Lirim M. Kastrati (born 16 January 1999) 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 ...

who plays as a winger for Croatian club Lokomotiva on loan from Fehérvár, and the Kosovo national team.

Club career

Lokomotiva

On 17 February 2018, Kastrati made his debut as a professional footballer in a 1–0 away defeat against Istra 1961 after being named in the starting line-up. On 10 March 2018, he scored his first two goals in a 4–1 away win over

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. On 16 September 2018, Kastrati scored the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of his career in a 5–2 away win over Slaven Belupo. On 17 February 2020, Kastrati signed a five-year contract with Dinamo Zagreb. He was sent back on loan to Lokomotiva for the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

. Four days later, he played the first game after the return against

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after being named in the starting line-up.

Dinamo Zagreb

On 5 August 2020, Kastrati returned to Dinamo Zagreb. His debut with Dinamo Zagreb came eleven days later in a 6–0 home win against his former club Lokomotiva after being named in the starting line-up. Five days after debut, Kastrati was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 0–1 away win against Istra 1961 after a rough tackle on Obeng Regan. On 26 August, he scored his first goal for Dinamo Zagreb in his third appearance for the club in a 2–2 away draw over

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

in Champions League qualifying, which Dinamo Zagreb won 6–5 after

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

and progressed to the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

. On 12 September, Kastrati scored his first league goal in the Eternal derby as Dinamo Zagreb defeated Hajduk Split 2–1 at

Stadion Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. ...

. On 22 October, he made his debut in a

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 ...

competition in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

after being named in the starting line-up. On 10 December, he scored his first European goal for Dinamo Zagreb in a 3–1 home win over

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

. During the second half of the

, Kastrati's inefficiency forced coach

Zoran Mamić Zoran Mamić (; born 30 September 1971) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player, and convicted fraudster. He was most recently the manager of Croatian First Football League club Dinamo Zagreb. He is a wanted criminal in Cr ...

and his successor

Damir Krznar Damir Krznar (born 10 July 1972) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of the Slovenian PrvaLiga side Maribor. Playing career Club Krznar spent his career playing for Varteks, Dinamo Zagreb ...

to drop him from the starting XI. On 25 April 2021, Krznar unexpectedly named Kastrati in the starting XI for another Eternal derby, this time at

Stadion Maksimir Maksimir Stadium ( hr, Stadion Maksimir, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. It takes its name from the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir. The venue is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top club of the country with 23 le ...

, which ended as a 2–0 victory with Kastrati scoring the second goal. After the game, Kastrati and Hajduk's coach

Paolo Tramezzani Paolo Tramezzani (born 30 July 1970) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. He was most recently the manager of FC Sion. Playing career Tramezzani was born at Castelnovo ne' Monti in Emilia. At the age of n ...

were a subject of controversy after Kastrati was seen giving Tramezzani his shirt.

Legia Warsaw

On 1 September 2021, Kastrati joined

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 ...

side Legia Warsaw. In same day later, the club confirmed that he had joined on a four-year contract and received squad number 7. His debut with Legia Warsaw came ten days later in a 1–0 away defeat against

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish f ...

after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Kacper Skibicki. On 15 September 2021, he scored his first goal for Legia Warsaw in his second appearance for the club in a 1–0 away win over

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

Fehérvár

On 29 August 2022, Kastrati signed a three-year contract with

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 Fehérvár and received squad number 10. His debut with Fehérvár came two days later in a 2–1 home win against

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( , sk, Kečkemét) is a city with county rights central part Hungary. It is the eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country's th ...

after coming on as a substitute at 66th minute in place of Funsho Bamgboye.

International career

Under-19

On 1 October 2017, Kastrati was named as part of the Kosovo U19 squad for 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifications. On 3 October 2017, he made his debut with Kosovo U19 in a match against Austria U19 after being named in the starting line-up.

Under-21

On 6 November 2017, Kastrati received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

matches against Israel U21 and Azerbaijan U21. On 14 November 2017, he made his debut with Kosovo U21 in a match against Azerbaijan U21 after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Mirlind Daku.

Senior

On 5 October 2018, Kastrati received a call-up from

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 ...

for the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competiti ...

matches against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. On 11 October 2018, he made his debut with Kosovo in a match against Malta after coming on as a substitute at 83rd minute in place of

Vedat Muriqi Vedat Muriqi (born 24 April 1994) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Mallorca and the Kosovo national team. Club career Teuta Durrës On 14 January 2013, Muriqi had a trial at Kategoria Superiore club ...

. He scored his debut goal and the only goal in the

2020–21 UEFA Nations League The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League was the second season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from Septembe ...

victory over

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

on 18 November 2020, saving Kosovo from relegation to

League D League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Personal life

Kastrati was born in Hogosht,

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...

(present-day Kamenica,

) to

Kosovo 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 ...

parents. He is in a relationship with Croatian model Anđela Šimac, with whom he has a daughter Indiah.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

''Scores and results list Kosovo's goal tally first.'' , - , align="center", 1 , 18 November 2020 , rowspan=2,

Fadil Vokrri Stadium The Fadil Vokrri Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri), previously known as Prishtina City Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi i qytetit të Prishtinës), is a multi-purpose stadium in Prishtina, Kosovo, which is used mostly for football matches and is the hom ...

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

, Kosovo , , align="center", 1–0 , align="center", 1–0 , 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C3 , align="center", , - , align="center", 2 , , 16 November 2022 , , , , align=center, 2–2 , , align=center, 2–2 , , Friendly , -

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb * Prva HNL:

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 ...

* Croatian Cup:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kastrati, Lirim 1999 births Living people People from the District of Gjilan Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's youth international footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Men's association football wingers Croatian Football League players Ekstraklasa players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Legia Warsaw players Fehérvár FC players