Ezgjan Alioski ( mk, Езѓан Алиоски; born 12 February 1992) 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 a winger or wing-back for 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 Fenerbahçe on loan from Saudi club Al-Ahli and the North Macedonia national team. He is commonly known as 'Gjanni'. A versatile left-footed player, he predominantly plays on the left wing, and can also play as

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

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 ...

, right wing,

left wing-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or as a left-back.

Club career

Early career

Having joined their youth academy in 2003, Alioski began his career as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in the second team of Young Boys from 2010 to 2013, where he scored four goals in 57 matches. In January 2013, he went to

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

on loan, before joining on a permanent transfer in October 2013, scoring four goals in 77 matches.

Lugano

He joined

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

on loan in January 2016, and made his debut on 13 February in a 2–1 loss against

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

. Despite signing him as a left back, then Lugano manager

Zdeněk Zeman Zdeněk Zeman (; born 12 May 1947) is a Czech-Italian football coach. Known for his exciting, offensive footballing tactics and use of the 4–3–3 formation, Zeman has managed numerous teams over the years, mostly in Italian football. He has ...

converted Alioski into an attacking

right winger A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and

towards the end of the 2015–16 season. He scored his first goal for the club on 11 May 2016 in a 4–0 win to

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. In June 2016, his move was made permanent. New manager

Andrea Manzo Andrea Manzo (born 5 November 1961) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Career Playing Manzo started his professional career in 1978 with Padova. He then played for a number of Serie A and Serie B teams, most notably Fiorentin ...

continued to play Alioski in the attacking roles once the season started. He scored his first goal of the campaign in his second game on 30 July 2016, in a 2–1 win over Young Boys. He scored seven goals in his first ten games at the club. On 19 April 2017, Alioski scored a hat-trick for Lugano in a 4–2 victory against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. He continued to impress during his first season and helped guide Lugano to a third-place finish in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

. He scored 16 goals in 34 games for Lugano and was the third top goalscorer in the league in the 2016–17 season, behind

Seydou Doumbia Seydou Doumbia (; born 31 December 1987) is an Ivorian professional association footballer who last played as a forward for Maltese Premier League club Ħamrun Spartans. After beginning his career in the Ivory Coast and Japan, he arrived in E ...

(20) and

Guillaume Hoarau Guillaume Hoarau (born 5 March 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Early career Hoarau started his football career at JS Saint-Pierroise in his native Réunion. In 1995, Le Havre AC scouts co ...

(18). He was also the third highest in the division in terms of his assists, after making 14 in his 34 games, behind

Yoric Ravet Yoric Ravet (born 12 September 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for French amateur club ES Manival. Club career Since childhood, Ravet was with Grenoble Foot 38, growing up in nearby Échirolles. He primarily pl ...

(17) and

Matteo Tosetti Matteo Tosetti (born 15 February 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays for AC Bellinzona. Club career Tosetti began his playing career with hometown club Losone Sportiva until a move to FC Locarno in 2005. There he rose through the y ...

(15).

Leeds United

Alioski was a part of

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

's return to the Premier League in 2019–20 after a sixteen-year wait, notwithstanding three seasons played in the second tier of English football. He scored important goals in the 2019–20 season.

2017–18 season

Alioski joined English club Leeds United on 13 July 2017. On 6 August 2017, he made his debut in a 3–2 victory against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and created the assist for teammate Chris Wood's goal. After gaining another assist, he received the man of the match award over

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 ...

in a 2–0 win on 19 August. On 26 August, Alioski received the man of the match award and scored his first goal for Leeds in a 2–0 victory against

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 ...

. On 15 September, Alioski won the Championship Goal of the Month Award for August for his goal against Nottingham Forest. In November 2017, Alioski scored in all of Leeds United's four games, and was awarded with the club's award for Player of the Month. On 16 April 2018, Alioski was nominated as one of four players for Leeds United's Player of The Year award. On 21 April, Alioski scored the winner with his seventh goal of the season in a 2–1 victory for Leeds in the Yorkshire derby against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He ended the season with seven goals and five assists. On 5 May, Alioski won the Goal of the Season award for his strike over Nottingham Forest at Leeds' annual award ceremony.

2018–19 season

He scored his first goal of the 2018–19 season with a goal on 11 August in a 4–1 victory of

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. Alioski started the season for Leeds as a winger playing on the right or left side, but after an injury to regular left-back

Barry Douglas Barry James Douglas (born 4 September 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ekstraklasa club Lech Poznań. After playing for Queen's Park and Dundee United F.C., Dundee United in Scotland, he joined Polish c ...

in 2019, Alioski was praised for his form playing at left-back, with his form keeping a returning Douglas out of the side. He continued to thrive in this wing-back position throughout 2019, producing marauding runs up the left flank and scoring against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, Bolton Wanderers and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

to bring his Championship tally for 2018–19 to seven, until, on 22 April, in Leeds' 2–0 defeat at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Alioski was substituted after twelve minutes with a torn

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

and missed the remainder of the season, including play-offs. During the 2018–19 season, Alioski played 47 games in all competitions, netting seven goals, after Leeds finished the regular season in third place after dropping out of the automatic promotion places with three games left following a loss to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 19 April. Leeds United qualified for the play-offs versus sixth-placed Derby County, with Alioski's season already ended by injury. Leeds won the first leg of the play-offs in a 1–0 win at

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are both ...

to bring into a 1–0 aggregate lead into the home leg at Elland Road. However, they lost the second leg 2–4, with

Gaetano Berardi Gaetano Michel Berardi (born 21 August 1988) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for Swiss club AC Bellinzona. He can also operate at left-back and centre-back. He has been capped at international level by Switzerland. Cl ...

being sent off. This setback resulted in Leeds losing 4–3 on aggregate.

2019–20 season

On 24 August, Alioski scored his first goal of the 2019–20 season in a 3–0 win over Stoke City. After the English professional football season was paused in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the season was resumed during June, where Alioski earned promotion with Leeds to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and also become the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

winners for the 2019–20 season in July following a successful resumption of the season. Alioski played an important part in the promotion, scoring important goals and changing games.

2020–21 season

Alioski played his first Premier League game on 19 September 2020, when he came on as a 70th-minute substitute for

Patrick Bamford Patrick James Bamford (born 5 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Leeds United and the England national team. Bamford began his career at Nottingham Forest, making his debut in December 2011, ...

in the team's 4–3 home win over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Three days earlier, Alioski had been in the starting line-up, scoring the only goal — in added time — in Leeds's 1–1

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

second round tie with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

(Hull went on to win 9–8 on penalties with Alioski missing his spot kick). He made his first Premier League start on 5 October 2020 against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, coming into the first eleven in place of Jack Harrison, who was ineligible to play against his parent club. On 16 December 2020, he scored his first Premier League goal in the 5–2 home win against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. Alioski scored his final goal of 2020 in a 5–0 away win over

. Alioski was offered a new contract at the end of the season, but was unable to reach an agreement with the club, thus departing the club after four years.

Al-Ahli

On 29 July 2021, Alioski signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli.

Fenerbahçe

On 2 August 2022, he signed a one-year loan contract with Fenerbahçe.

International career

Eligible to represent Macedonia 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 ...

due to his

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 ...

heritage, Alioski decided to represent the country of his birth, Macedonia. After representing Macedonia at various youth levels, he made his debut for the senior side in 2013. He scored his first international goal against Albania on 5 September 2016 in a

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match. He mainly played for his national side in a

position, before being converted to a more attacking midfield position. On 6 September 2018, Alioski scored in a 2–0 win over

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

. He scored in his country's next game on 9 September in a 2–0 UEFA Nations League win against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. In May 2021, Alioski was selected in the final 26-man squad to represent North Macedonia at the postponed

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 ...

, marking the country's first appearance at a major tournament. During North Macedonia's opening fixture of the tournament against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, immediatedly after striker

Marko Arnautović Marko Arnautović (; born 19 April 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Bologna and the Austria national team. Arnautović began his career in his native Austria playing in the youth teams for a ...

(who is half-

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

) scored, Arnautović angrily shouted towards Alioski and teammate

Egzon Bejtulai Egzon Bejtulai ( mk, Егзон Бејтулаи; born 7 January 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays for KF Shkëndija and North Macedonia national football team as a defender. Club career International career Bejtulai is o ...

–both of Albanian descent–what were believed to be anti-Albanian slurs.

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 ...

released a statement calling for action by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Personal life

Alioski is

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. He can speak Albanian, English, French, German, Italian, Macedonian and Spanish. He has citizenships of North Macedonia and Switzerland.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 14 November 2021. North Macedonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Alioski goal.''

Honours

Leeds United *

: 2019–20 Individual *

Team of the Year: 2016–17 *EFL Championship Goal of the Month: August 2017 *

Goal of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Ezgjan Alioski
at Macedonianfootball.com
Ezgjan Alioski
at

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alioski, Ezgjan 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Prilep Macedonian footballers Association football fullbacks BSC Young Boys players FC Schaffhausen players FC Lugano players Leeds United F.C. players Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Swiss Challenge League players English Football League players Premier League players Saudi Professional League 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 Switzerland Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Albanian footballers from North Macedonia