Elvir Mehdi Maloku (born 14 May 1996) is an Albanian 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 Cypriot club

PAEEK PAEEK ( el, ΠΑΕΕΚ; short for Ποδοσφαιρική Αθλητική Ένωση Επαρχίας Κερύνειας, ''Podosfairiki Athlitiki Enosi Eparxeias Kerynias'', translated as "Football and Sport Union of Kyrenia District", lite ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

into an ethnic

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, Maloku passed through various clubs in his native region where he had started his career with NK Lokomotiva Rijeka in 2004 and moved in 2007 to NK Stari Grad Rijeka, before moving to the youth setup of the local

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

side

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

in early 2012. In the 2012–13 season, he was the top scorer of the club's under-17 team, scoring 13 goals in 26 appearances. In February 2013, Maloku had a successful trial at Italian giants

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

but talks over potential signing were ultimately called off.

Hajduk Split

In the summer of 2013, Maloku moved to

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

along with his younger brother Trojan. He made his first team debut on 28 August 2013 in his team's 3-1 away win against

NK Lokomotiva Zagreb Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb ( en, Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional association football, football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First ...

, coming in the 83rd minute for

Anton Maglica Anton Maglica (born 11 November 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Club career Osijek Born in Brčko, Maglica started his career playing at youth level for Orašje. After he moved to Osijek to attend high sch ...

. During his first two seasons under coach

Igor Tudor Igor Tudor (born 16 April 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. Tudor spent most of his playing career at Juventus, winning several trophies during that time. He ...

, Maloku was used mostly as a bench player. His pace would sometimes prove good in the last minutes of the game. When Damir Burić took over the club in 2015, Maloku made his way into the first lineup but after some bad performances, he was benched again and used as a substitute. Out of his 69 total caps for Hajduk, he made it only 13 times in the starting lineup and was used 35 times as a substitute. In only 4 matches during his Hajduk career, he managed to play the entire game for 90 minutes. After the end of the season, he was released by Hajduk and given the option to search for his new club.

Gimnàstic

On 18 July 2016, Maloku signed a four-year contract with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

club

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

. Then on 7 January, after being rarely used in the league, he was loaned to

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

until June 2018. On 23 August 2018, he was loaned out to

NK Aluminij Nogometni klub Aluminij ( en, Aluminij Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Aluminij or simply Aluminij, is a Slovenian football club from Kidričevo, playing in the Slovenian Second League. The club was founded in 1946. Honours ;Yugoslavi ...

for the rest of the season.

Olimpia Grudziądz

In September 2019, Maloku signed with Polish side

Olimpia Grudziądz Olimpia Grudziądz is a Polish football club from Grudziądz. The club was formed on 30 June 1923. Currently, Olimpia plays in the III liga, following their relegation from the II liga in the 2020–21 season. On 1 March 2022, thanks to defea ...

. His contract with the club was terminated on August 1, 2020.

Dečić Tuzi

Maloku spent the first part of the 2020-21 season without a club, before signing for

FK Dečić FK Dečić (Montenegrin Cyrillic: ФК Дечић, sq, KF Deçiqi) is a Montenegrin football club from Tuzi. Currently, the club is member of the Montenegrin First League. It is a part of Dečić sport society. History Founded during 1926, i ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

Opatija

In June 2021, Maloku was presented as a new

NK Opatija NK may refer to: Businesses *Imerys (Euronext ticker code NK) *Nordiska Kompaniet, a department store in Stockholm, Sweden *Northrup-King Seed Company *Spirit Airlines (IATA code NK) *NK.pl, a Polish school-based social networking service Places ...

player in June 2021.

International career

Croatia

Maloku was a Croatian youth international, playing for the under-17 team in the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

in the summer of 2013 and several matches for the under-19 team and the under-21 team.

Albania

He was eligible to play for

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 international level due to his parents origin. He accepted the invitation from head coach

Skënder Gega Skënder Gega (born 14 November 1963) is an Albanian retired football player and current manager. Playing career Club Gega played the majority of his career at Partizani, an Albanian team, whilst also having a two-year stint with German side ...

to play for

Albania national under-21 football team The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, which is held every two ye ...

in 2015, later stating that he intends to play for Albania at senior level should a chance arise. He was called up 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 ...

es against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

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 ...

on 12 and 16 June 2015 respectively, but his appearance for the team was thwarted by club duties with Hajduk Split. Following arrival of

Alban Bushi Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Albania under-21 and under-20 team. He is nicknamed "Loku". During his playing career he played as a striker. Bushi ...

as a head coach of Albania U21, Maloku was re-invited to Albania U21. In a press conference later, Bushi stated that Maloku would be given the Albanian citizenship to make him eligible for Albania U21 in the

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 ...

. Maloku was given the Albanian citizenship by president

Bujar Nishani Bujar Nishani (; 29 September 1966 – 28 May 2022) was an Albanian politician. He served as President of Albania from 24 July 2012 to 24 July 2017. Nishani was the youngest person to have been chosen as president of Albania, taking office at t ...

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Maloku was called up for the

against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the

opening match against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017. On 7 June 2017,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

granted Maloku clearance to start for Albania U21 in competitive matches. However, a day before the opening match of the qualifiers against Estonia U21, Maloku suffered a late injury which made him miss the match.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;Hajduk Split *

Croatian Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

Runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

;AEK Larnaca *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

Runner-up: 2016–17 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Elvir Maloku
at hajduk.hr * *
Elvir Maloku profile
at

FSHF The Albanian Football Association ( sq, Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. It organises the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the Fir ...

.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Maloku, Elvir 1996 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Croatian people of Albanian descent Association football wingers Croatian footballers Croatia youth international footballers Albanian footballers Albania under-21 international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers AEK Larnaca FC players NK Aluminij players Olimpia Grudziądz players FK Dečić players NK Opatija players PAEEK players Croatian Football League players Segunda División players Cypriot First Division players Slovenian PrvaLiga players I liga players Montenegrin First League players First Football League (Croatia) players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate footballers in Poland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Montenegro Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Montenegro