Veton Berisha (born 13 April 1994) is a Norwegian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

. His parents are 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 ...

and he is the younger brother of

Valon Berisha Valon Berisha (born 7 February 1993) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for A-League club Melbourne City, on loan from Ligue 1 club Reims, and the Kosovo national team. He previously represented Norway at youth a ...

. Berisha has represented Norway at every level from under-15 to full international level.

Club career

Berisha was born in

Egersund Egersund is a town in Eigersund municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is located along the southwestern coast of Norway, about south of the city of Stavanger. The town is situated along a strait which separates the mainland from t ...

, and started his career in the local club

Egersunds IK Egersunds Idrettsklubb, commonly known as Egersund or EIK, is a Norwegian sports club from Egersund in Rogaland. The club has sections for football, handball and athletics, and is most known for its football team, which plays in the 2. divisjon, ...

. He was considered one of the biggest Norwegian talents at his age and, like his brother

Valon Valon is an Albanian male given name meaning "wave" (Albanian:''Valë'') or more particularly "waving" as an adjective. People * Valon Ahmedi (born 1994), Albanian football player * Valon Behrami (born 1985), Swiss football player * Valon Berisha ...

, Veton was on a trial with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

before he signed for

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in May 2009, but did not join the club until the summer of 2010. He made his debut for Egersunds' first-team in 2009 against Hundvåg, and in total he played 21 matches for the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

side. After joining Viking, Berisha trained with the first team in the pre-season ahead of the 2011 season, and made his debut for the club when he replaced

Erik Nevland Erik Nevland (born 10 November 1977) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently the sporting director of Viking FK. He played for clubs in Norway, England, Sweden and the Netherlands, and earned eight c ...

after 60 minutes in the first round of the 2011 Norwegian Cup against his old club Egersund. Berisha got his first minutes of playing-time in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

in the 1–3 loss against

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

on 19 May 2011, and started his first match for Viking when Brann was beaten 3–0 on 17 June 2011. On 19 June 2011, Berisha and his brother Valon became the first brothers to start a match for Viking in 22 years since

Jan Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

and

Egil Fjetland Egil Fjetland (born 12 August 1962) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a forward for Vidar and Viking, where he won the Norwegian Cup and Tippeligaen. He is the twin brother of Jan Fjetland. Club career Fjetland was born in Stavanger ...

played against

in the 1989 Norwegian Cup final. After the match, Viking's manager

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football manager and player, currently managing Malmö FF as the interim manager. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich ...

said that "It's fun to start the game with two brothers, I only wish they could pass the ball to others than themselves, as it would create a lot more chances for us, but since they are brothers I guess we can forgive them. In the match against Aalesund on 17 July 2011, Berisha got his first league-goal when he scored the match-winning goal 12 minutes after he came on as a substitute to replace

. During the mid-summer break in the 2012 season, Berisha expressed a concern about his lack of playing time; he had only played 69 minutes in the league that season and his last appearance in Viking's starting line-up was on 7 August 2011. But Berisha was hoping for a fresh start after

Kjell Jonevret Kjell Jonevret (born 28 June 1962) is a Swedish football coach and a former player. Managerial career Jonevret managed Djurgårdens IF between 2004 and 2006. During his time in Djurgården, he led his team to the double, winning both the Allsv ...

was hired as the new head coach following Hareide's departure. In the fourth round of the 2012 Norwegian Cup, Berisha scored Viking's first goal after only one minute on the pitch, but Brann eventually won 3–2. On 15 July 2012, Berisha secured Jonevret his first victory as Viking-coach, when he scored the match-winning goal in the stoppage-time against

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008, ...

. On 22 April 2013, it was reported that Berisha fractured his right elbow and would be absent for two months. After scoring 11 goals in 14 matches halfway through the 2015 season, Berisha joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side Greuther Fürth on a free transfer on 1 July 2015. On 1 September 2017, he signed a three-year contract with Austrian club

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

. On 30 March 2019, he returned to Norwegian football, signing a four-year contract with Brann. In January 2020, Berisha joined his former club Viking for a reported fee of around NOK 6.5 million. He signed a four-year contract with the club. On 23 July 2022, Berisha transferred to

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

in the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, signing a four and a half-year deal. The transfer fee was reportedly set at around 20 million

Norwegian kroner The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''øre ...

, making it a record breaking transfer for Hammarby. In total, Berisha made 15 competitive appearances for Hammarby, scoring four goals, helping the side to reach a 3rd place in the 2022 Allsvenskan table. On 24 January 2023,

announced the signing of Berisha to a four-year contract. He was sought out as a replacement for David Datro Fofana and the transfer fee was reportedly set at around 35-40 million Swedish kronor, with potential bonuses included.

International career

Berisha played one match for Norway U15 in 2009, and the next year he played nine matches for Norway U16 where he scored three goals. In 2011, he again scored three goals in nine matches while representing his country, this time for the under-17 team. Berisha made 14 appearances and scored eight goals for Norway U18. He represented the under-19 team twice in 2013, scoring one goal. Between 2013 and 2016, he played 17 matches and scored two goals for the under-21 team. On 29 May 2016, he made his debut for the senior national team of Norway in a match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He scored his first goal for Norway on 5 June 2016 against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Like his brother

, he was approached by

when they became FIFA members in May 2016. However, unlike his brother who elected to represent Kosovo, he decided to keep representing

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 t ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Berisha goal.''

Honours

Molde *

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berisha, Veton 1994 births Living people People from Egersund Kosovo Albanians Norwegian people of Kosovan descent Norwegian people of Albanian descent Norwegian men's footballers Kosovan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Norway men's international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Eliteserien players Allsvenskan players 2. Bundesliga players Egersunds IK players Viking FK players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players SK Rapid Wien players SK Brann players Hammarby Fotboll players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Footballers from Rogaland