Erjon Bogdani

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erjon Bogdani
Personal information
Full name	Erjon Bogdani
Date of birth	(1977-04-14) 14 April 1977
Place of birth	Tirana, Albania
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Free Agent
Youth career
1987–1994	Partizani
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1994–1997	Partizani	62	(21)
1997–1998	Gençlerbirliği	11	(1)
1998–2000	NK Zagreb	25	(8)
2000–2003	Reggina	67	(11)
2003–2004	Salernitana	38	(8)
2004–2005	Verona	38	(17)
2005–2007	Siena	49	(13)
2007–2010	Chievo	61	(8)
2007–2008	→ Livorno (loan)	17	(2)
2010–2012	Cesena	49	(8)
2012–2013	Siena	29	(6)
National team^‡
1996–1998	Albania U-21	7	(1)
1996–	Albania	73	(18)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09 October 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 August 2013

Erjon Bogdani (born 14 April 1977 in Tirana) is an Albanian football player who currently is a free agent.

Club career

Early years

Bogdani was discovered by local side Partizani Tirana at the age of just 10 in a school team competition held in Tirana, where he scored 11 goals in just four games. The young Bogdani then joined Partizani Tirana's academy, where he played through the different age groups and eventually signing his first professional contract with the club in 1994.

Partizani Tirana

Bogdani made his professional debut with Partizani Tirana in the Albanian Superliga in the 1993–94 season, where he played 7 games in the second half of the season. The following season he scored his first goal in a campaign which saw him play 13 games and score 2 goals. The 1997–98 campaign would prove to be his most successful in Albanian football as he scored 13 goals in just 15 games before the winter break. This attracted the attention of several foreign clubs, but Bogdani decided to move to Turkey with Gençlerbirliği in the Süper Lig where he played for the second half of the 1997–98 season.

NK Zagreb

Bogdani later moved to Zagreb and played there for 1. HNL club NK Zagreb scoring 15 goals in 26 matches. In his first season 1998–99 with NK Zagreb he played only 14 games scoring 9 goals. In season 1999–2000 he scored 6 goals in 12 games. With the first half of Croatian First League season over, Bogdani was transferred to Italy at the winter break.

Italy

In January 2000, Bogdani joined Reggina and made his Serie A debut on 6 February against Bologna. In Reggio Calabria, except for the 2001–02 season in the Serie B, he played 37 Serie A games, and scored 4 goals. In 2003–04 season, he was loaned at Salernitana in the Serie B.

Hellas Verona

In 2004–05 season, Bogdani was signed by Verona and was the team top-scorer of Verona in the Serie B with 17 goals, 3 goals behind top-scorer Gionatha Spinesi, 2 goals behind Diego Milito of Genoa and Francesco Tavano. The 2004–05 season was his personal best, he has never scored more goals in one season, than in the 2004–05 season.

Chievo Verona

In summer 2005, Bogdani made returned to Italy's top-flight, but now for A.C. Siena. He played for the club for a season and a half, before joining Chievo in January 2007. In Chievo, he made his club debut on 14 January 2007 against Catania. He scored 5 goals in 19 games, but failed to avoid relegation. He was loaned out to Livorno at the start of the 2007–08 Serie A season but since then has not had a season to remember after suffering relegation to Seria B with Livorno. In the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons he has been part of Chievo where he scored 11 goals in 58 games before moving to Cesena.

Cesena

In the 2010–11 season, Bogdani joined A.C. Cesena and made his debut on 28 August 2010 against A.S. Roma in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first goal for Cesena against Milan, he also assisted the second goal made by Giaccherini in a 2–0 win. Bogdani was voted as the Man of the match against A.C. Milan and U.S. Lecce and has been selected in the Serie A, Team of the week . Bogdani scored eight goals for A.C. Cesena in 49 appearances. He scored his first goal of 2011 in 19 January a game played in Milano against Internazionale but still lost 3–2. He scored the equalizer in a 1–1 match between Lecce in the 90+2' on 30 January.

Siena

Bogdani re-signed for AC Siena on the final day of the winter transfer window, on a two-year contract. He made his debut with the Tuscans 22 February 2012, in the home defeat against Liverpool (0–1 for the Etna). Scored his first goal in the league 26 February 2012 in the win against Palermo (4–1). Is repeated in the next two weeks against Cagliari and Cesena, his former team. Concluded the season with 11 appearances and 4 goals. The following season begins from the first minute in Siena-Vicenza (4–2), valid for the third round of the Italian Cup, going out to 33 'of recovery instead of Paolucci. He made his debut in the league on 26 August against Torino (0–0). Scored his first goal of the season on 31 Oct in Cagliari Siena (4–2). Bogdani scored second goal against Sampdoria in 20 January 2013.^[1]

International career

Albania under-21

It was not until Bogdani had made his senior international debut that he became part of the Albania U-21 team, where he scored on his official debut in a 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifier against Portugal U-21 on 9 October 1996. Following his goal however, he was sent off after receiving the first red card of his career just 4 minutes after scoring his first international goal, Albania went on to lose the game 4–2.^[2] In total he made 7 official appearances for the U-21 national team, scoring one goal and losing all 7 games that he featured in.

Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first.


U-21 international goals
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	9 October 1996	Selman Stermasi Stadium, Tirana, Albania	Portugal	2–3	2–4	1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification

Albania senior team

Bogdani received his first senior international call up from Neptun Bajko in 1996 for a friendly in Zenica against Bosnia & Herzegovina. He made his international debut at the age of 19 years and 10 days old on 24 April 1996 in goalless draw, coming on as an 86th minute substitute for fellow debute Ardian Behari.^[3]

For the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, new coach Gianni De Biasi had introduced young forwards into the senior national team to create more competition for places in the first team. Young players forwards such as Edgar Çani, Armando Sadiku and Bekim Balaj provided competition for the established and mature internationals which were Bogdani and Hamdi Salihi. In opening group game of the qualifiers, Albania took on Cyprus at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana, and with De Biasi opting to start with Sadiku and Salihi upfront Bogdani started the game on the substitutes bench. With the scores at 1–1 Bogdani came on in the 72nd minute to replace Emiljano Vila and join the two forwards upfront. Edgar Çani also came off the bench to put Albania ahead in the 84th minute. Bodgani then fired a 30-yard strike into the net in the 87th minute to secure a 3–1 win, a goal which many considered to be the best international goal of his career.^[4]^[5]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 February 1999	Tirana	Macedonia	2–0	2–0 (Win)	Friendly
2	15 November 2000	Tirana	Malta	2–0	3–0 (Win)	Friendly
3	15 November 2000	Tirana	Malta	1–0	3–0 (Win)	Friendly
4	8 June 2005	Copenhagen	Denmark	1–3	1–3 (Loss)	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	3 September 2005	Tirana	Kazakhstan	2–1	2–1 (Win)	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	8 October 2005	Dnipropetrovsk	Ukraine	1–1	2–2 (Draw)	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	8 October 2005	Dnipropetrovsk	Ukraine	2–1	2–2 (Draw)	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	7 February 2007	Shkodër	Macedonia	1–0	0–1 (Win)	Friendly
9	17 November 2007	Tirana	Belarus	1–1	2–4 (Loss)	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
10	10 September 2008	Tirana	Malta	1–0	3–0 (Win)	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
11	6 June 2009	Tirana	Portugal	1–1	1–2 (Loss)	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	12 August 2009	Tirana	Cyprus	13	6–1 (Win)	Friendly
13	9 September 2009	Tirana	Denmark	1–1	1–1 (Draw)	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
14	10 August 2011	Tirana	Montenegro	1–0	3–2 (Win)	Friendly
15	2 September 2011	Tirana	France	1–2	1–2 (Loss)	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
16	6 September 2011	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	1–1	1–2 (Loss)	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
17	22 May 2012	Madrid	Qatar	2–0	2–1 (Win)	Friendly
18	6 September 2012	Tirana	Cyprus	3–1	3–1 (Win)	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
19	6 February 2013	Tirana	Georgia	1–0	1–2 (Loss)	Friendly