Vedat Muriqi (born 24 April 1994) 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 le ...

who plays as a striker for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

and the Kosovo national team.

Club career

Teuta Durrës

On 14 January 2013, Muriqi had a trial at

Kategoria Superiore The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

club

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 ...

and after impressing in a friendly match signed a one-and-a-half year contract with the club. On 4 February 2013, he made his debut with Teuta Durrës in the 2012–13 Albanian Cup quarter-finals against Bylis after being named in the starting line-up. On 23 February 2013, he made his league debut in a 1–1 away draw against

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 ...

after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Daniel Xhafaj.

Loan at Besa Kavajë

On 5 January 2014, Muriqi was loaned out to

club

Besa Kavajë Besa or BESA may refer to: Arts & entertainment * ''Besa'' (newspaper), a newspaper published in Albania * ''Besa'' (TV series), a Serbian-British television series produced by Adrenalin and Red Planet Pictures * ''The Besa'', a novel by Albanian ...

until the end of the 2013–14 season. On 1 February 2014, he made his debut against Laçi after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Shaqir Stafa and scored his side's second goal during a 2–2 home draw.

Giresunspor

On 18 August 2014, Muriqi signed a two-year contract with

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. It was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing in the Turkish S ...

. On 14 September 2014, he made his debut in a 0–1 home defeat against

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a sports club based in Adana, Turkey. Founded by railway workers in 1940, the club is competitive in football, watersports, racquet sports and martial arts. Football team's thriving success at the Adana League and t ...

after coming on as a substitute at 78th minute in place of David Solomon Abwo.

Gençlerbirliği

On 31 May 2016, Muriqi signed a three-year contract with

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Gençlerbirliği. On 21 August 2016, he made his debut against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

after coming on as a substitute at 64th minute in place of

Cosmin Matei Cosmin Gabriel Matei (; born 30 September 1991) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Liga I club Sepsi OSK. Matei started out his senior career at Farul Constanța in 2008, and has since r ...

and scored his side's second goal during a 2–0 home win.

Çaykur Rizespor

On 11 January 2018, Muriqi signed to

side

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the TFF First League. The club was founded on May 19, 1953, with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team ...

. Ten days later, he made his debut in a match against

Manisaspor Manisaspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Manisa. Originally formed in 1931 as Sakaryaspor, the club changed its name to Manisaspor on 15 June 1965.Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side Fenerbahçe by signing for the next four seasons. One day later, the club confirmed that Muriqi had joined on a permanent transfer. On 19 August 2019, he made his debut against

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's second goal during a 5–0 home win.

Lazio

On 15 September 2020, Muriqi signed a five-year deal with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. On 17 October 2020, he made his debut in a 3–0 away defeat against

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, ...

after coming on as a substitute at 59th minute in place of

Felipe Caicedo Felipe Salvador Caicedo Corozo (born 5 September 1988) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Arabian club Abha. A full international from 2005 to 2017, Caicedo represented Ecuador at the Copa América in 20 ...

. Three days after debut, Muriqi played against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

in the

2020–21 UEFA Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defeat ...

to become the first player of the Kosovo national team to feature in the competition.

Mallorca

On 31 January 2022, Muriqi was loaned out to

club

until the end of the 2021–22 season. Mallorca reportedly paid a €1 million loan fee. His debut with Mallorca came two days later in the 2021–22 Copa del Rey quarter-finals against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

after being named in the starting line-up. Three days after debut, he made his league debut against

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's second goal during a 2–1 home win. On 22 July 2022, the clubs agreed on a permanent transfer and Muriqi signed a five-year contract with Mallorca.

International career

Under-21

Kosovo

In June 2013, Muriqi was named as part of the Kosovo U21 squad for 2013 Valais Youth Cup. On 12 June 2013, he made his debut with Kosovo U21 in 2013 Valais Youth Cup semi-final against Ghana U20 after being named in the starting line-up and scored the draw goal in the 41st minute.

Albania

On 15 October 2013, Muriqi made his debut with Albania U21 in a

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship started with a qualifying competition which began in March 2013 and finished in September 2014. The final tournament was held in the Czech Republic. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 31 Ja ...

match against Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Herolind Shala.

Senior

On 30 August 2016, Muriqi 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 a

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. On 9 October 2016, he made his debut with Kosovo in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Style of play and reception

Muriqi is known for his headers and strength. Former Turkish international and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

semi-finalist

Rüştü Reçber Rüştü Reçber (; born 10 May 1973) is a Turkish former professional footballer and a current sports executive. During his professional career, he played as a goalkeeper for Antalyaspor, Fenerbahçe, Barcelona and Beşiktaş. Rüştü was par ...

described Muriqi as an "ideal centre forward", praising his speed in confined spaces in field, aerial dominance, and his team play capabilities, in 2019. Former Turkish international and World Cup semi-finalist

Hakan Ünsal Hakan Ünsal (born 14 May 1973) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a left wingback. He achieved third place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup with Turkey national team. Career Hakan Ünsal is remembered by many for his rocket l ...

underlined his strength, ball containing and shooting abilities, in 2019. Okan Buruk, former Turkish international, World Cup semi-finalist and former Çaykur Rizespor manager who coached Muriqi stated that Muriqi dramatically improved during his latter season at club, due to his extra trainings, describing him ''reliable'' and labelling him "best forward in Turkey in that period". Former Turkish international and

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

Rıdvan Dilmen praised Muriqi, stating: "There are some forwards. They might be short and quick. Some are powerful. Some are tall, like

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...

, who can get the ball on ground. Muriqi possesses all

f these F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. His ...

If he could play alongside

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

, he could have scored 25 goals n a season, on 21 September 2019.

Personal life

Muriqi was born in

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

) to Kosovo Albanian parents. In addition to his Kosovan and

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 ...

citizenship, he acquired Turkish citizenship in July 2015 under the naturalized name Vedat Muriç.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Kosovo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Muriqi goal.''

References

External links