Samir Fazli ( mk, Самир Фазли; born 22 April 1991) 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 ...

who plays as a striker for

Turan Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...

in the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

Early life

Born in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

, Fazli lived in Canada for some time, attending Jasper Place High School in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

prior to his return to

in 2007.

Club career

Fazli began his career in the youth ranks of

FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov ( mk, ФК Македонија Ѓорче Петров), commonly referred to as FK Makedonija G.P. ( mk, ФК Македонија Ѓ.П.) is a football club based in the municipality of Ǵorče Petrov, in Skopje, ...

, then had trial for

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

at 16 years old, but a bid by them was considered far to low according to FK Makedonija's club president. He went on trial with Dutch-side

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

, On 13 March 2009, due to age restrictions, a deal could not be made for his move to Heerenveen, but he would remain in

and continue to play for his club there. Heerenveen's scout Dragan Putevski stated that "he's a big deal", adding that it was ''his best find to date''. Fazli was finally signed by the club for €200,000 on a contract that will keep him there until 2014. Fazli scored his first goal for Heerenveen on 19 March 2010. He came on as a substitute in the 81st minute and scored in the 90th minute as his team won 4–1 over NEC. He was released by SC Heerenveen in 2014 after his contract expired.

International career

Fazli also a regular for the Macedonia U-21s – he played his first game on 11 February 2009 against the Croatia U-21s. He was a member of the U-17 squad before his call-up to the U-21s. He made his senior debut for Macedonia in an August 2011

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 ...

away against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

and has earned a total of 7 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a June 2013 friendly against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in Oslo.

Personal life

Fazli holds passports from both

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 ...

and Macedonia.

References

External links

*
Voetbal International profile

Profile at MacedonianFootball
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fazli, Samir 1991 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Albanian footballers from North Macedonia Canadian people of Macedonian descent Association football forwards Macedonian footballers FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov players SC Heerenveen players Helmond Sport players FC Wil players NK Rudeš players KF Shkëndija players FC Turan players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Croatian Football League players Macedonian First Football League players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Croatia Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan North Macedonia international footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers