Bardhec Ahmet Bytyqi (; born 8 January 1997) is 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

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Middelfart Middelfart is a town in central Denmark, with a population of 16,749 . The town is the municipal seat of Middelfart Municipality on the island of Funen (). Etymology The name Middelfart, first recorded as "Mæthælfar" in Valdemar's Census Book ...

. In the course of his career, Bytyqi has played professionally for AaB,

Skive IK Skive Idræts Klub, commonly known as Skive IK, SIK (especially locally) or simply Skive, is a Danish professional Football team, football club based in Skive, Denmark, Skive, Central Denmark Region. Founded in 1901, the club is affiliated with ...

Jammerbugt FC Jammerbugt Fodbold Club was a Danish club based in Pandrup, Jammerbugt Municipality, that folded after the court in Hjørring issued a bankruptcy decree on 22 August 2022. History Jetsmark IF The club was founded on 27 August 1973 as a merger ...

, and Esbjerg fB. Born in Denmark, he has played for the Albania national U21 team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Nørresundby Nørresundby () is a city in Aalborg Municipality, north of Limfjorden, in Vendsyssel, in Denmark. The urban area has a population of 24,436 (1 January 2025). It is located just north of Aalborg, which lies south of Limfjorden. Statistically it ...

, Denmark, to Albanian parents, Bytyqi started playing football with his hometown club

, from where he moved to Nr. Uttrup & Bouet Idrætsforening (NUBI), before moving to the youth academy of AaB at age 8. Following impressive performances with under-19 where he scored also 1 goal, in July 2016, he was promoted to the AaB first team alongside six other youth players, including

Joakim Mæhle Joakim Mæhle Pedersen (born 20 May 1997) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Denmark national team. Club career AaB Born in Østervrå, Vendsyssel, Mæhle started playing foo ...

and Magnus Christensen.

AaB

He made his senior debut for AaB on 7 September 2016 in a local match in the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

against his hometown club Nørresundby, playing the entire match in a 1–5 away win, assisting Thomas Enevoldsen's 2–0 goal in the first half. Meanwhile, during the 2016–17 season he played 8 matches for the under-19 scoring also 6 goals. On 6 July 2017, it was announced that Bytyqi had signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

until 30 June 2019.

Loan to Skive

In the 2017–18 season first-half, he was part of the team in 7 league matches and 1 cup match without playing any minute. Bytyqi was sent on a six-month loan to the second-tier 1st Division club

in January 2018, as Bytyqi had no prospect of first-team in AaB. He managed to make nine appearances and score a goal for Skive in the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Da ...

in the spring of 2018. The one goal came on 17 April against

FC Roskilde Football Club Roskilde is a Danish professional association football club based in Roskilde, Region Zealand. They will compete in the Danish 1st Division in the 2024–25 season following their promotion. They play at Roskilde Idrætspark (also k ...

, described as a "dream goal".

Return to AaB

He returned to AaB in the summer of 2018 as his loan deal expired. He made his debut in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

on 27 August 2018, when he came on as a substitute in the 87th minute instead of Kristoffer Pallesen in a 0–1 defeat at home to

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

. In addition to his Superliga debut, he made only one appearance in the autumn of 2018 on 26 September 2018 in a 0–5 away win over

in the Danish Cup.

Jammerbugt

Due to lacking prospects of playing time in AaB in the spring of 2019, Bytyqi was loaned out to

in the 2nd Division for the rest of the season on 24 January 2019. He managed to score a goal on 13 April 2019 against

Kjellerup Kjellerup is a Danish town with a population of 5,247 (1 January 2025). Bytyqi continued on a permanent contract with Jammerbugt. Bytyqi played 4 matches during the 2019–20 Danish 2nd Divisions. In the next season 2020–21 he managed to score 10 goals in 7 matches in the

2020–21 Danish 2nd Divisions The 2020–21 Danish 2nd Divisions will be divided in two groups of fourteen teams. The top team of each group will be promoted to the 2021–22 Danish 1st Division. This will be the last season with two groups, and after the season the clubs place ...

and 2 more goals in 3 cup matches to help his team in getting the promotion to the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991, the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the for ...

. In June 2021, Bytyqi signed a new one-year deal with Jammerbugt. In the

2021–22 Danish 1st Division The 2021–22 Danish 1st Division (known as the NordicBet Liga for sponsorship purposes) marked the 26th season of the league operating as the second tier of Danish football and the 82nd season overall under the 1st Division name. The league is g ...

first half, he was an undisputed starter playing 15 consecutive full 90-minutes matches with 2 upcomings being substituted off in the second half and managing 3 goals.

Esbjerg

He moved to

on 10 January 2022 for the second part of the season on a deal until the end of 2024, in order to help the team to avoid relegation. He was an unused substitute in the first match in February, but managed to play in all three matches of the March in where Esbjerg failed to score any goal taking only one goalless draw in which Bytyqi managed to play the full 90-minutes. Esbjerg was put in relegation group where played 10 more matches with Bytyqi mostly as a starter, but receiving lack of results collecting only 1 win and 5 draws relegating in the 2nd Division after finishing in the penultimate place of the ranking. In the

2022–23 Danish 2nd Division The 2022–23 Danish 2nd Division was the 32nd season of the Danish 2nd Division since its establishment in 1991. The season started on 6 August 2022 with a group of twelve teams. After 22 rounds the group was split in a promotion group and a releg ...

he lost his starting place playing often as a substitute.

Middelfart

On July 12, 2024, ahead of the 2024-25 season,

club

Middelfart Boldklub Middelfart Boldklub is a Danish association football, football club which plays in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of Danish football. They play at Middelfart Stadion in Middelfart, which has a capacity of 4,100. History Middelfart Gym ...

confirmed that Bytyqi had joined the club.

International career

Bytyqi was first called up for the Albania national U21 team by just appointed coach

Alban Bushi Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional association football, football coach and former player who is the Manager (association football), manager of Albania national under-21 football team, Albania under-21 and Albania nati ...

for a gathering in

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

from 18 to 25 January 2017. He was recalled two months later in two friendly matches against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

on 25 and 27 March 2017. In the second match played at

Selman Stërmasi Stadium The Selman Stërmasi Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Tirana, Albania. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of KF Tirana. The stadium holds 9,500 people (all seated). It is named after Selman Stërma ...

, Bytyqi scored in the second half of a match that Albania won 2–0 after a goal by Kristal Abazaj in the first half.

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

He was later called up for the friendly match against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 2 against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

on 12 June. The day before the friendly against France, however, he suffered an injury, causing him to miss both matches. On 22 August 2017 he received Albanian citizenship, thus becoming eligible to play also in the competitive matches. He was called up only in 2 matches of the 2019 UEFA Euro U-21 qualification Group 2 against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

on 10 October 2017 and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 10 November 2017, being an unused substitute against the former and playing last minutes against the later which ended in a 1–1 home draw.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Jammerbugt *

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 ...

Esbjerg fB *

: 2023–24

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bytyqi, Bardhec 1997 births Living people People from Nørresundby People from Aalborg Municipality Footballers from the North Jutland Region Danish men's footballers Albanian men's footballers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Albania men's under-21 international footballers AaB Fodbold players Skive IK players Jammerbugt FC players Esbjerg fB players Middelfart Boldklub players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Danish 2nd Division players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Danish people of Albanian descent 21st-century Danish sportsmen