Mërgim Berisha (born 11 May 1998) is a German 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

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) ** Smal ...

for club

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

, on loan from

TSG Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern fo ...

, and the Germany national team.

Club career

FC Liefering

On 7 November 2014, Berisha made his debut with

FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club, originally from Salzburg#Districts, Liefering, Salzburg. It currently plays in the Austrian Football Second League, Second League, the second tier of Austrian f ...

as a professional footballer against

Mattersburg Mattersburg (; formerly ''Mattersdorf'', , Croatian: ''Matrštof'') is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and was home to former Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg. Location Mat ...

after coming on as a substitute at 73rd minute in place of Daniel Ripić and just 50 seconds after his substitution scored his side's third goal during a 3–1 home win.

Red Bull Salzburg

On 28 December 2016, Berisha signed his first professional contract with

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

side Red Bull Salzburg after agreeing to a four-year deal. On 3 April 2017, he made his debut in a 0–5 away win against

SC Rheindorf Altach Sportclub Rheindorf Altach, also known as Rheindorf Altach, SCR Altach or simply SCRA, is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently ...

after coming on as a substitute at 77th minute in place of Wanderson. Berisha helped his team winning the

2016–17 UEFA Youth League The 2016–17 UEFA Youth League was the fourth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. Chelsea were the title holders after winning the previous two editions. However, since the UEFA Youth L ...

by being one of the top scorers in the tournament, scoring seven goals in total.

Loan at LASK

On 21 August 2017, Berisha joined

side

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

, on a season-long loan. Five days later, he made his debut in a 1–0 away defeat against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Loan at 1. FC Magdeburg

On 19 June 2018, Berisha joined 2. Bundesliga side

1. FC Magdeburg 1. FC Magdeburg is a German Association football Football club (association football), club based in Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 from the football department of the Sports club (East Germany), sports club ''SC Magdeburg'' and has bee ...

, on a season-long loan. Two months later, he made his debut with 1. FC Magdeburg in the 2018–19 DFB-Pokal first round against

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

after coming on as a substitute at 81st minute in place of Tobias Müller.

Loan at Rheindorf Altach

On 10 January 2019, Berisha joined

side Rheindorf Altach, on a -season loan. On 23 February 2019, he made his debut in a 0–0 away draw against

Wolfsberger AC Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC enter ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Return to Red Bull Salzburg

=2019–20 season

= On 6 January 2020, Berisha returned to

side Red Bull Salzburg. On 14 February 2020, he played the first game after the return in a 2–3 home defeat against former club

after coming on as a substitute in the 59th minute in place of

Patrick Farkas Patrick Farkas (born 9 September 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays for Austrian Regionalliga club SV Oberwart. Club career FC Red Bull Salzburg After spending the entirety of his career with SV Mattersburg since his deb ...

=2020–21 season

= On 13 September 2020, Berisha commenced his season with the club by winning in the opening match of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

against

after being named in the starting line-up. On 3 November, Berisha scored his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

goal in a 2–6 defeat against German side

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in the 2020–21 season, he also scored in the away tie in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

as Salzburg lost 3–1. On 1 December, Berisha scored two goals against Russian side

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

, which allowed Red Bull Salzburg to win the match in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

3–1, to secure third place in the group and reach the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League knockout phase. On 1 May 2021, Berisha scored Salzburg's opening goal in a 3–0 win against his former club LASK in the final of the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

, securing the club's third straight domestic cup title.

Fenerbahçe

On 2 September 2021, Berisha signed a four-year contract with

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club Fenerbahçe and received squad number 11.

Loan at FC Augsburg

On 31 August 2022, Berisha joined

on loan with an option to buy.

FC Augsburg

On 2 July 2023, Fenerbahçe announced that FC Augsburg had triggered the buy-option and acquired Berisha permanently, for a fee reported to be around €4 million.

TSG Hoffenheim

On 30 August 2023, Bundesliga club

announced the signing of Berisha on a four-year contract, for a reported fee of €14 million.

Return to FC Augsburg

On 28 January 2025, Berisha returned to

on loan.

International career

On 7 October 2019, Berisha received a call-up from Germany U21 for the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against Spain U21 and

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 association football, football tournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary national under-21 fo ...

match against Bosnia and Herzegovina U21. Three days later, he made his debut with Germany U21 in a friendly match against Spain U21 after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of

Janni Serra Janni-Luca Serra (born 13 March 1998) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for club 1. FC Nürnberg on loan from the Danish Superliga club AGF. Career Early career Janni-Luca Serra was born in Springe, Lower Saxony, ...

. On 17 March 2023, he received his first official call-up to the German senior national team for the friendlies against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Personal life

Berisha was born in

Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps. South of the town, the Be ...

, Germany, to

Kosovo 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 ...

parents from

Suhareka Suva Reka ( sr-Cyrl, Сува Река) or Suharekë () or Therandë () is a List of cities in Kosovo, town and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality located in the District of Prizren, Prizren district of central-southern Kosovo. According to ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg Youth *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

: 2016–17 Red Bull Salzburg *

: 2016–17, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2016–17, 2019–20,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berisha, Mërgim 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Berchtesgaden Footballers from Upper Bavaria German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers German people of Kosovan descent Men's association football forwards FC Liefering players FC Red Bull Salzburg players LASK players SC Rheindorf Altach players 1. FC Magdeburg players FC Augsburg players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Bundesliga players German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century German sportsmen