Kushtrim Lushtaku (born 8 October 1989) is a Kosovan 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder 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 acts as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

for Türkspor Neckarsulm.

Early life

Lushtaku was born in Skenderaj, SFR Yugoslavia but raised in Heilbronn,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Club career

He began his career with TG Offenau. After four years there, he joined FSV Bad Friedrichshall in summer 1998. He played for FSV Bad Friedrichshall for only one year. In July 1999, he signed for

VfR Heilbronn FC Heilbronn () was a German association football club based in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg formed in 2003 out of a merger between VfR Heilbronn () and Heilbronner SpVgg. In 2012 the club merged with the football department of Union Böckin ...

and moved after two years to city rival

FC Heilbronn FC Heilbronn () was a German association football club based in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg formed in 2003 out of a merger between VfR Heilbronn () and Heilbronner SpVgg. In 2012 the club merged with the football department of Union Böckin ...

. Lushtaku played for five years for

before joining TSG Backnang 1919 in summer 2006. After two successful years with TSG Backnang 1919 Lushtaku signed his first professional contract in the newly formed Kosovar Superliga for

KF Drenica KF Drenica ( sq, Klubi Futbollistik Drenica), commonly known as Drenica is a professional football club based in Skënderaj, Kosovo. The club plays in the Football Superleague of Kosovo, which is the top tier of football in the country. Players C ...

. In his first professional season he played 25 games, scored nine goals and rendered fifteen assists for his club.

1860 München

In summer 2009, he left

and signed a four-year contract with

TSV 1860 München A tab-separated values (TSV) file is a simple text format for storing data in a tabular structure, e.g., a database table or spreadsheet data, and a way of exchanging information between databases. Each record in the table is one line of the te ...

, on 30 July 2009.

Örebro

On 1 March 2011, Lushtaku signed with Allsvenskan team

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

. He made his competitive debut on 21 April by playing full-90 minutes as Örebro defeated 2–1 Häcken. His first goal came later on 13 June in the match against

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the ...

, where Lushtaku scored in the last moments of the match as Örebro won 4–2.

Kukësi

On 18 June 2014, Lushtaku completed a transfer as a free agent to Albanian Superliga side Kukësi by penning a one-year contract.

Flamurtari Vlorë

On 31 August 2016, Lushtaku joined Flamurtari Vlorë on the deadline day by signing a one-year contract with an option of a further one.

Return to Kukësi

On 1 September 2016, Lushtaku rejoined Kukësi as a free agent, signing a contract for the 2016–17 season. He made his return debut on 28 September 2016 by playing full-90 minutes in Kukësi 0–3 away defeat of Tomori Berat valid for the first leg of

2016–17 Albanian Cup 2016–17 Albanian Cup () was the sixty-fifth season of Albania's annual cup competition. Tirana won the title for the 16th time, becoming the most successful club in cup's history. Ties are played in a two-legged format similar to those of Europ ...

first round. His first league appearance came on matchday 9 against Luftëtari Gjirokastër where he played in the last 11 minutes of a 1–0 home win thanks to an Izair Emini winner. Lushtaku's first score-sheet contributions came later on 21 November in the match against

Teuta Durrës Teuta ( Illyrian: *''Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; grc, Τεύτα; lat, Teuta) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agr ...

, where he came as a substitute to score the winner in the last minutes of the match. His first match as starter came on matchday 16 where Kukësi stumbled into a 1–1 away draw against

Korabi Peshkopi KS Korabi is an Albanian football club based in Peshkopi, named after the nearby Mount Korab, which is the tallest mountain in Albania and North Macedonia. The club's home ground is the Korabi Stadium. History Early history The club was founde ...

, with Lushtaku scoring his team's only goal. Lushtaku's second part of season didn't go as expected, as he did not break through Ernest Gjoka's lineup, finishing the season with 19 league appearances, which only two of them were as starter, collecting 442 minutes as Kukësi won its maiden Albanian Superliga title. He also made 5 cup appearances, all of them as starter, as Kukësi were eliminated in quarter-finals by

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 ...

. On 29 May 2017, not happy with the playing time he was receiving, Lushtaku left the club by terminating his contract.

Trepça'89

On 5 June 2017. Lushtaku joined with

Football Superleague of Kosovo The Football Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Kosovar football ...

champions Trepça'89.

1. CfR Pforzheim

On 1 October 2017. Lushtaku joined

Oberliga Baden-Württemberg The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest association football league in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German foot ...

side

1. CfR Pforzheim 1. Club für Rasenspiele Pforzheim 1896 e.V., commonly known as 1. CfR Pforzheim is a football club based in Pforzheim, Germany. The club play in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg, which is the fifth tier of football in the country. History On 3 J ...

. On 7 October 2017, he made his debut in a 0–2 home defeat against

Bahlinger SC Bahlinger SC is a German association football club from the Kaiserstuhl town of Bahlingen, Baden-Württemberg. History The club was founded 16 June 1929 as ''FC Bahlingen'' and merged with ''TV Bahlingen'' in 1946 to form the present-day side ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Türkspor Neckarsulm

At the beginning of August 2019, Lushtaku joined

Bezirksliga The Bezirksliga ( en, County League) is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system. Structure Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations ...

side Türkspor Neckarsulm, he made his debut on 25 August against FV Wüstenrot after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's second goal during a 4–1 home win. At the beginning of September 2019, Lushtaku appointed as

and on 12 September, he had his first match as Türkspor Neckarsulm player-manager in a 2–1 away defeat against Aramäer Heilbronn.

International career

Under-21

Senior

On 7 September 2014. Lushtaku making his debut with

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 ...

in a

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

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

after coming on as a substitute at 72nd minute in place of Shpëtim Hasani.

Honours

Fortuna Köln *

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

: 2013–14 Kukësi * Albanian Superliga: 2016–17 Individual * Albanian Superliga Player of the Month: November 2014

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lushtaku, Kushtrim 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Skenderaj Kosovan emigrants to Germany Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Kosovo men's international footballers KF Drenica players TSV 1860 Munich II players Örebro SK players SC Fortuna Köln players FK Kukësi players Flamurtari FC players KF Trepça '89 players Allsvenskan players Kategoria Superiore players Regionalliga players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Albania Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Albania