Ardian Ismajli (born 30 September 1996) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. Born in Kosovo, he plays for the Albania national team.

Club career

Early career

Ismajli went through the ranks of

First Football League of Kosovo The First Football League of Kosovo () is the second tier of the Kosovar football league system. The First League is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo and the division currently has 2 groups of 10-teams format. At the end of the seas ...

side 2 Korriku from

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

, Kosovo. He made his senior debut in the second half of the 2013–14 season and in mid-2015, Ismajli went on a one-season loan 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 ...

Hajduk Split

In February 2016, Ismajli signed a three-and-a-half-year scholarship contract with

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

side

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

after a trial. Ismajli initially played for Hajduk Split II in the 3. HNL. On 14 May 2016, he made his senior debut for Hajduk against

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

in the Croatian First Football League and playing the full 90 minutes as a central defender in a 3–2 win. Ismajli was booked in the 48th minute. In the 2016–17 season, Ismajli became a regular player under coach

Marijan Pušnik Marijan Pušnik (born 1 November 1960) is a Slovenian football manager. Managerial career Pušnik started his managerial career with Dravograd in 1994 but landed his first serious job as Celje manager in 2000. During his four years at Celje, ...

. In the first match of the season, a 2016–17 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round match against Politehnica Iași in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, he was included in the match day squad, but did not participate in the match. Ismajli started the next match in a 2–0 league win over newly promoted

Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second-tier league. Their stadium ...

and playing as right back. On 18 August 2016, he made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

debut in a 2–1 defeat against

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

Netanya Stadium Miriam Stadium (), commonly known as The Diamond Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Netanya, Israel. It is used as the permanent home ground of Maccabi Netanya F.C., Maccabi Netanya, and it has been used as the temporary homeground of Hapoel Ha ...

in the playoff round after being named in the starting line-up. On 21 August 2016, Ismajli scored his first goal for Hajduk in a 4–2 defeat against

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Poljud Stadium Gradski stadion u Poljudu (), better known as Stadion Poljud () or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. The stadium is located in the neighbourhood of ...

Spezia Calcio

In September 2020, Ismajli signed a three-year deal with Italian club

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

. He joined the club ahead of their first-ever season in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. On 18 April 2021, he scored his first goal in a 4–1 away defeat against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Empoli

On 9 August 2021, Ismajli joined fellow Italian club

. At the end of the 2024–25 season, following the club's relegation to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, he announced his departure after making 100 appearances in Serie A.

International career

Kosovo

Youth

On 5 June 2017, Ismajli received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

match against Norway U21 and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.

Senior

On 2 October 2016, Ismajli received a call-up from

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 ...

for a

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

matches against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, but a day before joining with national team, he was injured during a derby match between

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

and Hajduk Split. On 29 May 2018, Ismajli made his debut with Kosovo in 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

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 ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Albania

Ismajli received the Albanian citizenship on 26 October 2018. On 7 November 2018, Ismajli received a call-up from

for the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ismajli goal''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ismajli, Ardian 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Podujevë Footballers from the District of Pristina Kosovo Albanians Men's association football defenders Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Kosovo men's youth international footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Albanian men's footballers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Albania men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) Football Superleague of Kosovo players FC 2 Korriku players FC Prishtina players Croatian Football League players Serie A players HNK Hajduk Split players Spezia Calcio players Empoli FC players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Albanian expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy UEFA Euro 2024 players Albania men's under-21 international footballers