Danel Sinani ( sr-Cyrl, Данел Синани; born 5 April 1997) is a 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 winger for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, on loan from

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

to Gorani parents, he plays for the Luxembourg national team.

Club career

In Luxembourg

Sinani played club football in Luxembourg for

Racing FC Union Luxembourg Racing Fussball Club Union Luxembourg ( lb, Racing Fussball Club Union Lëtzebuerg), usually abbreviated to Racing-Union, is a football (soccer), football club based in Luxembourg City in southern Luxembourg. The etymology of the name originate ...

before joining

F91 Dudelange F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division. It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Dudel ...

in 2017. With the latter, he won two

Luxembourg National Division The National Division ( lb, Nationaldivisioun, french: Division Nationale, german: Nationaldivision) is the highest football league in Luxembourg. Until 2011, it was known as the BGL Ligue, after the Luxembourg Football Federation managed to sea ...

titles and the

Luxembourg Cup The Luxembourg Cup () is the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons during the German occupation during Second World War. W ...

. In November 2018, he scored the first ever goal for a Luxembourgish club in the group stage of a major European competition against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. In 2019, Sinani was given the Luxembourg Footballer of the Year award. It was his first award of the trophy, known as the Wanderpokal Challenge Guy Greffrath (Challenge Guy Greffrath Challenge Cup). In the summer of 2019, Sinani was offered a move to

R.E. Virton Royal Excelsior Virton is a Belgian association football, football club, based in the city of Virton, in Luxembourg (Belgium), Luxembourg province. The club will participate in Belgian National Division 1 from 2023–24 after relegation from Cha ...

, who play in the Belgian league, but he refused the deal. Later in the year, he scored two goals in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match against five time Europa League winners

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

. As of 2020, he has scored 13 goals in

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and Europa League matches. Sinani has scored 14 goals in 16 appearances in the

2019–20 Luxembourg National Division The 2019–20 Luxembourg National Division was the 106th season of top-tier association football in Luxembourg. The season began on 3 August 2019 and the last matches were played on 8 March 2020. F91 Dudelange were the defending champions of the l ...

, nine goals in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

, and 24 goals in 30 matches in all competitions.

Norwich City

In April 2020, he signed for

for the 2020–21 season. His contract is until 2023, and he is the first Luxembourgish Norwich City player. In August 2020, Sinani was loaned to Belgian club

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amat ...

for the season. On 28 July 2021, he joined

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

on a season-long loan. As part of the loan agreement with Norwich, Huddersfield have the option to sign him permanently at the end of the season. Sinani made his

debut as a late substitute in the 1–1 draw against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are both ...

on 6 August 2021. He made his full home debut against Everton in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

on 24 August 2021 when Huddersfield lost 2–1. Upon his return to Norwich he scored his first goal for the club in an

win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on 9 August 2022. He then scored his first league goal for the club in his next appearance, a 2–1 victory over former club Huddersfield Town at Carrow Road. On 31 January 2023, the last day of the 2022–23 winter transfer window, Sinani joined Championship side

on loan until the end of the season.

International career

Sinani made his international debut for

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in 2017.

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 ...

approached Sinani about representing them internationally, as his parents are from

Dragash Dragash or Sharr ( sq-definite, Dragashi or ''Sharri'') or Dragaš ( sr-cyr, Драгаш), is a town and municipality located in the Prizren District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Dragash has 1,098 inhabitants, while the ...

. Sinani refused the meeting to discuss it, as he sees Luxembourg as his home. Sinani scored three goals for Luxembourg during their

2018–19 UEFA Nations League D The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D was the fourth and lowest division of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associa ...

campaign.

Personal life

Sinani was born in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or ...

to ethnic Gorani parents from

. He moved to Luxembourg along with his family at the age of 5. He is the younger brother of Dejvid Sinani.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Luxembourg's goal tally first.''

Honours

Dudelange *

: 2017–18, 2018–19 *

: 2018–19 Individual * Luxembourgish Footballer of the Year: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinani, Danel 1997 births Living people Luxembourgian people of Serbian descent Gorani people Luxembourgian footballers Footballers from Belgrade Luxembourg international footballers Association football wingers Luxembourg Division of Honour players Luxembourg National Division players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players Racing FC Union Luxembourg players F91 Dudelange players Norwich City F.C. players S.K. Beveren players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Luxembourgian expatriate footballers Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium