to avoid a 2–0 loss which resulted in elimination for Albania U19, which finished in the last place in their group.[21]

Albania under-21

Following impressive performances in the under-19s national team as well as his club Südtirol, Ahmedi received his first call up for the Albanian under-21 national team for a friendly against Macedonia U21 on 6 February 2013.[22][23]

Ahmedi was called up for the first time in an official competitive match by the coach Skënder Gega for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification opening match against Liechtenstein on 28 March 2015, but he withdrew due to a latelly injury at Celje.[24]

Career statistics

Club

As of 21 May 2016.[25]
Season Club League League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2012–13 Südtirol Lega Pro 20————20
2013–14 4000——40
Total 60000060
2014–15 Celje Slovenian PrvaLiga 20551——256
2015–16 1401020170
Total 3456120426
2015–16 Maribor Slovenian PrvaLiga 1010——20
Total 10100020
Career total 4157120506

Honours

Maribor

References

  1. ↑ "Valon Ahmedi - osebni karton" [Valon Ahmedi - personal card] (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Valon Ahmedi" (in Albanian). Albanian Football Association official website. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. ↑ AHMEDI BESTREITET EM - QUALY MIT U-19 AUSWAHL ALBANIENS FC Südtirol - Alto Adige (German)
  4. ↑ Valon Ahmedi, dal Südtirol alla Nazionale albanese under 19 SportRentino.it
  5. ↑ Tritium vs. Südtirol - 22 December 2012 - Soccerway
  6. ↑ Pavia vs. Südtirol - 13 January 2013 - Soccerway
  7. ↑ Valon Ahmedi transferohet në NK Celje Yll Press
  8. ↑ Celje vs. Zavrč - 18 July 2014 - Soccerway
  9. ↑ Celje vs. Krka - 1 August 2014 - Soccerway
  10. ↑ Summary - 1. SNL - Slovenia - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway
  11. ↑ Summary - Cup - Slovenia - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway
  12. ↑ "Celje 0–1 Śląsk". UEFA.com. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Śląsk 3–1 Celje". UEFA.com. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Peter Dominko (13 January 2016). "V Ljudskem vrtu tudi Ahmedi" [Ahmedi also in Ljudski vrt] (in Slovenian). SNPortal.si. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  15. ↑ R. K. (12 January 2016). "Mozaik skorajda sestavljen: Ahmedi četrta okrepitev Maribora" [The mosaic almost complete: Ahmedi fourth reinforcement of Maribor] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  16. ↑ "NK Maribor – Zavrč 5:1 (2:1, 1:1)". NK Maribor official website. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  17. ↑ VALON AHMEDI CONVOCATO NELLA NAZIONALE U-19 ALBANESE FC Südtirol - Alto Adige (Italian)
  18. ↑ Per Ahmedi le qualificazioni agli Europei con l'u-19 Albanese FC Südtirol - Alto Adige (Italian)
  19. ↑ Match report – Under-19 2013 – Italy-Albania UEFA.com
  20. ↑ Belgium U19 vs. Albania U19 - 14 October 2012 - Soccerway
  21. ↑ Summary - UEFA U19 Championship - Europe - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway
  22. ↑ Valon Ahmedi convocato nella nazionale under-21 Albanese FC Südtirol - Alto Adige (Italian)
  23. ↑ Valon Ahmedi in u-21 Albaniens einberufen FC Südtirol - Alto Adige (German)
  24. ↑ Shpresat nisin kualifikimet kundër Lihtenshtajnit aSport.al
  25. ↑ Valon Ahmedi profile at Soccerway
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