Pajtim Kasami (born 2 June 1992) is a Swiss 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

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Super League Greece club Olympiacos.

Early career

Born in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, Switzerland to an

ethnic Albanian The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbi ...

family from Struga,

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, Kasami started his career in 2003 with Swiss club

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

before he joined

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

in Zürich in 2006. In the same year, he also briefly played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

on loan. On 2 February 2009, at age 16, he moved to

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

in the 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 Cop ...

. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Kasami was reported absent without leave and was due to play for the reserves that season.

Club career

Bellinzona

In December 2009, Kasami returned to Switzerland to play for

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

, signing a contract until 2011. He made his professional debut in March after his free transfer was cleared by

Swiss Football Association The Swiss Football Association (german: Schweizerischer Fussballverband, french: Association Suisse de Football, it, Associazione Svizzera di Football/Calcio, rm, Associaziun Svizra da Ballape) is the governing body of football in Switzerlan ...

. Lazio terminated his contract after Kasami failed to appear on several training sessions in the youth teams or first team, and it was due to his indiscipline that Lazio did not want to buy his rights from Grasshopper.

Palermo

On 7 June 2010, Palermo announced they had signed the midfielder in a five-year contract from Bellinzona. Despite his young age, he was immediately included in the first team and made his debut with a ''rosanero'' jersey as a second-half substitute in the first leg of the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began ...

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

against Maribor. He then made his Serie A debut later on 30 August, playing the entire home league game against Cagliari, which ended in a 0–0 draw. He concluded the season with 24 appearances: 14 in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

, 8 in

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 ...

and 2 in

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. Zamparini hailed Kasami as "the new Pastore".

Fulham

On 25 July 2011, Kasami signed for Fulham on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his début for Fulham as a late substitute in the 0–0 draw in their

clash with

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split, commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was founded on 16 April 1912 as Anarch, but has had se ...

. He was later in the starting line-up versus Dnipro on 18 August 2011, playing for 88 minutes and was greatly involved in the set up of all the 3 goals. Kasami made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

début on 21 August 2011 against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

at the Molineux Stadium. Fulham lost the match 2–0. Kasami almost joined Pescara on loan on 1 January 2013, but the move could not be finalised in time due to a bad internet connection. Kasami joined Luzern on loan until the end of the 2012–13 season on 15 February 2013. He made his debut in the 4–0 away defeat to

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

on 24 February 2013. He scored his first goal for Luzern in the 4–3 away victory over Servette FC in the final game of the 2012–13 season on 1 June 2013. Following his loan spell with Luzern came to an end, Manager Martin Jol revealed Kasami took a fifty per cent cut of his wage to stay at the club. He scored Fulham's first goal of the

2013–14 Premier League The 2013–14 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the Premier League, the top-flight English professional league for men's football clubs, and the 115th season of top-flight Engli ...

season in a 1–0 away victory against Sunderland. Kasami then scored his second goal of the season against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on 21 October; a dipping volley from the edge of the area, in a match that eventually ended a 4–1 away win to Fulham. This goal was nominated for the

FIFA Puskás Award The FIFA Puskás Award is an award established on 20 October 2009 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), at the behest of then-president Sepp Blatter, to be awarded to the male or female judged to have scored the mo ...

for the best goal of the year, the only one nominated from the Premier League. A third was added with a deflected free kick in a 2–1 win at Norwich on 26 December 2013.

Olympiacos

It was announced on 9 July 2014 that Kasami had signed for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

for a fee of €5 million. On 23 August 2014, he netted his first goal in his official debut as a player of Olympiacos in a 3–1 home win against Niki Volou. He scored again on 30 August 2014 against

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

in a 1–1 away draw. On 22 October 2014, Olympiacos pulled off one of the surprises of the Champions League night when they beat Juventus 1–0 in Piraeus with a first-half goal from Kasami. On 22 February 2015, Kasami experienced one of the most traumatic shocks in his life after the derby against Panathinaikos. On 11 March 2015, Olympiakos's Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira and Kasami were fined for their behavior after the team's

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

quarter-final 1–0 win over

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

. The disciplinary committee of the Greek soccer federation fined Pereira

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

9,000 and Kasami was ordered to pay €7,000 for making gestures to the crowd which incited trouble. After a successful 2014–15, which ended with

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

conquest, several reports in Italy are keep insisting that Kasami was likely to move to a

club and it is believed that

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

were the most favourable destination. Despite serious interest from Fiorentina,

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

and lately from Roma, Kasami did not complete his transfer on the deadline day. He scored his first goal for the 2015–16 season in a hammering 5–1 win against

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

. On 2 October 2015, media source stated that Olympiacos' former manager Vitor Pereira and midfielder Kasami were prosecuted for provoking episodes in the Greek Cup semi final against AEK Athens. The Deputy Prosecutor Giorgos Lainis prosecuted Kasami and Vitor Pereira. Αt the same time, the Football prosecutor former Sports Prosecutor Konstantinos Simitzglou had begun preliminary examination by calling witnesses in order to combine his case with the prosecution. The two men were close to facing criminal responsibilities and even go to trial. On 9 June 2017, Kasami was sentenced to eight months in prison (on parole) for their behavior. The Swiss-Albanian international central midfielder were punished by the Greek Justice for offensively provoking the supporters of AEK after the end of 2014–15 Greek Cup quarter final (0–1) between the two teams in the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

of Athens, after the lawsuit filed by the fan of home side, Christos Garifallou, and supported by their legal department.

Nottingham Forest

On 3 August 2016, Kasami became Nottingham Forest's seventh signing of the summer when he joined the reds on a twelve-month loan deal from

. On 27 August 2016, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 home win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. According to English sources, Kasami had expressed his wish to return to Olympiacos in January transfer window. The former Fulham star failed to hit the heights that were expected of him when brought to Nottingham by French manager

Philippe Montanier Philippe Jacques William Montanier (born 15 November 1964) is French professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Toulouse. As a player, he was as a goalkeeper. Early life Philippe Jacques William Montanier was b ...

, who had since been sacked. On 14 February 2017, Kasami's half-volley gave Forest an early lead in a 3–2 away loss against Fulham On 5 May 2017, Nottingham Forest announced that Kasami had returned to Olympiacos.

Sion

On 31 August 2017, Kasami signed a three year contract with Swiss club

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

for an undisclosed fee. During the 2018–19 season Kasami scored eight goals and made three assists in 20 appearances for Sion and as a result became the subject of transfer interest from

and Turkish club Fenerbahçe as well as fellow Swiss team

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

. On 20 March 2020,

's president

Christian Constantin Christian Constantin (born 7 January 1957) is a Swiss architect. He is the owner and president of Swiss football club FC Sion. He bought the club, which had previously neared bankruptcy and was relegated from the Swiss Super League, in 2003. Duri ...

terminated the contracts of all players without notice after they failed to agree to an 80% salary pay cut during coronavirus pandemic. Players such as Pajtim Kasami,

Johan Djourou Danon Issouf Johannes Djourou Gbadjere (; born 18 January 1987), known as Johan Djourou, is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a centre back. According to his profile on the website of his former club Arsenal, Djourou possesses ...

and

Alex Song Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong (born 9 September 1987), better known as Alex Song, is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays for Djiboutian side Arta/Solar7 as a central or defensive midfielder. He can also play as a central defender. ...

among others, wished to secure themselves legally with lawyers before agreeing to sign.

Basel

According to various news, Italian

club

Venezia F.C. Venezia Football Club, commonly referred to as Venezia, is a professional football club based in Venice, Italy, that currently plays in Serie B. Originally founded as Venezia Foot Ball Club in 1907, the club have spent a large part of their hi ...

had officially moved for the acquisition of the Swiss ex-international Kasami, however, the move never came into fruition. On 12 October 2020,

announced that Kasami joined them on a two-year deal. Kasami joined Basel's first team for their 2020–21 season under head coach Ciriaco Sforza. After playing in one test game Kasami played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the Kybunpark on 1 November 2020. He scored his first goal for the team in the same game, it was the last goal in the game, as Basel won 3–1 against

. He immediately became a regular starter, playing 32 games, scoring 12 in his first season. At the beginning of his second season with the club he was also regular starter under new head coach

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player who last worked as head coach for Basel. He played as midfielder or forward. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football skill playing with Nordstern Basel an ...

, but then after the winter break and following the change of trainer to Guillermo Abascal, Kasami was used mainly as substitute. Kasami left Basel after his contract expired. During his period with the club Kasaim played a total of 92 games for Basel scoring a total of 23 goals. 65 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 1 in the Swiss Cup, 13 in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on thei ...

and 13 were friendly games. He scored 16 goals in the domestic league, 2 in the Conference League and the other 4 were scored during the test games.

International career

Kasami was part of the Swiss under-17 team that won the 2009 World Cup. Whilst at Bellinzona, he earned a call-up to the Switzerland U21 team along with teammates Alessandro Ciarrocchi and Frank Feltscher, making his debut against Georgia U21 on 30 May 2010. Kasami was selected to represent Switzerland in the men's football tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics as part of the Swiss under-23 team. He played over 90 minutes in all three games in the tournament, but the team were knocked out, finishing in fourth position of their

Group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

. He made his debut for the Swiss senior team in a 1–0 win against Slovenia on 15 October 2013 and scored his first goal on 15 November 2013 in a friendly 2–1 defeat against South Korea. He scored his first competitive goal 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 ...

to put Switzerland up 5–0 in an eventual 7–0 win.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Olympiacos * Super League Greece: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

: 2014–15; runner-up: 2015–16

International

Switzerland U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

: 2009

References

External links

* * *
Switzerland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasami, Pajtim 1992 births Living people Footballers from Zürich Swiss men's footballers Switzerland youth international footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Switzerland Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Serie A players Premier League players Super League Greece players Liverpool F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zürich players S.S. Lazio players AC Bellinzona players Palermo F.C. players Fulham F.C. players FC Luzern players Olympiacos F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players FC Sion players FC Basel players Association football midfielders Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Swiss people of Albanian descent Swiss people of Macedonian descent Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England Switzerland international footballers