Atdhe Nuhiu (; born 29 July 1989) is a Kosovan 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 ...
who plays as a
forward for
Austrian Bundesliga club
SC Rheindorf Altach
Sportclub Rheindorf Altach, also known as Rheindorf Altach, SCR Altach or simply SCRA, is an Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently also known as CAS ...
.
Club career
SV Ried
On 31 August 2009, on the deadline day, Nuhiu completed a transfer to
SV Ried
SV Ried is an Austrian association football club from Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. After being relegated from Bundesliga in the 2016–17 season, SV Ried ...
on loan for the
2009–10 season. He scored his first goal for the team on 23 September 2009 in team's 1–1 away draw at
Austria Wien, just eleven days after making his debut in a losing effort against
SV Mattersburg
SV Mattersburg was an Austrian association football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland.
History
The club was formed in 1922 and played its home games at the 17,100 capacity Pappelstadion. The club played in the Bundesliga since the 2003– ...
.
Rapid Wien
On 8 June 2010, Nuhiu joined fellow
Austrian Bundesliga side
SK Rapid Wien
Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...
on a three-year contract with an option of a further one.
His salary was reported to be €1.2 million per season, plus various bonuses depending on his performances.
He choose squad number 15, and made his competitive debut on 22 August in the Bundesliga matchday 5 against SV Mattersburg, partnering his patriot
Hamdi Salihi in an eventual 2–0 home win. Nuhiu opened his scoring account later on 13 November by scoring a last-minute equaliser against the same opponent, with the match ending 2–2.
Sheffield Wednesday
2013–14 season
Nuhiu signed a three-year contract on a free transfer for Sheffield Wednesday on 25 July 2013. On 3 August 2013, Nuhiu scored on his debut against
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
. Nuhiu also scored in the comprehensive 6–0 win over
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
on 11 January 2014. On 1 March 2014 he scored against
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
from penalty spot in a match finished in the victory 1–0. On 12 April 2014, Nuhiu scored twice to give his team a 3–3 draw against
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
, where he was included in the starting line up and scored respectively the 2nd goal in the 72nd minute and the 3rd in the 5th minute of second-half stoppage time. Nuhiu scored in the next consecutive fixture on 17 April 2014 against
AFC Bournemouth finished in the victory 2–4, where Nuhiu scored the opening goal of the match in the 16th minute. He continued his scoring form for another consecutive match, as he scored in the 3–2 home defeat of Sheffield Wednesday against
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
on 21 April 2014, where Nuhiu scored a quick goal in the 3rd minute and also gave the assist for the second goal scored by
Chris Maguire in the 8th minute.
2014–15 season
On 23 August 2014, Nuhiu scored twice in the 2–3 victory against
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
, helping the team to extended their unbeaten Championship start to four matches. On the last day of the season, Nuhiu scored an important stoppage-time equalizer which meant opponents
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
came second and Bournemouth won the league. During this season, Nuhiu was Sheffield Wednesday's top scorer with 11 goals in all competitions.
2017–18 season
On the final day of the 2017–18 season, Sheffield Wednesday defeated Norwich 5–1 for the second successive year in a row and in that game Wednesday won a penalty in the remaining minutes of the game and Nuhiu scored and completed the hat-trick and got his first hat-trick in his professional footballing career. That goal made Nuhiu Wednesday's top scorer at the end of the season. In May 2018, he signed a 2 year contract extension running through May 2020; Nuhiu left Wednesday after the end of the 2019-2020 season.
APOEL
On 11 September 2020, it was announced that he had signed for Cypriot club
APOEL
APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...
. After one season his contracted was terminated on 18 June 2021.
Rheindorf Altach
On 30 June 2021, Nuhiu signed a two-year contract with
Rheindorf Altach, marking his return to the Austrian Bundesliga. He made his competitive debut on 17 July, in the first round of the
2021–22 edition of the
Austrian Cup, also scoring his first goal in a surprising 2–1 loss to third-tier
Regionalliga side
SC Kalsdorf. He made his league debut in a 1–0 defeat to
LASK
Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Footbal ...
at home a week later on 24 July, where he played 63 minutes before being replaced by
Noah Bischof. His first goal came against his former club Rapid Wien on 15 August, a converted penalty-kick in injury time to secure a 2–1 win.
International career
Nuhiu has played for the
Austria U21 side, however on 10 September 2009 he made declarations to the media that he would not play for
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, but rather for
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
as it is his dream to play for his own nation.
In addition, when he scored two goals against the
Albanian U21s in a qualifier match, he refused to celebrate. On that occasion he was wearing red-and-black boots to honor
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. In an interview in April 2014, Nuhiu declared that it is his only intention to play for Austria, although he admitted that he had been in talks with other associations previously. On 7 November 2014, Nuhiu reiterated his desire to play for Austria, should a call-up arise.
On 18 November 2010, Nuhiu stated in an interview to the media that the problem with playing for Albania was citizenship, as he had
Austrian citizenship
Austrian nationality law details the conditions by which an individual is national of Austria. The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Law, which came into force on 31 July 1985.
Austria is a member state of the Europ ...
and to receive
Albanian citizenship he needed to give it up, as Austria did not permit
dual citizenship
Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...
.
[.:Presheva.com Web Portal:. - Atdhe Nuhiu: Shpresoj të jem së shpejti pjesë e Kombëtares Kuq e zi](_blank)
Media reported that he was called by the coach of Albania,
Gianni de Biasi
Giovanni "Gianni" De Biasi (, sq, Xhovani "Xhani" De Biazi), born 16 June 1956 is an Italian football coach and former player. He holds dual Italian and Albanian citizenship. De Biasi was the first coach of the Albania national team to lead t ...
, for the friendly match against Armenia, on 14 August, but De Biasi did not include him in the final call up. However, on 20 August 2013 media reported that Nuhiu had started the procedures to get an
Albanian passport
The Albanian passport ( Albanian: ''Pasaporta e Shqipërisë'') is a travel document issued by the Ministry of Interior to Albanian citizens to enable them to travel abroad. They are also used as proof of identity within the country, along with ...
in order to be able to represent the senior Albania national team in the future.
Kosovo
On 19 September 2014, Nuhiu returned declaring that he would play for
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, when it was fully recognised by
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
and
FIFA. On 20 September 2016,
Muharrem Sahiti, the assistant manager of
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, said that Nuhiu was in Kosovo to complete the procedures of the
Kosovo passport. On 4 January 2017, Nuhiu announced that he had received
Kosovo citizenship and is ready for the next challenge. On 20 March 2017, he received a call-up from Kosovo for a
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...
match against
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, made his début after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's only goal during a 2–1 defeat.
On 16 May 2021, Nuhiu through an
Instagram post announced his international retirement. He collected 19 caps between 2017 and 2020 for Kosovo and scored three goals.
Personal life
Atdhe Nuhiu was born on 29 July 1989 in
Pristina
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
to
Albanian parents originally from
Preševo.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Kosovo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nuhiu goal.''
, -
, style="text-align:center", 1
, 24 March 2017
,
Loro Boriçi Stadium
The Loro Boriçi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi "Loro Boriçi"), previously known as Vojo Kushi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Vojo Kushi) is a multi-purpose stadium in Shkodër, Albania, which is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Vllazn ...
,
Shkodër, Albania
,
, style="text-align:center", 1–2
, style="text-align:center", 1–2
,
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...
,
, -
, style="text-align:center", 2
, 10 September 2018
,
Fadil Vokrri Stadium
The Fadil Vokrri Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri), previously known as Prishtina City Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi i qytetit të Prishtinës), is a multi-purpose stadium in Prishtina, Kosovo, which is used mostly for football matches and is the hom ...
,
Pristina
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...
, Kosovo
,
, style="text-align:center", 2–0
, style="text-align:center", 2–0
,
2018–19 UEFA Nations League D3
,
, -
, style="text-align:center", 3
, 14 November 2019
,
Doosan Arena,
Plzeň, Czech Republic
,
, style="text-align:center", 1–0
, style="text-align:center", 1–2
,
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...
,
References
External links
*
Sheffield Wednesday profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuhiu, Atdhe
1989 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Pristina
Kosovo Albanians
Kosovan emigrants to Austria
Austrian people of Kosovan descent
Austrian people of Albanian descent
Association football forwards
Kosovan footballers
Kosovo international footballers
Austrian footballers
Austria youth international footballers
Austria under-21 international footballers
FC Wels players
SK Austria Kärnten players
SV Ried players
SK Rapid Wien players
SC Rheindorf Altach players
Austrian Football Bundesliga players
Eskişehirspor footballers
Süper Lig players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
English Football League players
APOEL FC players
Cypriot First Division players
Austrian expatriate footballers
Kosovan expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in England
Austrian expatriate sportspeople in England
Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in England
Expatriate footballers in Cyprus