Lindon Selahi (born 26 February 1999) is a 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

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 ...

for

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 ...

. Born in Belgium, he represents the Albania national team.

Early life

Selahi was born in

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

, Belgium to an

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 from North Macedonia. He started playing football at the age of 4 with local clubs.

Club career

Youth career

Selahi started his football career in local clubs, he joined

UR Namur Union Namur, commonly known as UR Namur or Union Royale Namur, is a Belgian football club from the city of Namur. It plays in the third amateur division. The media simply refer to them as "Les merles." Until 2018, the team was known as UR Namur, ...

which played in the second division at this time, he regularly played with older boys and was captain of his teams. He was noticed by

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

staff and joined the club in 2011. He left the Walloon club to join

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

, then he joined

again in 2016. During his youth career at Standard Liège and Anderlecht, Selahi has played with many players of the talented 99-born generation, many of them became professional football players in and outside Belgium.

Standard Liège

In June 2016, Selahi signed his first professional contract with

. Selahi made his professional debut for Standard Liège in a 3-1

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

win over

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

on 10 May 2018.

Twente

On 6 June 2019, Selahi signed a two-year contract with an option of further one with the Dutch club

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

. He made his official debut in a league game against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

and scored his first Eredivisie goal on 25 October 2019 against FC Emmen.

Loan to Willem II Tilburg

On January 15, 2021, Selahi moved to Dutch club

Willem II Tilburg Willem II (), also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a Dutch football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. The clu ...

, on loan until the end of the season.

HNK Rijeka

On July 24, 2021, Selahi signed a 3 years contract for

, he arrived as a free agent.

International career

Lindon Selahi was born in Belgium, his family is of Albanian descent from

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

, his grandparents left

Kumanovo Kumanovo ( mk, Куманово ; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in North Macedonia and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia by population, largest municipali ...

in the late 1950s then moved to Belgium in the 1960s. Selahi's family still lives in Belgium today but is attached to the Albanian homeland, all of them speak perfect Albanian. Selahi was a youth international footballer for Belgium. He had the choice between several national teams: Kosovo, Albania, Belgium and North Macedonia but he chose to represent Albania and obtained an Albanian passport in 2018. Selahi also represented the Albania U17s in a pair of friendly tournaments in 2015. He made his debut with the Albanian U21 national team against Bosnia. In October 2019 he was called by the senior

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 ...

. He made his debut on 14 October 2019 in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Moldova. He substituted Keidi Bare in the 89th minute.

Career statistics

Club

Last update: January, 2023

International

Honours

Standard Liège *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2017–18 Belgian Cup, 2017–18

References

External links

Soccerway Profile
*
Fox Sports Profile

Standard Profile

Career stats
- Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Selahi, Lindon 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Namur (city) Albanian footballers from North Macedonia Belgian people of Albanian descent Belgian people of Macedonian descent Men's association football midfielders Albanian footballers Albania men's youth international footballers Albania men's international footballers Belgian footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Standard Liège players FC Twente players Willem II (football club) players HNK Rijeka players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Albanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Footballers from Namur (province)