Blerim Džemaili ( sq, Blerim Xhemaili, ; mk, Блерим Џемаили; born 12 April 1986) is a Swiss 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 for
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
club
Zürich as a
midfielder.
He began his career at
FC Zürich
Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...
, where he won the
Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...
twice. He subsequently spent most of his career in Italy, making 280
Serie A appearances for
Torino,
Parma,
Napoli,
Genoa and
Bologna.
Džemaili made his debut for the
Switzerland national team in March 2006 and went on to make over 65 appearances. He was selected for their squads at the
FIFA World Cup in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
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 ...
, as well as
UEFA Euro 2016.
Childhood and early career
Džemaili was born to Fekredin and Shemije Džemaili, an
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
family
from
Bogovinje
Bogovinje ( mk, ; sq, Bogovinë /bɒgɒviːnə/) is a village in the municipality of Bogovinje, North Macedonia. It is a seat of the Bogovinje municipality.
Sports
The village also has a stadium home to FK Drita called Stadion Bogovinje.
Demogr ...
, in SFR Yugoslavia (now
North Macedonia). At age four, he and his family migrated to
Zürich, Switzerland.
At age nine, he joined youth club Oerlikon Zürich for one year before moving to FC Unterstrass. At age 14, Blerim moved to third league team
YF Juventus
Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus is a professional Swiss football club based in Zürich. It was founded in 1992 following a merger between Young Fellows Zürich (established in 1903) and Società Calcistica Italiana Juventus Zurigo (1922).
The ...
as a youth player before moving to
FC Zürich
Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...
in 2001. While with Zürich, Džemaili rose through the ranks and made the senior team at age 17.
In 2021, he revealed that he has been a fan of
A.C. Milan since childhood.
Club career
Zürich
Džemaili began his senior career with Zürich. In his first season, he made 30 appearances for the club, scoring twice and creating three assists. Džemaili played either as a central or defensive midfielder. In the 2004–05 season, he helped the club win the
Swiss Cup
The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...
. Džemaili imposed a strong influence on the field as he possessed accurate passing capabilities as well as a fast and aggressive approach to the game. This led Džemaili to taking the role of captain during the
2005–06. Džemaili was 19 when he was chosen captain and is one of the youngest captains in Swiss football history. Džemaili led his team to glory as Zürich won the
Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...
in the 2005–06 and
2006–07 seasons.
After winning the Swiss cup and league, Džemaili moved to
Premier League side
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
.
Bolton Wanderers
Džemaili signed a preliminary contract agreement with Bolton on 9 February 2007, meaning that he would sign for the
Premier League outfit once his contract expired in the summer of 2007.
Former Bolton manager
Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Blerim is a fantastic player, who has played for the best team in Switzerland for the past three years. For someone so young, he has a wealth of experience. At the age of 20, he is the skipper of FC Zürich and is expected to become a regular international for
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
in the years ahead. He has hardly missed a game for FC Zurich since he started playing for them at the age of 17. I am excited by the prospect of working with Blerim next season." Džemaili, however, sustained a rupturing cruciate knee ligaments and was out for six months. He made his debut as a substitute in the club's
FA Cup defeat to
Sheffield United in what proved to be his only showing of the
2007–08 campaign. He later insisted that he would not change anything about his time at Bolton following his season-long loan move to
Torino.
Torino and Parma
Džemaili joined Torino on a season-long loan deal, with an option to purchase outright, on 1 September 2008, making his debut with Torino on 24 September 2008, and became a staple fixture in their side for the season. In April 2009, Torino signed him outright from Bolton for €2 million. Torino announced that deal after their
relegation to
Serie B in June.
After having played just once for Torino at
Coppa Italia, Džemaili completed a loan move to
Parma on 31 August 2009, with an option to sign the 50% registration rights of the player at the end of season. In exchange,
Daniele Vantaggiato
Daniele Vantaggiato (born 10 October 1984) is an Italian footballer who plays for Livorno as a striker.
Career Bari
Vantaggiato started his career at Bari. He made his Serie B debut on 26 January 2003, against Triestina.
He was sold to Croto ...
moved to
Turin on loan. first and second halves of Džemaili's registration rights were then bought by Parma in the summers of 2010 and 2011
for a total fee of €7 million.
[Parma F.C. S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2011, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian)]
Napoli
On 25 June 2011, Džemaili was signed by
Napoli for €9 million
[ with ]Fabiano Santacroce
Whellington Fabiano Santacroce (born 24 August 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender in the centre or on the left. He was born in Brazil to an Italian father and an Afro-Brazilian mother, then spending his ...
(loan) and Manuele Blasi
Manuele Blasi (; born 17 August 1980) is an Italian former professional footballer who played a midfielder and now works as a coach.
Club career
Primarily a central midfielder, Blasi made his Serie A debut for A.S. Roma in a match against Piace ...
(free)[ going the other way to Parma. Džemaili has been a consistent performer so far for Napoli. Džemaili has been well received by the fans as he has scored twice and assisted once in eleven appearances in the Serie A.] His first was a right-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner following a corner in a match against Lecce
Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...
and his second was struck late to earn an equaliser as Napoli earned a point at Novara. Džemaili has also appeared six times in the UEFA Champions League group stages and helped Napoli into the final 16. At the end of his first season with Napoli, Dzemaili has made 28 appearances in the Serie A, scoring three times and providing four assists. On 25 March 2012, he scored a notable long distance goal against Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
.
Džemaili had appeared regularly for the side in the Coppa Italia, and played the entire match in the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
in which they defeated Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
2–0.
On 30 March 2013, he scored a hat-trick described by Goal.com as "spectacular", in a 5–3 win away at Torino. He netted the second goal in a 2–0 win against Genoa just a week later, making it four goals in two games. He also scored Napoli's third goal in a 3–0 win against Pescara on 27 April.
Džemaili was an unused substitute as Napoli won the 2014 Coppa Italia Final
The 2014 Coppa Italia Final decided the winner of the 2013–14 Coppa Italia, the 67th season of Italy's main football cup. It was played on 3 May 2014 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, between Fiorentina and Napoli. Napoli won the game 3–1, with ...
3–1 against Fiorentina.
Galatasaray
On 1 September 2014, Džemaili signed a three-year contract with Turkish Süper Lig team Galatasaray for a €2.35 million transfer fee. He signed a three-year contract, worth €2.4 million, €2.1 million and €2.1 million respectively.[
On 30 August 2015, Džemaili returned to Serie A to join Genoa on loan from Galatasaray. Galatasaray also bore €1.3 million of Džemaili's €2.1 million salary. On 27 September, Džemaili scored his first goal for the club with a direct free-kick that took a deflection off ]Giacomo Bonaventura
Giacomo "Jack" Bonaventura (; (born 22 August 1989) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Fiorentina and the Italy national football team.
Bonaventura started his senior career at Atalanta in the Serie ...
. This was the lone goal in a 1–0 win over Milan. On 18 October, Džemaili received his first red card for the club, after getting two yellows (47th and 55th minute) in a 3–2 win over Chievo.
Bologna
On 17 August 2016, Džemaili returned to Italy again for Bologna, who paid Galatasaray a €1.3 million transfer fee. He was booked in matchday 33 on 22 April, missing the match on 30 April with the club mathematically avoiding the relegation by having 13 more points than Crotone
Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...
with four matches remaining. Džemaili would join his new club Montreal Impact before the end of the Serie A season (and after Bologna secured the place of next season), making their 3–2 loss against Atalanta his last match.
Montreal Impact (loan)
On 9 December 2016, Montreal Impact president and Bologna chairman Joey Saputo
Giuseppe "Joey" Saputo (born September 25, 1964) is a Canadian businessman and the president of CF Montréal soccer team he founded in 1992, and Saputo Stadium, named after his family's dairy products company Saputo Inc. He is also the chairman ...
announced that Džemaili would join the Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(MLS) team on loan in the spring of 2017 as a Designated Player. On 9 May 2017, the loan was officially announced. On 19 January 2018, the Impact terminated the loan and Džemaili returned to Bologna. He had seven goals and 10 assists in 22 games for Montreal.
Shenzhen
On 31 January 2020, he transferred to Chinese club Shenzhen.
Zürich
In December 2020 Džemaili returned after 13 years to his youth club Zürich. He signed a contract for one and a half seasons.
International career
Džemaili made his debut for the Switzerland national team in a friendly match against Scotland on 1 March 2006. He was a member of the Swiss squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
without making an appearance.[
On 6 September 2013, Džemaili scored his first international goal from a penalty kick in a 4–4 home draw in a World Cup qualifier against Iceland.
On 2 June 2014, Džemaili was named in Switzerland's ]2014 World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
squad by national coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. In the team's second match, against France, Džemaili came on at half-time for Valon Behrami
Valon Behrami (born 19 April 1985) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Behrami was capped 83 times at international level by the Switzerland national team, playing at four FIFA World Cups, UEFA Euro 2008 and UE ...
and on the 81st minute, Džemaili fired a long-range, low free-kick which went through the three-man wall and beat France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris
Hugo Hadrien Dominique Lloris (born 26 December 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Tottenham Hotspur and the France national team. He is a three-time winner of the National Union of Professional Footbal ...
. He scored the first direct free-kick of the tournament in a 5–2 loss to France.
Džemaili scored his third international goal against San Marino on 10 October 2014 in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, heading-in Ricardo Rodríguez's corner to give the Swiss a 3–0 lead in an eventual 4–0 victory.
Džemaili scored twice for Switzerland on 10 June 2015, the second of which came from a direct free-kick in a 3–0 friendly victory over Liechtenstein at Stockhorn Arena in Thun.
Džemaili was part of the squad in Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
and 2018 World Cup qualification
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...
. He was included in the Switzerland national football team
The Switzerland national football team (german: Schweizer Fussballnationalmannschaft, it, Nazionale di calcio della Svizzera, french: Équipe nationale suisse de football, rm, Squadra naziunala da ballape da la Svizra) represents Switzerland ...
23 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
.
Style of play
During his time in Serie A, Džemaili differed from most other players in the attacking midfield
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
position due to his box-to-box approach to the role and hard-running style. Indeed, although he is effective as a ball-winner in front of the back-line who breaks down opposing plays, he is also capable of contributing to his team's offensive plays with goals and assists in a more advanced role, courtesy of his vision and eye for goal from midfield. He is also good at timing his runs, finding space, and getting into the box unmarked by making late attacking runs into the area from behind, and is a powerful and accurate striker of the ball from both inside and outside the area, which allows him to play as a mezzala
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
; he is also an effective penalty taker. Otherwise, Džemaili is tidy in possession and also has great passing range, usually completing around 90% of passes per game; moreover, he is known for his ability to switch the play with long balls. A versatile, consistent, tenacious, and tactically intelligent right-footed player, he is capable of playing in several midfield roles, and can adapt to various systems; aside from his usual offensive and holding midfield roles, he has also been used as a central midfielder in either a two or three-man midfield, as a deep-lying playmaker
In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...
, or even as a winger. In addition to his playing ability, he is also highly regarded for his leadership.
Personal life
In 2015, Džemaili married Shkoder-born Albanian model Erjona Sulejmani who, in the same year, gave birth to their eldest son, Luan. By January 2018, they were divorced.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Džemaili goal.''
Honours
Zürich
*Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...
: 2005–06, 2006–07
*Swiss Cup
The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...
: 2004–05
Napoli
* Coppa Italia: 2011–12, 2013–14
Galatasaray
* Süper Lig: 2014–15
* Turkish Cup: 2014–15
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
*
*
FC Zürich stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzemaili, Blerim
1986 births
Living people
Yugoslav emigrants to Switzerland
Swiss people of Albanian descent
Swiss people of Macedonian descent
Sportspeople from Tetovo
Swiss footballers
Association football midfielders
Albanian footballers from North Macedonia
Switzerland youth international footballers
Switzerland under-21 international footballers
Switzerland international footballers
2006 FIFA World Cup players
2014 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2016 players
2018 FIFA World Cup players
SC Young Fellows Juventus players
FC Zürich players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Torino F.C. players
Parma Calcio 1913 players
S.S.C. Napoli players
Galatasaray S.K. footballers
Genoa C.F.C. players
Bologna F.C. 1909 players
CF Montréal players
Shenzhen F.C. players
Swiss Super League players
Serie A players
Süper Lig players
Major League Soccer players
Designated Players (MLS)
China League One players
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate soccer players in Canada
Expatriate footballers in China
Swiss expatriate footballers
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Turkey