Ardit Hoxhaj (born 20 July 1994) is an Albanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for KF Vllaznia Shkodër.

Club career

Hoxhaj started his career with

Flamurtari Flamurtari FC is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Albania, and it is also on ...

in 2011. In the 2011–12 season he was part of under-19 squad. In the 2012–13 season as well he played for under-19 side but also featured in the first team under coach

Julián Rubio Julián Rubio Sánchez (born 28 January 1952) is a Spanish former football midfielder and manager. He appeared in 134 La Liga matches over six seasons (14 goals), mainly in representation of Sevilla. His professional career was closely associat ...

debuting in both competition Kategoria Superiore and

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

during the October 2012 and participating also in other 3 league matches and 1 in cup as an unused substitute. On 21 June 2016, Hoxhaj was sent on trial to

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. He successfully passed the trial, but however he did not sign a contract with the club due to high economic demand of Bylis. On 6 September 2016, Hoxhaj completed a transfer to

Skënderbeu , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

for an undisclosed fee, signing a contract until June 2019. His spell at the club was marred by his lack playing time, having appear only five times in the first part of the season, including two appearances in league, both as substitute, failing thus to make an impact. On 22 January 2017, Hoxhaj agreed personal terms and signed a two-year contract with Korabi, taking the vacant squad number 11. This turned out to be a fraud, however, as Hoxhaj joined Korabi only on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut in team's 0–1 home defeat to Laçi, as he went on to play 14 more appearances, all of them as starter, failing to score, as Korabi finished the season in the last spot with only 13 points, returning to

Kategoria e Parë Kategoria e Parë is the second level of professional football in Albania, behind the Kategoria Superiore and above the Kategoria e Dytë. Format Kategoria e Parë was founded in 1930. It is made up of 14 teams. The 2 best ranked teams gain prom ...

after one season. On 10 June 2017, Hoxhaj returned to

after four years on a long-season loan deal. He was presented six days later where his transfer was made official, stating: I'm happy to be back home. I'll give the maximum for my city's team. He made his first appearance of the season on 16 September in the 3–1 home win over Lushnja. He opened his scoring account later on 29 October by scoring the winner at Partizani. It was his fourth goal against the capital club, thus making his favourite opponent to score against. Hoxhaj played 27 league matches during the 2017–18 season, scoring twice, as Flamurtari finished in a disappointing 6th-place finish. Hoxhaj returned to his parent club Skënderbeu in June 2018. Having not played since May 2018, he made his first appearance of the season on 26 September by scoring in a 4–0 home win against Veleçiku in the second leg of

2018–19 Albanian Cup 2018–19 Albanian Cup () was the sixty-seventh season of Albania's annual cup competition. Skënderbeu are the defending champions. Kukësi won the title for the second time in their history. Format Ties are played in a two-legged format similar ...

first round; he was forced to abandon the match once again due to another injury. On 5 February of the following year, Hoxhaj announced his departure from the club, citing the lack of first team appearances as the main reason, thus becoming a free agent. On the same day, he also announced that he has joined fellow top flight side Luftëtari. However, due to the transfer being concluded five days after the end of winter transfer market, Hoxhaj become ineligible to play for his new side for the second half of 2018–19 season, as he was registered as Skënderbeu player. On 11 March 2019, Hoxhaj joined Kosovan club

KF Ferizaj Football Club Ferizaj ( sq, Klubi Futbollistik Ferizaj), commonly known as Ferizaj, is a professional football club based in Ferizaj, Kosovo. The club plays in the Football Superleague of Kosovo, which is the first tier of football in the country ...

. On 17 August 2020, Vllaznia announced to have signed Hoxhaj on a one-year contract.

International career

He was called up to the Albania under-21 team by coach

Redi Jupi Redi Jupi (born 31 May 1974) is an Albanian retired footballer. He played in the central midfield for KS Dinamo Tirana and has 19 caps for the Albania national team since his debut in 1995. Jupi is currently the manager of Albania U21 for the ...

for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament ...

closing match against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on 10 October 2016. He debuted for the under-21 national side against Israel replacing Uendi Vecaj at half time in a 4–0 loss.

Personal life

He has cited his role model and favourite footballer the Portuguese striker

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

, and he is also a fan of Italian club

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Bylis *

: 2014–15 ;Skënderbeu * Albanian Supercup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Ardit Hoxhaj
at the Albanian Football Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoxhaj, Ardit 1994 births Living people Footballers from Vlorë Albanian footballers Albania youth international footballers Association football forwards Flamurtari Vlorë players KF Himara players KF Bylis Ballsh players KF Skënderbeu Korçë players KF Korabi Peshkopi players KF Ferizaj players KF Vllaznia Shkodër players Kategoria Superiore players Kategoria e Parë players Football Superleague of Kosovo players