Ahmed Januzi (born 8 July 1988) is an

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 ...

n 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 Kosovar club

Prishtina 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 and ...

. He previously represented Albania national team, collecting 8 appearances.

Club career

Early career

Ahmed Januzi was born in

Vučitrn Vushtrri ( sq-definite, Vushtrria) or Vučitrn ( sr-Cyrl, Вучитрн), is a city and municipality located in the Mitrovica District in northern Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Vushtrri has 26,964 inhabitants, while the muni ...

Kosovar 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. Growing up in Vučitrn, Januzi joined the city club,

KF Kosova Vushtrri KF Vushtrria is a football club based in Vushtrri, Kosovo. The club was founded in 1922, and currently play their home games at the Ferki Aliu Stadium in the city of Vushtrri which has a capacity of 6,000 supporters. The most notable players to h ...

. At the age of nineteen, Januzi joined

Albanian Superliga 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,

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 ...

as a senior.

Besa Kavajë

Januzi only played for half a season in Albania. He made thirty appearances and scored seven times. During the winter break, Januzi transferred to Vorskla Poltava in February 2007.

Vorskla Poltava

Januzi made his debut on 7 March 2007, against

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

at the Donbass Arena. He came off the bench on the 59th minute and scored on the 90th minute. In that season, Januzi made nine league matches, starting in only two of the matches. Vorskla finished thirteen that season. In the 2007–08 season, Januzi made twenty three league appearances, starting in only two matches. He scored his second goal for Vorskla against

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

away that season and produced three assists. Vorskla finished eighth that season. In the 2008–09 season, Januzi played a more influential role in the squad. He started in six matches and appeared in twenty. Januzi scored the first goal of the tournament on 18 July 2008 in the 72nd minute of an away match against

FC Kharkiv FC Kharkiv ( ua, ФК "Харків") was a professional football club based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After 2009–10 Ukrainian First League season the club was relegated to the Ukrainian Second League. However, they failed attestation when they sub ...

and also scored against

Metalurg Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

that season. Januzi also produced three assists. Januzi helped Vorskla reach the finals of the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

, which

Vorskla The Vorskla (; ) is a river that runs from Belgorod Oblast in Russia southwards into northeastern Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper. It has a length of , and a basin area of .Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

. He helped Vorskla reach fifth in the table, which secured them a spot in the Play-off round in the

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. It ...

for the 2009–10 season. In the 2009–10 season, Januzi started in eight matches and appeared in twenty four matches. He scored twice that season against

both home and away. Januzi also made two assists. In the 2010–11 season, Januzi was more a regular starter for Vorskla. He started in thirteen matches and appeared in twenty one matches. He scored eight goals and two assists that season. Januzi was an important member of the team since towards the end of the season, Vorskla and

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya ( uk, Спортивний клуб "Таврія") was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League making them ...

were both equal in the sixth and seventh spot on the table. Januzi scored against Shakhtar Donetsk and against Karpaty Lviv in the final two games, which resulted in both teams having equal points but Vorskla being sixth due to goal difference. They secured a Second qualifying round spot in the UEFA Europa League. In the 2011–12 season, Januzi has so far started in eleven matched and appeared in eighteen. He has currently scored five goals and has assisted one. Januzi has helped Vorskla reach the final qualification round of the UEFA Europa League by score trice against Glentoran F.C home and away. In the final qualification round, Januzi scored against

FC Dinamo București Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest. Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...

, resulting in Vorskla reaching the group stage of the UEFA Europa League for the first time in the group stage, Januzi did not score but managed an assist against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

Prishtina

On 14 June 2016, Januzi returned in Kosovo by completing a transfer to

, signing a one-year contract, taking the vacant squad number 27. He was presented on the same day along with players such as

Armend Dallku Armend Sabit Dallku (born 16 June 1983) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is a current manager of Dukagjini, he represented Albania at under-21 and full international level collecting 64 international senior caps ...

and

Debatik Curri Debatik Nazmi Curri (born 28 December 1983) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current assistant manager of Prishtina. From 2006 to 2015 he was also part of Albania national team, collecting 44 appearances ...

, his former international teammates. During the 2016–17 season, he made 18 league appearances and scored 2 goals as Prishtina finished runner-up in the championship, securing a spot Europa League first qualifying round.

International career

Under-21

Januzi was part of Albania under-21 squad in the qualifiers of 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He was the main striker, collecting six matches and scoring one goal. He made his under-21 debut on 28 March 2008 in the first match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

which finished in a 0–1 home defeat. His first under-21 goal came in his fifth appearance for the team in the 4–2 away loss to

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. Albania finished Group A in fourth place tied on points with

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 th ...

Senior

Januzi made his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

international debut on 17 November 2010 during the goalless home draw against Macedonia by appearing as a substitute in the second half. A year later, Januzi received his second call up by coach

Josip Kuže Josip Kuže (13 November 1952 – 16 June 2013) was a Croatian football manager and footballer. He was a player and later a manager of Dinamo Zagreb where he played for 10 years, making a total of 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals. Playing c ...

for the last

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

matches against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 7 and 11 October 2011 respectively. He played in both matches as substitute and collected 60 minutes, making his competitive debut in the process.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Januzi, Ahmed 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Vushtrri Kosovo Albanians Association football forwards Kosovan footballers Albanian footballers Albania international footballers Besa Kavajë players FC Vorskla Poltava players FC Prishtina players KF Llapi players Kategoria Superiore players Ukrainian Premier League players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine