Anel Rashkaj (born 19 August 1989) is a Kosovan professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the assistant manager of Kosovo national under-19 team.

Club career

Halmstads BK

Rashkaj started to play football for

KF Liria Football Club Liria (), commonly known as Liria, is a professional football club based in Prizren, Kosovo. The club plays in the Kosovo Superleague, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club is one of the oldest and one of the mo ...

, in

Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. At the age of 14 he moved with his family to

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational urban areas of Sweden, city at the mouth of the Nissan (river), Nissan river, in the provinces of Sweden, province of Halland on the Sweden, Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat ...

in Sweden, where he continued his football career in IF Leikin, however only for a few months before leaving for local rivals Halmstads BK. Although he had not been selected as a trainee, a youth team player training with the senior squad, in 2007 he was put on the bench home against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

in Allsvenskan and in the following away game against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

he made his debut, replacing Martin Fribrock, just days following his 18th birthday. Prior to the 2008 season. He was raised from the youth team to become a full member of the senior squad, mainly being used as

left winger 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. ...

. In 2009 Rashkaj and

Michael Görlitz Michael Görlitz (born 8 March 1987) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Görlitz began his career with SB Phönix Nürnberg and joined later FC Holzheim Neumarkt. He was then scouted from 1. FC Nürnbe ...

were the only players to have played in all league games of the season, 30 matches in total, he also represented the club in all the other 17 games of the year, two

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

and 15 friendly matches, thus being the only player that had played in all the club's matches in that year. Anel Rashkaj scored his first league goal in 2009 against Kalmar FF. The 2010 season saw

Janne Andersson Jan Olof "Janne" Andersson (; born 29 September 1962) is a Swedish former professional football manager and player. From 2004 to 2009, Andersson coached Halmstads BK in the Swedish top tier league. In 2010, he managed Örgryte in the second tier ...

leave as Halmstads BK manager and being replaced by Lars Jacobsson, the former assistant manager. Lars continued with Janne's 4-5-1 system, Rashkaj played most of his matches on the right side of the midfield, few times being used as left winger, scoring his second goal early in the season in Halmstad's 4–0 win over

Åtvidabergs FF Åtvidabergs Fotbollförening, also known simply as Åtvidabergs FF, Åtvidaberg, Åtvid or (especially locally) ÅFF, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Åtvidaberg. The club is affiliated with Östergötlands ...

. The 2011 season started as the one before, Lars Jacobsson left the club and be replaced by Spanish

Josep Clotet Ruiz Josep "Pep" Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish football coach. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed Cornellà, Figueres, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Atlético Malagueño, Oxford United, Birmingham City, SPAL and B ...

, along with the new manager came a number of Spanish midfielders, which saw Anel moved from the starting lineup to the bench in the beginning of the league season, against many people's expectations. In the mid of the 2011 season the Spanish players left as their loan ended with the club and Clotet Ruiz was sacked following a long serie of poor results, under new manager

Jens Gustafsson Jens Otto Andreas Gustafsson (born 15 October 1978) is a Swedish professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of BK Häcken. Managerial career On 28 May 2021, Gustafsson was named the n ...

Rashkaj returned to the starting lineup, he was however unable to help Halmstad from being relegated by the end of the season. Following the end of the 2011 season, several Halmstad players decided to leave the club, Anel Rashkaj among them, as his contract with the club ended. Rumors placed him in both

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn ...

and Kalmar FF.

Sandnes Ulf

On 30 January 2012, newly promoted Norwegian club

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

, confirmed that they had signed Rashkaj on a one-year contract.

AFC Eskilstuna

On 27 December 2016, Rashkaj signed with the newly promoted team of

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

side

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish professional football club based in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching owne ...

. On 2 April 2017, he made his debut in a 3–1 away defeat against

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollf� ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Prishtina

On 11 August 2017, Rashkaj signed to

Football Superleague of Kosovo The Football Superleague of Kosovo (), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo () for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Football in Kosovo#Men's, Kosovar football league system. The Superleague is organized by t ...

side

Prishtina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdom. The heritage of th ...

, on a two-year contract. On 20 August 2017, he made his debut in a 0–1 home defeat against Drita after being named in the starting line-up. On 29 September 2017, Rashkaj disconnected the contract with Prishtina due to not adapting.

Return to AFC Eskilstuna

On 18 December 2017, Rashkaj returned to

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

side

. On 31 March 2018, he made his debut in a 0–0 home draw against

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colou ...

after being named in the starting line-up. On 21 November 2019, Rashkaj disconnected the contract with AFC Eskilstuna.

SJK

On 8 February 2020, Rashkaj joined

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

side SJK. Six days later, he made his debut with SJK in the 2020 Finnish Cup group stage against

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

after being named in the starting line-up. On 13 November, Rashkaj left the club.

Örgryte

On 21 January 2021, Rashkaj signed a two-year contract with

club

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area just to the east of the city centre. History The or ...

International career

Early career

On 27 March 2009, In an interview with the local newspaper

Hallandsposten ''Hallandsposten'' is a Swedish local morning newspaper printed in Halmstad, Sweden. It is the major newspaper of Halmstad, Hylte and Laholm municipalities History and profile ''Hallandsposten'' was established in 1850. The first issue appea ...

, Rashkaj stated that he had been in contact with Swedish U21 co-manager

Jörgen Lennartsson Dan Inge Jörgen Lennartsson (born 10 April 1965) is a Swedish football manager and former player, he is the currently assistant head coach of Saudi Pro League side Al-Fateh. Career Lennartsson was born in Växjö. He became the manager of th ...

, who had told him that he just had missed out on the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 comp ...

as he had not yet gained Swedish citizenship. He also stated in the interview that he would choose

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

ahead of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

, if he was considered good enough to get a position on the Swedish team. In another interview with Fotbolldirekt.se, he stated that

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 ...

had already approached him and he had however turned them down.

Kosovo

In 2009. Rashkaj was called up to the unofficial Kosovo national team, playing under the name Team Kosovo, to play in two matches against Swedish opposition, first against 2008 Swedish champions

. Rashkaj did not take part in the second match against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

. On 17 February 2010, Rashkaj was again called up from Kosovo for a

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

. On 10 June 2010, Rashkaj participated as team captain when Kosovo played a friendly against his club Halmstads BK on Örjans Vall in

, the match ended 4–4 with another Halmstads BK and Kosovo national player

Kujtim Bala Kujtim Bala (born 25 May 1990) is a Sweden, Swedish former association football, footballer of Kosovo, Kosovar descent. Career Starting his career in Veddige BK, he moved at the age of 15 to Halmstads BK in 2005. In 2007, he made a one-year sta ...

, scoring a goal. On 28 July 2010, Rashkaj announced that he had chosen to represent the Kosovo, stating that he wished to play national team football and that he believed he would have more chance of doing so with Kosovo rather than Sweden. He also stated that he had not yet fully closed the door regarding Sweden as U21 coach Jörgen Lennartsson had stated he wished to see Rashkaj in the U21 team and the 2011 U21 European Championship in Denmark. However, he has yet to obtain Swedish citizenship and Kosovo has yet to be approved by FIFA. He announced his retirement from the Kosovo national team on 4 June 2021, having won 14

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the nation between 2014 and 2020.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rashkaj, Anel 1989 births Living people Footballers from Prizren Kosovan emigrants to Sweden Men's association football midfielders Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Swedish men's footballers Halmstads BK players Sandnes Ulf players AFC Eskilstuna players FC Prishtina players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players Örgryte IS players Allsvenskan players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Football Superleague of Kosovo players Veikkausliiga players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Norway Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Finland Kosovo pre-2014 men's international footballers 21st-century Swedish sportsmen