Enis Bardhi ( mk, Eнис Барди; born 2 July 1995) is a Macedonian 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

for Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

and the North Macedonia national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

to Albanian parents, Bardhi started his early career at KF Skupi. He later joined the

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

's youth system in 2013. In November of that year, however, he agreed to a one-year professional deal with

Swedish Football Division 2 Division 2 is the fourth level in the league system of Swedish football and comprises 84 Swedish football teams. Division 2 had status as the official second level from 1928 to 1986 but was replaced by Division 1 in 1987. It then had status a ...

club KSF Prespa Birlik. He featured in ten matches and scored five goals for the club during his spell, helping in their narrow escape from relegation.

Újpest

In August 2014, Bardhi moved to Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

club

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

on trial, and signed a three-year contract late in the month.

Levante

On 17 July 2017, Bardhi agreed to a three-year deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

for an estimated €1.5 million. He made his La Liga debut on August 21, starting in a 1–0 home win against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

. On 26 August, he scored his debut goal in the top tier, a

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either direct or indirect, distinguished as follows: ...

in a 2–2 home draw against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

Trabzonspor

On 12 August 2022, Bardhi moved to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

International career

Bardhi was born in Macedonia to a

Kosovar Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

family and was thus eligible to represent Macedonia,

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 ...

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 ...

. Bardhi desired to represent Albania, stating "''I do not believe there is an Albanian born in Skopje, with Albanian families, who would not want to play for Albania''".

Redi Jupi Redi Jupi (born 31 May 1974) is an Albanian retired footballer. He played in the central midfield for KS Dinamo Tirana and has 19 caps for the Albania national team since his debut in 1995. Jupi is currently the manager of Albania U21 for the ...

, who was appointed as scouting manager for the

Albanian Football Association 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 ...

, never approached Bardhi or responded to Bardhi's agents. With

Football Federation of Macedonia The Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM; mk, Фудбалска Федерација на Македонија, ФФМ; sq, Federata e Futbollit të Maqedonisë) or Football Federation of North Macedonia is the governing body of football in No ...

showing genuine interest and Bardhi viewing the

's handling of the situation and response as unprofessional, he accepted the call-up for Macedonia. However, Jetmir Salihu, a representative for the Albanian Football Association, dismissed Bardhi's claim, unveiling all the text messages between him and the player, showing that Bardhi was never interested in playing for Albania in the first place. He also accused the player of trying to damage the image of the association with the aim to be seen as a hero to

Albanian people The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...

, stating: "''Since 2010 I've had hundreds of such cases, footballers that have refused the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

and at the end they came out with such statements because they want to make FSHF guilty so they can win the sympathy of Albanians.''" Bardhi represented North Macedonia at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels before making his senior international debut on 27 March 2015, coming on as a first-half substitute for

Artim Položani Artim Položani or Pollozhani ( sq, Artim Pollozhani; mk, Артим Положани; born 25 June 1982) is a Macedonian professional footballer of Albanian descent who plays for Albanian club Skënderbeu Korçë. Club career Položani joi ...

in a 2–1

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

home loss against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. Bardhi was part of North Macedonia's

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

squad, starting in all three of their group stage games.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list North Macedonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bardhi goal''.

Honours

Újpest *

Szuperkupa The Hungarian Super Cup is an annual association football match between the League (Nemzeti Bajnokság I) champions and the Cup (Magyar Kupa) winners. Winners (*) due to violent incidents during the recent 1997–98 Magyar Kupa Final between ...

: 2014 *

Magyar Kupa The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Individual *

Macedonian Footballer of the Year Macedonian Footballer of the Year an annual title awarded to the best Football in North Macedonia, football player of the year in North Macedonia. Men's ;Best player (domestic) *2004: Aleksandar Vasoski *2006: Artim Položani *2011: Ferhan Hasani ...

: 2017

References

External links

Profile at Macedonian Football

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bardhi, Enis 1995 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Macedonian footballers Association football wingers KSF Prespa Birlik players Újpest FC players Levante UD footballers Trabzonspor footballers Nemzeti Bajnokság I players La Liga players Süper Lig players North Macedonia youth international footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers North Macedonia international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Albanian footballers from North Macedonia