Armando Vajushi (born 3 December 1991) is an Albanian 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 last played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

or a winger for

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club Petrolul Ploiești. Vajushi made his senior debut for Vllaznia Shkodër in 2009, aged 17. He moved abroad to Bulgarian club

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

in January 2012, and three years later earned a transfer to Chievo in Italy. He did not make any appearances for the ''Gialloblu'' and spent the following seasons with stints in the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

, before returning to Albania with

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 Agro ...

in 2019. In 2020, Vajushi joined Petrolul Ploiești in Romania. Internationally, he registered his full debut for the Albania national team in a 0–4

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

loss to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in June 2011.

Club career

Vllaznia Shkodër

Vajushi is a product of the academies of his hometown club Vllaznia Shkodër, where he was part for 3 years before becoming professional. Vajushi made his professional debut for Vllaznia Shkodër in the

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 ...

against

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

on 16 July 2009, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Fetim Kasapi in the 5–0 loss. He made his league debut in the opening game on 23 August 2009 against

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 ...

, replacing Ansi Nika in the 72nd minute in the 2–0 loss. In UEFA.com's season review of 2010–11, Vajushi was the 'One To Watch' and described as "one of the hottest prospects in Albania" after a successful campaign in which he made 32 league appearances for Vllaznia Shkodër and earned his first full international cap with

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 ...

. He went on trial at

German Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

before the start of the 2011–12 season but Köln did not follow up their interest in the player as they deemed his €300,000 price tag too expensive. He even scored twice in a 7-0 friendly against Vorgebirgsauswahl and was described by manager

Stale Solbakken Staling, or "going stale", is a chemical and physical process in bread and similar foods that reduces their palatability - stale bread is dry and hard. Mechanism and effects Staling is not simply a drying-out process due to evaporation. One im ...

as being "very fast, even mentally" and that he was convinced in his ability.

Litex Lovech

On 3 January 2012, Vajushi joined

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

title holders

on a three and a half-year contract, for a fee of €100,000. He made his debut in a 3–0 home win over Vidima-Rakovski on 3 March, coming on as a substitute for Galin Ivanov. On 12 May, Vajushi scored his first goal, netted the fourth for Litex's 5–0 victory over Kaliakra Kavarna. On 2 March 2013, he scored two goals in the 0–2 away win over CSKA Sofia and a few days later he voted by journalists as the player of the

Bulgarian A Football Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

16th week. In the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Vajushi played in all 30 league games for Litex and finished the season with 9 goals. On 10 August 2013, Vajushi scored Litex's 1000th A PFG goal in a 5–1 away win over Pirin Gotse Delchev. Vajushi finished the first part of the 2013–2014 season with a total of 24 appearances (including 2 in the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

), 9 goals (were 8 goals scored in the league, positioning in 10th place in the League's rank of Top scorers and 1 goal scored in Bulgarian Cup), also a total of 9 assists, positioning in second place behind

Zdravko Lazarov Zdravko Lazarov ( bg, Здравко Лазаров; born 20 February 1976) is a Bulgarian professional football coach and a former player. Lazarov's professional playing career as a winger spanned nearly 30 years, during which he played for ...

on League's rank of Top assists. Litex were placed as runners-up in the League table and gained entry in the

Championship Group In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, who played with a total of seven teams. Vajushi finished the 2013–2014 season scoring in total 11 goals (including 1 in the

) in 33 appearances and Litex ranked 3rd in the league table, gaining entry to play 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 next season.

Italy

On 1 February 2015 Vajushi signed for Italian

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 ...

team

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Football in Italy, Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and o ...

becoming the second Albanian player to transfer in Italy during the Winter transfers window, after

Andi Lila Andi Lila (born 12 February 1986) is a former Albanian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder for the Albania national team. He was a versatile player, having played primarily as a right back early in his career as well as ...

who moved to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. On 20 July 2016, Vajushi moved to

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

Teuta Durrës

On 4 February 2019, Vajushi joined

on a contract for the rest of the season.

Petrolul Ploiești

On 22 January 2020, he signed for Romanian club Petrolul Ploiești.

International career

He made his international debut with the

Albania national under-19 football team The Albania national under-19 football team represents Albania in international football at this age level in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship and the FIFA U-20 World Cup, as well as any other under-19 international football tourna ...

in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (qualifying round) 2010 on 13 November 2009 in the opening match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, finished in the hard 5–0 loss in where Vajushi came in as a substitute in the second-half 59th minute in place of Edon Hasani. Vajushi was called up for the

Albania national under-21 football team The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, which is held every two ye ...

's closing match of the

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship started with a qualifying competition which began on 27 March 2009 and finished on 13 October 2010. The final tournament was held in Denmark between 11–25 June 2011. The first stage of the qualifyin ...

Group 10 Group 10, numbered by current IUPAC style, is the group of chemical elements in the periodic table that consists of nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), and darmstadtium (Ds). All are d-block transition metals. All known isotopes of darm ...

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 th ...

on 4 September 2010. He made it his debut for Albania U21 against Azerbaijan by coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute in place of

Ardit Shehaj Ardit Shehaj (born 23 September 1990) is an Albanian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for Kosovan club KF Flamurtari, Flamurtari Pristina in the Football Superleague of Kosovo. ...

and the match finished in the 3–2 loss. For the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2011 and 2012 to decide the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be held in Israel. The draw for ...

Vajushi played in 7 out 8 matches, all as a starter where he got substituted off in only 1 match, as Albania U21 came last trailing behind

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, with 1 win and 2 draws, 11 goals scored and 18 conceded. He made his international debut for Albania national football team on 20 June 2011 in a friendly match against

. Vajushi scored his first goal for Albania on 8 June 2014, playing as a starter against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

and scoring the second goal in the 32nd minute, also gave an assist for the opening goal scored by

Mërgim Mavraj Mërgim Mustafë Mavraj (born 9 June 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in Germany, he represented the Albania national team from 2012 until 2020. Mavraj previously played for Germany U21 team, as well ...

in the 28th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Individual *

Albanian Footballer of the Year Albanian Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the best professional Albanian footballer elected by Football Association of Albania members, coaches and captains of the Kategoria Superiore clubs. The award can also be given to a forei ...

: 2011 *

Albanian Superliga Talent of the Season The Kategoria Superiore Talent of the Year is an annual award given to the most talented player of the Kategoria Superiore by association "Sporti Na Bashkon". This award was established in the 2008–09 season. Winners Number of awards per play ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

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 ...

Player of the Month: February 2011

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vajushi, Armando 1991 births Living people Footballers from Shkodër Albanian footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Kategoria Superiore players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Serie B players Liga II players KF Vllaznia Shkodër players PFC Litex Lovech players A.C. ChievoVerona players U.S. Livorno 1915 players F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players U.S. Avellino 1912 players KF Teuta Durrës players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Albania international footballers Albania under-21 international footballers Albania youth international footballers Albanian expatriate footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate footballers in Romania