Arian Kabashi (born 26 September 1996) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born

Kosovar Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo (, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars (), constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-group of Ghegs, who inhabit the north of A ...

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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

club

Botev Vratsa Botev () is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Si ...

Club career

Sion

On 5 July 2020, Kabashi made his debut as a professional footballer in a 2–1 away defeat against St. Gallen after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Jean Ruiz.

Lahti

On 26 July 2022, Kabashi joined

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

side

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

until the end of the season. Three days later, he made his debut in a 1–1 home draw against

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

after coming on as a substitute at 66th minute in place of

Arlind Sejdiu Arlind Sejdiu (born 11 August 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Finnish club Haka. Born and raised in Finland, Sejdiu represented both Finland and Kosovo at youth international level. Club career On 7 September 202 ...

EIF

On 11 March 2024, Kabashi signed with newly promoted Veikkausliiga club

Ekenäs IF Ekenäs Idrottsförening (abbreviated EIF or Ekenäs IF) is a sports club from Ekenäs, Raseborg in Finland. EIF was formed in 1905 and they are one of the oldest clubs in the south-west of Finland. The men's football first team currently play ...

(EIF) on a short contract until 18 July 2024.

Botev Vratsa

In January 2025, Kabashi joined

club

International career

At the start of April 2013, Kabashi received a call-up from Albania U15 for a selection camp in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 21 March 2017, he received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

match against Republic of Ireland U21, and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up. His Albanian ancestry can be traced to the

Kabashi The Kabashi (the definite form of Kabash) are an Albanian tribe, or ''fis'', from the Pukë region. It is considered part of the "seven tribes of Puka" (Albanian: shtatë bajrakët e Pukës) that inhabit the region. Durham said of them: "Puka ...

tribe.

Personal life

Kabashi is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and he fasts during

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

.Valioliigan pelejä keskeytettiin, jotta pelaajat saivat syödä – ramadania viettävät urheilijat kertovat, miten kuukauden paasto vaikuttaa heihin

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, 21 April 2023

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * 1996 births Living people People from Sierre Footballers from Valais Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Swiss men's footballers Swiss people of Kosovan descent Swiss people of Albanian descent Sportspeople of Albanian descent Men's association football central defenders 2. Liga Interregional players Swiss 1. Liga (football) players Swiss Promotion League players Swiss Super League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Martigny-Sports players FC Sion players Veikkausliiga players FC Lahti players Ekenäs IF players 21st-century Swiss sportsmen Swiss Muslims POFC Botev Vratsa players Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Finland Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Finland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria {{Kosovo-footy-bio-stub