Besart Ibraimi (

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

: Бесарт Ибраими; born 17 December 1986) is a Macedonian 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

Struga Struga ( mk, Струга , sq, Strugë) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The nam ...

Early life

Born in

Kičevo Kičevo ( mk, Кичево ; sq, Kërçovë) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, located in a valley in the south-eastern slopes of Mount Bistra, between the cities of Ohrid and Gostivar. The capital Skopje is 112 km away. The ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

to Albanian parents. he is Macedonian by nationality. Ibraimi began playing football in his hometown

for the youth of FK Vëllazërimi.

Club career

Ibraimi began his professional career 2005 with FK Vëllazërimi, earning 32 caps and scoring 11 goals, before joining

FK Napredok FK Napredok ( mk, ФК Напредок) is a football club from Kičevo, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Third League (West Division). History The club was founded in 1928, under the name ''Jadran''. After Worl ...

in January 2007. He played for

for one season, 2007–08, playing 43 games and scoring 19 goals. In September 2008, he signed for

FK Renova KF Renova ( mk, ФК Ренова) is a Association football, football club based in the village of Džepčište, Tetovo Municipality, North Macedonia. They recently competed in the Macedonian First League. History FK Renova was founded in 2003 ...

. He left Macedonia and his club

on 12 January 2010 for German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

. He made his Schalke debut on 6 February 2010 in an away game against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

coming on in the 77th minute as a substitute. Ibraimi only made six appearances for the first team of Schalke 04 before he was transferred to the Schalke 04 II team in the summer of 2010. Ibraimi could participate in training with Schalke 04 II but since he is a non EU player, he could not play in league games for Schalke 04 II. After a half year, he signed on 26 January 2011 with the Ukrainian club

PFK Sevastopol FC Sevastopol ( uk, ФК «Севастополь») was a Ukrainian football club based in Sevastopol. The club was a spiritual descendant of the Soviet clubs from Sevastopol such as Chaika Sevastopol. After the completion of 2013–14 Ukrainian ...

. In January 2014, Ibraimi ended his contract with PFK Sevastopol and joined the Cypriot club Enosis Paralimini. After showing his impressive qualities in Enosis Paralimini all "the elite" clubs in Cypriot First Division ran after Besart Ibraimi, he finally decided to move to Ermis Aradippou where he signed a contract for one year. He made his debut with Ermis Aradippou on 1 September 2014, in the 56th minute of the match against Apollon Limassol.

International career

Ibraimi chose Macedonia over Albania because, according to him, Macedonia is much more important. He did not and did not want to have anything to do with Albania. Ibraimi is a former member of the U-21 team. He made his senior debut for

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

in a September 2009

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match away against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and has earned a total of 15 caps, scoring no goals.Appearances for (North) Macedonia National Team
- RSSSF

Honours

Shkëndija * Macedonian First Football League: 2017–18, 2018–19 * Macedonian Football Cup: 2015–16, 2017–18 Individual *

Macedonian Footballer of the Year Macedonian Footballer of the Year an annual title awarded to the best Football in North Macedonia, football player of the year in North Macedonia. Men's ;Best player (domestic) *2004: Aleksandar Vasoski *2006: Artim Položani *2011: Ferhan Hasani ...

: 2009, 2016 Top Goal scorer **20/21 Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga - 24 Goals **17/18 Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga - 22 Goals **16/17 Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga - 20 Goals **15/16 Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga - 25 Goals

References

External links

Profile
at MacedonianFootball.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibraimi, Besart 1986 births Living people People from Kičevo Albanian footballers from North Macedonia Association football forwards Macedonian footballers North Macedonia international footballers FK Vëllazërimi 77 players FK Napredok players FK Renova players FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players FC Sevastopol players SC Tavriya Simferopol players FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia players Enosis Neon Paralimni FC players Ermis Aradippou FC players KF Shkëndija players Macedonian First Football League players Bundesliga players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Cypriot First Division players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Xanthi F.C. players