Petrit Hoxhaj (born 5 February 1990) is a Dutch

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 PKC '83 in the Dutch

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into eleven divisions, six for Saturday clubs and five for Sunday clubs. These divisions correspond to the s ...

Career

In 1994, Hoxhaj's family fled from Kosovo to the Netherlands. He played in youth at amateur club FC Grootegast and since 2002 at FC Groningen. In 2003 his family was threatened with deportation. In 2009, he exchanged the youth academy of Groningen for

SC Veendam Sportclub Veendam () was a Dutch professional association football club based in Veendam, province of Groningen. Founded on 4 September 1894 as Look-Out, it became P.J. Veendam in 1909, Veendam in 1910, SC Veendam in 1974, BV Veendam in 1997 an ...

. Hoxhaj made his debut on 12 March 2010 against

Volendam Volendam () is a fishing town in the municipality of Edam-Volendam, province of North Holland, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2021, it has a population of 22,715. It is twinned with Coventry, England. History Originally, Volendam was the location o ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 82nd minute for Lars Lambooij. A year later, on 4 March 2011, the midfielder scored his first goal for Veendam in a 4–1 win against

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

. Hoxhaj played in the lower tiers of Dutch football, after leaving Veendam in 2012. First, he played one season for

WKE WKE (Woonwagenkamp Emmen ( en, Emmen Trailer Park)) is a football club from Emmen, Netherlands. WKE was founded on June 14, 1966 by residents of the local trailer park. The club won promotion to the Hoofdklasse in 1981. Since 1981, WKE have be ...

, before moving to

Be Quick 1887 Be Quick 1887 is a football club from Groningen, Netherlands. The club was established in 1887, and is currently playing in the Vierde Divisie. History 19th century Be Quick 1887 was founded on 4 October 1887 by students of a local gymnasiu ...

. He then joined Pelikaan-S who had recently been promoted to the ninth-tier

Vierde Klasse The Vierde Klasse ( en, Fourth Class) is the ninth tier of football in the Netherlands and the seventh tier of Dutch amateur football. This is the lowest league in the West II region. The league is divided into 64 divisions, 32 played on Saturday a ...

in March 2014. There, he would play alongside former professional players such as FC Groningen legend

Martin Drent Martin Drent (born 31 March 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a forward for SC Veendam, FC Emmen and FC Groningen. Playing career A big target man, Martin Drent started his career at amateur club GVAV-Rapiditas in ...

and

Kurt Elshot Kurt Elshot (born 3 July 1977) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He usually played as a defender in a right back position. He has formerly played for FC Groningen and NAC Breda. Club career Youth Elshot was born in Paramaribo, Surina ...

, and reach successive promotions. Following three years at the club, he moved to

VV Katwijk Voetbal Vereniging Katwijk is a Dutch football team founded in 1939, based in Katwijk, currently competing in the Dutch Tweede Divisie. History Katwijk have become Dutch amateur champions, by winning the overall Topklasse title in 2012–13. As ...

in March 2017. Already in April 2019 it was confirmed, at Hoxhaj would join ACV Assen in the Dutch

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

from the 2019–20 season. In April 2020, it was announced that he would join

club PKC '83 together with his brother Handrit Hoxhaj.

Personal life

After retiring from professional football, Hoxhaj continued working as an account manager at IT advisor Bossers & Cnossen in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

References

External links

* 1990 births Living people Dutch footballers FC Groningen players WKE players SC Veendam players Be Quick 1887 players VV Katwijk players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players Derde Divisie players Association football midfielders Dutch people of Kosovan descent Asser Christelijke Voetbalvereniging players {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub