Elizabeta "Liz" Ejupi (born 21 April 1994) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for English club

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. She has previously played for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

(two spells),

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

London City Lionesses London City Lionesses is a fully professional women's association football club based in Dartford, England. The team competes in the Women's Championship, the second tier of English women's football. The club was founded in May 2019, as an i ...

, and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

. Born in Kosovo and raised in England, she represented England as a youth and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at full international level while still a teenager, with an intended switch to the Kosovo national team in 2021 delayed due to documentation issues.

Club career

London City Lionesses

On 18 August 2019, FA Championship club

published the squad list for the 2019–20 season and Ejupi was included. That same day, she made her debut in a 2–0 away win against

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Durham

On 23 July 2021, Ejupi signed a one-season contract with FA Championship club

. On 29 August 2021, she made her debut in a 2–1 home win against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Sunderland

In January 2023, Ejupi left Durham and joined

International career

England U15 and Albania

In 2009, Ejupi became part of England U15 with which she made her debut in a match against Germany U15. On 5 November 2011, she received her first senior international call-up from

for the

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 Macedonia, and made her debut in the nation's second ever international match after being named in the starting line-up.

Kosovo

On 11 June 2021, Ejupi 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 four-day training camp in

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 ...

. She was planned to be called up from Kosovo in September 2021 for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process determines 30 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand qualifying automatically. It is the ninth FIFA Women's World Cup, ...

matches against

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, but due to problems with documentation, namely the lack of

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

, could not be part of the national team. Her debut with Kosovo came on 12 April 2022 in a 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification match against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

after coming on as a 46th minute substitute in place of Argnesa Rexhepi.

Personal life

Ejupi at the age of three together with her parents and brother due to the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

was displaced as a refugee in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ejupi, Elizabeta 1994 births Living people Footballers from Pristina Kosovan women's footballers Kosovo women's international footballers Kosovan expatriate women's footballers Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in England Albanian women's footballers Albania women's international footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in England English women's footballers English people of Kosovan descent English people of Albanian descent Women's association football forwards FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Women's Championship (England) players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players Notts County L.F.C. players Aston Villa W.F.C. players London City Lionesses players Durham W.F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. Women players Dual internationalists (women's football)