Ernest Muçi (born 19 March 2001) 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

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

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

and the Albania national team.

Early career

Muçi was born in Albania's capital

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

and started his footballing career at local club

Dinamo Tirana Futboll Club Dinamo Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital Tirana. They play in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football, in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1950 during the communist r ...

at the age of 15, before moving over to city rivals and the team he supported growing up,

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

. He initially joined the club's under-17s. He made his professional debut for Tirana as a 16-year-old on 28 January 2018 in a 3–0 win in the

Kategoria e Parë Kategoria e Parë is the second level of professional football in Albania, behind the Kategoria Superiore and above the Kategoria e Dytë. Format Kategoria e Parë was founded in 1930. It is made up of 14 teams. The 2 best ranked teams gain prom ...

against Shkumbini, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute for

Bedri Greca Bedri Greca (born 23 October 1990) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for KS Kastrioti in the Albanian Superliga. Club career Flamurtari Vlorë On 30 June 2015, Greca joined Flamurtari Vlorë on a one-year contra ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 3 March 2018 in a 4–1 win against Shënkolli, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Alked Çelhaka and scoring in the 78th minute to make it 4–0 for Tirana. He scored again later that same month, shortly after his 17th birthday against Apolonia, where he scored two goals in a 5-1 home win. He played 11 games, 6 of which were from the start, and scored 3 goals as Tirana won the 2017–18 Kategoria e Parë and achieved promotion back to

Kategoria Superiore The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

Kategoria Superiore

Muçi made his top-flight debut on 2 September 2018 in a 3–1 away loss to Kukësi, where he also scored in the 61st minute after coming on at half time for Yunus Sentamu. He struggled for game time in the first-team and only managed 8 league appearances and one goal as Tirana avoided relegation by 5 points. As he struggled for first-team minutes, he was a regular in the under-19s, where he scored 4 goals in 11 games to help Tirana finish 3rd in Group A of the under-19s league.

Legia Warszawa

On 23 February 2021, Muçi signed with Polish club

International career

Muçi begun his international career in September 2018 when Albania under-19 side manager Erjon Bogdani gave him a call-up for the friendlies versus

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He earned his first cap on 8 September and scored the match's only goal to give his side a 1–0 win in

Lushnjë Lushnjë (; in Lushnje's own dialect: ''Lushnje'' ; sq-definite, Lushnja) is a city and municipality in west-central Albania. It is located in the County of Fier. The total population is 83,659 (2011 census), in a total area of . History ...

. On the 4 September 2020 he was called in the Albania U21 team where he scored a brace against Austria U21. He made his debut for

Albania national football team The Albania national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e futbollit të Shqipërisë) represents Albania in men's international football, and is governed by the Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania. Albania co ...

on 15 November 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

Honours

Tirana *

: 2019–20 *

: 2017–18 Legia Warsaw *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muçi, Ernest 2001 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian footballers Association football forwards Albania youth international footballers Albania under-21 international footballers Albania international footballers KF Tirana players Kategoria Superiore players Ekstraklasa players Expatriate footballers in Poland Legia Warsaw players