Denni Robin Avdić (born Deni Avdić; 5 September 1988) is a Swedish 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

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Vasalunds IF Vasalunds IF is a Swedish football club based in Solna, Stockholm. The club is affiliated with Stockholms Fotbollförbund. History Vasalund was formed in 1934 and play in the Swedish Third Division: Division 1 Norra. In 2002 the club merged wit ...

. Beginning his professional career with

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

, he has gone on to play professionally in Germany for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

and in the Netherlands for

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

, and Heracles Almelo before returning to Sweden in 2016. He has won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Sweden national team.

Club career

Early career

Avdić was born in

Huskvarna Huskvarna (; formerly spelled ''Husqvarna'') constitutes the eastern part of Jönköping, a city in the Swedish province of Småland, and has a population of about 24,000. The distance to central Jönköping is about 5 km. The name Huskva ...

, Sweden. He was 15 years old he was signed by

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

club Brøndby IF. He played for Brøndby's reserve team in the

Danish 2nd Division East The 2nd Division ( da, Danmarksturneringens 2. division or Herre-DM 2. division) is a semi-professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Footb ...

– the third tier of Danish football – but did not play any senior games for the club. In 2006, Avdić was released by Brøndby, as he wanted to live closer to his family in Sweden.

IF Elfsborg

He was picked up by

in the Swedish Allsvenskan championship. When he was signed by Elfsborg, he was praised by Elfsborg officials as one of the greatest talents in Swedish football. Avdić made his debut for Elfsborg in November 2006. He played from the start in Elfsborg's first ever

Royal League The Royal League was an annual Scandinavian football tournament held three times between teams from the three Scandinavian monarchies (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), starting after the end of the regular domestic seasons of Norway and Sweden. De ...

match, and scored two goals in the 4–0 win over

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

. In the 2010 season of the Allsvenskan, Avdić changed position from attacking-midfielder to striker, his previous position as a youth player. He scored 19 goals, making him runner-up golden boot that season, after Alexander Gerndt who scored 20 goals. Due to this he was sold the same season for a transfer fee of £2 million to

Werder Bremen

On 3 January 2011, Avdić became Werder Bremen's first new signing of the winter, as confirmed by the website of the German Bundesliga club. He signed a contract until summer 2014. He featured only on rare occasions for the team during the 2011–12 Bundesliga season. due to his repeating injuries. Before his loan to

, Avdić played seven games in Bundesliga and 12 games for Werder's second team without scoring a single goal.

Loan to PEC Zwolle

On 29 August 2012, Avdić agreed to a loan to the Dutch football team PEC Zwolle in

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

until the end of season 2013. And he scored his first goal for the club in his fourth game as a substitute. On 17 February 2013, in his 14th game against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

, Avdić made the match-winning 3–2 goal for Zwolle, which also meant his seventh goal at the time. This made him at the time the second best Swedish goalscorer in the 2012–13 season, only beaten by

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

. Where experts claimed that he deserved a place in the

Swedish national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Fr ...

, due to Sweden's weak availability of good strikers.

AZ Alkmaar

In summer 2013, Avdić joined

. He made his debut on 30 October in a KNVB Cup match against Achilles '29, scoring two goals. AZ won the match with 7–0.

Loan to Heracles Almelo

On 15 August 2014, as a result of having no prospect with AZ, he was sent on loan to Heracles Almelo until the end of the season.

Return to Sweden

He signed with

in 2016, and was a part of the AIK team that won the

2018 Allsvenskan The 2018 Allsvenskan, part of the 2018 Swedish football season, was the 94th season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. A total of 16 teams participated. As the 2018 FIFA World Cup will start on 14 June, the last round before stopp ...

. In February 2019, joined

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish football club located in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and t ...

, newly promoted to Allsvenskan. He left the club at the end of the year. After a long time without a club he signed for

in March 2021. In March 2021, Avdić joined

International career

Avdić scored a total of 19 goals in 57 games for the Sweden U17, U19, and U21 teams, and was a part of the Sweden U21 squad that reached the semi-finals of the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

on home soil. He made his full international debut for Sweden on 28 January 2009 in a

friendly game Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States ...

against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Daniel Nannskog Daniel Paul Gustav Nannskog (born 22 May 1974) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker for Högaborg, Malmö FF, Djurgården, Assyriska, Sylvia, Landskrona BoIS, Sichuan Guancheng and Stabæk IF, as well as for ...

in the 66th minute.

Career statistics

Honours

IF Elfsborg * Allsvenskan: 2006 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

: 2007 AIK * Allsvenskan:

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 Unit ...

Individual *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

: runner-up 2010

References

External links

* *
Voetbal International profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avdic, Denni 1988 births Living people People from Huskvarna Association football wingers Association football forwards Swedish people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Swedish footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Sweden international footballers IF Elfsborg players SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players PEC Zwolle players AZ Alkmaar players Heracles Almelo players AIK Fotboll players AFC Eskilstuna players Vasalunds IF players Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Eredivisie players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Sportspeople from Jönköping County