| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 5 May 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Peć, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Dinamo Zagreb | ||
| Number | 21 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2005–2007 | KF Shqiponja | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2007 | KF Besa | ||
| 2008–2010 | Budućnost Podgorica | 81 | (39) |
| 2010– | Dinamo Zagreb | 38 | (17) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2009–2010 | Montenegro U21 | 5 | (0) |
| 2009– | Montenegro | 13 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 October 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Fatos Bećiraj (Cyrillic: Фатос Бећирај, Albanian: Fatos Besim Beqiraj; born 5 May 1988) is a Montenegrin footballer of Albanian ethnicity.[a] He plays for Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb in the Prva HNL, having signed for them in August 2010 from Budućnost Podgorica.[1]
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He began his career in Peć with the local club KF Shqiponja at 17 years of age before joining their city rivals KF Besa in July 2007.[2] After spending the first half of the 2007–08 season with Besa his good performances in the Kosovar Superliga attracted attention from several clubs in the region, and in January 2008 he moved to the Montenegrin side FK Budućnost Podgorica.[2]
He immediately established himself as a first team regular at Budućnost, scoring 9 goals in 15 appearances in the second half of the 2007–08 season,[3] helping the club win the Montenegrin championship title and finish runners-up in the 2007–08 Montenegrin Cup. In the following two seasons Bećiraj scored 28 league goals in 62 matches for the club,[3] becoming league top scorer in the 2008–09 season with 18 goals scored.
It was announced on 30 August 2010 that Bećiraj signed for Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb.[1]
Bećiraj played very well during the 2010–2011 season and was regularly called up to the Montenegro national team. He played in 22 matches and scored 8 goals, most notably a beautiful goal against NK Rijeka and a fine header against Hajduk Split.
Bećiraj struggled to find his goalscoring form at the beginning of the 2011–12 season, finally scoring after eight matches without a goal, netting the fifth goal in a 5–0 win against NK Karlovac. He then scored the last goal in a 4–1 win against Malmö FF in the Champions League Play-off.
Bećiraj then continued his goalscoring form, scoring against NK Varaždin, NK Istra, NK Zadar, NK Šibenik and RNK Split in the 1. HNL.
On 23 November 2011, Bećiraj scored Dinamo's first goal in the 2011-12 Champions League, netting a header in Dinamo's 6-2 away loss to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Bećiraj was first called up for the Montenegro U21 by coach Dušan Vlaisavljević in 2009, winning his first cap in a 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Kazakhstan U21 on 7 June 2009.[4] He went on to earn five caps for the U21 team before receiving his first call-up for the senior team in March 2009, for a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Italy.[5] He had his international debut in the match, coming on as a substitute for Radomir Đalović in the 70th minute.[6] He scored his first goal for Montenegro on 17 November 2010 in a friendly match against Azerbaijan.[7]
Bećiraj said in an interview that should the Kosovo national football team be allowed to play international events, he would consider leaving the Montenegro team to play for Kosovo.[8]
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