Betim Halimi (born 28 February 1996) 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 le ...

who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Kosovo Superleague club

Prishtina 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 and ...

and the Kosovo national team.

Club career

Early career and Drita

Halimi was part of

First Football League of Kosovo The First Football League of Kosovo ( sq, Liga e Parë e Futbollit të Kosovës) is the second level of the Kosovar football league system. The First League is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo and the division currently has 2 groups ...

club Vllaznia Pozheran until 1 February 2016. On 19 January 2016,

Telegrafi ''Telegrafi'' is an Albanian language newspaper published in Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republik ...

announced that Halimi is in the test to U18 Premier League side Chelsea Academy, but unfortunately this test turned out to fail. On 1 February 2016, Halimi joined Kosovo Superleague side Drita, to replace the injured

Artan Latifi Artan Isa Latifi (born 5 April 1983) is a Kosovo Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current goalkeeping coach of London Soccer School. Club career Drita and KEK In 1996 Latifi began his career at Drita as a 13-year ...

and played 15 matches in the league.

Hajvalia

On 7 July 2016, Halimi joined Kosovo Superleague side

Hajvalia Hajvalia ( sq, Hajvalia, sr-Cyrl, Ајвалија) is a village or suburb southeast of Pristina, located 635 meters above sea level. It lies in the municipality of Prishtina. It has approximately 2,300 homes and 7 391 (2011) inhabitants. A smal ...

. On 21 August 2016, he made his debut in a 4–0 away defeat against Ferizaj after being named in the starting line-up.

Return to Drita

On 30 December 2016, Halimi returned to Kosovo Superleague club Drita and this return would become legally effective two days later. On 26 February 2017, he made his debut in a 1–1 away win against Gjilani after being named in the starting line-up.

Narva Trans

On 13 June 2018, Halimi joined

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

side

Narva Trans JK Narva Trans, commonly known as Narva Trans or just Trans, are a professional Estonian association football club based in Narva that compete in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Narva Kreenholm St ...

. On 21 August 2018, he made his debut with Narva Trans in the 2018–19 Estonian Cup third round against SK Kadrina after being named in the starting line-up. Seven days later, he made his first Meistriliiga appearance after coming on as a substitute at last minutes in place of Artur Kotenko in a 0–3 away win against

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

Olimpik Donetsk

On 27 February 2019, Halimi signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Ukrainian Premier League club

Olimpik Donetsk FC Olimpik Donetsk ( uk, «Олімпік» Донецьк ) is a Ukrainian inactive football team based in Donetsk, Ukraine. The club currently doesn't play in any Ukrainian competition due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since its prom ...

and received squad number 12. On 3 March 2019, he made his debut in a 0–1 home defeat against

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Prishtina

On 10 August 2021, Halimi signed a three-year contract with Kosovo Superleague club

. Seven days later, he made his debut with Prishtina in the

2021 Kosovar Supercup The 2021 Kosovar Supercup was the 30th edition of the Kosovar Supercup, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Kosovo Superleague and Kosovar Cup competitions. The match was played between Prishtina, champions ...

against Llapi after being named in the starting line-up.

International career

Under-21

On 21 March 2017, Halimi received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 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 Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tour ...

match against Republic of Ireland U21, he was an unused substitute in that match.

Senior

On 23 December 2019, Halimi confirmed that he received a call-up from

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 ...

for a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, but due to injury, could not be part of the national team. On 17 March 2021, he received again a call-up from

for the friendly match against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

matches against

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, but he was an unused substitute in these matches. On 11 June 2021, Halimi made his debut with Kosovo in a friendly match against

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halimi, Betim 1996 births Living people People from Viti, Kosovo Kosovan footballers Kosovo international footballers Kosovan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Estonia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Association football goalkeepers Football Superleague of Kosovo players FC Drita players KF Hajvalia players FC Prishtina players Meistriliiga players JK Narva Trans players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Olimpik Donetsk players