Valmir Nafiu
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Valmir Nafiu | ||
| Date of birth | 23 April 1994 | ||
| Place of birth | Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | APOEL | ||
| Number | 34 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Shkëndija | |||
| 2012 | Basel | ||
| 2012–2013 | Hamburger SV | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2010–2011 | Shkëndija | 19 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Basel | 0 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Hamburger SV II | 12 | (1) |
| 2013–2015 | Hamburger SV | 2 | (0) |
| 2015– | APOEL | 10 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| Macedonia U17 | 16 | (11) | |
| Macedonia U19 | 5 | (1) | |
| 2013– | Macedonia U21 | 5 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:27, 20 April 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Valmir Nafiu (born 23 April 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for APOEL FC in the Cypriot First Division.
Club career
Childhood and early career
Nafiu was born in Tetovo and is of Albanian ethnicity. Growing up in Tetovo, Nafiu joined the Shkëndija youth team. Nafiu was labelled as a gifted and talented player due to him possessing great agility and technical skill, which allowed him to debut for the senior team at the age of sixteen.
Shkëndija
Nafiu debuted for the senior team of Shkëndija in the 2010–11 season of the Prva Liga and helped the club win its first ever league title. He also played in the away leg of the Champions league qualifier against FK Partizan.[1]
At the end of his debuting season, Nafiu garnered interest from FC Basel and FC Barcelona. Nafiu at seventeen was invited to go on trial to Barcelona. Nafiu, as a member of the Macedonian U17 national team at the time played alongside David Babunski, who was already a member of the Barcelona youth system.[2] Barcelona scouts were watching Babunski but noticed Nafiu, who impressed the scouts and invited him to come on trial at Barcelona. He went on trial at Barcelona and every indication was that it went well.[2] Swiss champions Basel became very interested in Nafiu and have been tracking him for months. Nafiu was also invited to join the Basel training camp earlier this year and he played several friendly games.
He went on trial where he impressed the Swiss club and Basel and Shkëndija reached a deal for Nafiu to remain in Switzerland before officially completing the transfer once he turned eighteen.
Basel
Nafiu officially joined on 23 April 2012, on his eighteenth birthday. He mainly played for the youth teams at Basel and was not capped at senior level. At Basel, Nafiu trained under Thorsten Fink, who highly regarded Nafiu as a very talented player who can play every position in the attack.[3]
Hamburger
When Fink left Basel and took the managerial position at Hamburger SV, Nafiu followed suit. In 2012, Nafiu made his debut for Hamburger's reserve team. He made his Bundesliga debut at 25 October 2014 against Hertha BSC replacing Pierre-Michel Lasogga after 74 minutes in a 3–0 away defeat.[4] He added a further Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 November 2014,[5] before he mutually terminate his contract with Hamburger SV in January 2015.
APOEL
On 27 January 2015, Nafiu signed a four-and-a-half year contract with contract with Cypriot club APOEL FC.[6] He made his official debut on 31 January 2015, coming on as a 75th minute substitute in APOEL's 0–1 away victory against Nea Salamina for the Cypriot First Division.[7] He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 21 March 2015, in his team's 2–2 home draw against Apollon Limassol for the play-offs of the Cypriot First Division.[8]
Career statistics
- As of 20 April 2015[9]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Continental[lower-alpha 1] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| FK Shkëndija | 2010–11 | Macedonian First League | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 19 | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | Macedonian First League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| FC Basel | 2011–12 | Swiss Super League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Hamburger SV II | 2012–13 | Regionalliga Nord | 12 | 1 | — | — | 12 | 1 | ||
| Total | 12 | 1 | — | — | 12 | 1 | ||||
| Hamburger SV | 2013–14 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| 2014–15 | Bundesliga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| APOEL | 2014–15 | Cypriot First Division | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 12 | 1 | |
| Total | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 12 | 1 | |||
| Career total | 43 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 3 | ||
- ↑ Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.
Honours
References
- ↑ "Four-goal Partizan too hot for Skendija". UEFA.com. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Valmir Nafiu accompanies Basel for their training camp". Macedonianfootball.com. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ "Valmir Nafiu training with Hamburger". Macedonianfootball.com. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ "Hertha BSC vs. Hamburger SV 3-0". Soccerway. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
- ↑ "Wolfsburg vs. Hamburger SV 2-0". Soccerway. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ↑ "Σύναψη συμφωνίας με Valmir Nafiu" (in Greek). APOEL FC. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ "Ν. ΣΑΛΑΜΙΝΑ 0-1 ΑΠΟΕΛ". APOEL FC. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
- ↑ ΑΠΟΕΛ 2-2 Απόλλωνας Λεμεσού [APOEL 2-2 Apollon Limassol] (in Greek). APOEL FC. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- ↑ "V. Nafiu". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
External links
- APOEL official profile
- Valmir Nafiu profile at Soccerway
- Valmir Nafiu career statistics at Soccerbase
- Stats and profile at Zerozero
- Valmir Nafiu at fussballdaten.de (German)
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