Arlind Afrim Ajeti (born 25 September 1993) 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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...

. Born in Switzerland, he represents

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 ...

at international level.

Early life

Ajeti was born in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, Switzerland, to

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

parents originally from Podujevo,

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 ...

(then

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

), who had emigrated to Switzerland as did many Kosovans in the 1990s. Arlind was the first child of Afrim and Sylbije Ajeti. He is the older brother of twins

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

, who plays for

and the Switzerland national under-21 team; and

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

, who plays for

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, Rapperswil-Jona also includes Bollinge ...

. In July 2015 the whole family became Albanian citizens. His father, Afrim, was also a footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Early years

Ajeti's father Afrim was an inspiration for Arlind to start football when, aged 8, Arlind started playing each day with his father before beginning to play youth football with FC Concordia Basel at the age of 10. In 2004 he became a player of

, representing the under-16, under-18 and under-21 teams. With the under-21 team he played from the 2010–11 season until the 2014–15 in the 1. Liga Promotion, collecting overall 67 appearances in which he scored 4 goals.

Basel

On 2 January 2011, he signed his first professional contract with Basel, on a -year contract, and was called up to the first team ahead of the 2011–12 season, He was eligible to play for the newly formed Basel under-19 team in the 2011–12 NextGen series, playing the team's first game against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 17 August 2011. He made his league debut as a substitute on 28 August 2011, in the 2–1 home win against

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss association football, football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of the Swiss football league system, following promotion from the ...

. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, the League Championship title and the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

with Basel. He only played once in the league and had just two Swiss Cup appearances with the first team squad, but played regularly with the U21 team. At the end of the 2012–13 Swiss Super League season Ajeti won the Championship title for the second time and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel. In the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Are ...

Basel advanced to the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

holders Chelsea, but were knocked out being beaten 5–2 on aggregate. During the beginning of the 2013–14 season on 5 October 2013 Ajeti scored his first league goal in the 2–1 away win against Lausanne-Sport. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Ajeti won his third league championship with Basel. They also reached the final of the 2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

after extra time. In the 2013–14 Champions League season Basel in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

finished the group in third position to qualify for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. The 2014–15 season was a very successful one for Basel. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row that season and in the 2014–15 Swiss Cup they reached the final. But for the third season in a row, they finished as runners-up, losing 3–0 to

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the

and reached the

knockout phase A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

as on 9 December 2014 they managed a 1–1 draw at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. But then Basel then lost to Porto in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. Basel played a total of 65 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, 6 Swiss Cup, 8 Champions League and 15 test matches). However under trainer Paulo Sousa the season 2014–15 was not a successful one for Ajeti. He totalled solely 17 appearances for the team, just 3 in the League, 2 in the Cup and only 1 in the Champions League, however 11 appearances in test games. Ajeti became one of the three Albania international footballers who participated in the knockout stage of the

for the first time in history, along with his Basel teammates Shkëlzen Gashi and Taulant Xhaka.

Frosinone

On 24 November 2015, after six months as a free agent following the ending of his contract at Basel, Ajeti signed a contract until the end of the season with the newly promoted

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 ...

side

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

. He was given the vacant number 93, a number which he choose due to his year of birth. He was presented to the media two days later, where he said that playing in Serie A was a "dream come true", and thanked the club for giving him this opportunity. He was called up for his first game on 6 December 2015, against Chievo Verona at the Stadio Matusa where he was an unused substitute. He finally made his debut against Sassuolo on 6 January when he was involved in an own goal but he scored too in that match. In the end Frosinone was relegated 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 ...

Torino

On 7 July 2016,

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

completed the signing of Ajeti on a free transfer. He penned a three-year contract, with the option to extend for a further two years. His salary was reported to be €500,000 per season. He made it his debut on 5 February 2017 against

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 ...

in a 1–1 draw. A week later he scored his first goal against

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

in the 9th minute to send the score 2–0 and conceded an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

later, but Torino won the match 5–3.

Loan to Crotone

On 1 August 2017, Ajeti was loaned out to fellow Serie A team F.C. Crotone until the end of the 2017–18 season with an option to buy. In the match against Chievo on 17 December 2017, Ajeti made a strike for goal that was diverted into the empty net by Ante Budimir, which was enough to give Crotone a 1–0 victory.

Grasshoppers

On 13 September 2018, Ajeti officially become a

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

player by signing an initial one-year contract with an option to extend for a further two years, thus returning to Switzerland after three years.

Vejle BK

On 18 February 2020,

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 ...

club

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six ...

confirmed that they had signed Ajeti. The club did not reveal how long Ajeti had signed for.

Padova

On 16 November 2021, he signed with

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

for one season with an option to extend for another year.

Pordenone

On 12 July 2022, Ajeti joined

Pordenone Pordenone (; Venetian language, Venetian and ) is a city and (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the capital of the Province of Pordenone, Regional decentralization entity of Pordenone. The name comes from Lati ...

on a two-year deal.

International career

Switzerland

Ajeti made his debut for the Switzerland U17 team in the game against

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 ...

on 4 March 2010. He made his debut for the Switzerland U-18 team on 15 September 2010 in the 2–2 draw with the Belgium U18. During the qualifications to the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship Ajeti played his first game for the Switzerland U19 as substitute in the game

Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to: * Alkaline earth metal The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group (periodic table), group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (B ...

game against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 2 June 2011. On 6 February 2013 Ajeti made his debut for the Swiss U21 team in the El Madrigal stadium in

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

, Spain. He played the entire game, but it ended in a 1–0 defeat against the Slovakian U21 team. He played his final game for the Swiss youth teams on 24 September 2014. This was in the 2–0 defeat against the Ukraine U21 team during the qualification matches to the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international association football, football competition for men's under-21 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tourn ...

Albania

The abandoned match between Serbia and Albania played on 14 October 2014 where Albanian players showed bravery by defending their national symbol against the permanent political enemies Serbia in their home, motivated many footballers of Albanian descent to express their desire to play for Albania national team and Ajeti was the first one to do so by citing that he wants to play for the senior team of Albania. He made his debut for Albania on 14 November 2014 in the "

Group I Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

centralised" friendly match against the Euro 2016 hosts,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 69th minute in place of Amir Abrashi. On 5 March 2015, Ajeti received Albanian citizenship among fellow defender of Basel Naser Aliji to be eligible to play for Albania national team in official qualifiers matches.

Euro 2016

On 21 May 2016, Ajeti was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

, and in Albania's final 23-man squad on 31 May where he was given the shirt number 18. On 28 May, he scored his first international goal during the Euro 2016 warm-up match against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, which ended in a 3–1 win. Ajeti was an unused substitute in Albania's first ever UEFA Euro match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

which ended in a 1–0 defeat. In the second match against the host country

, due to the dismissal of

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional Association football, footballer. He is currently the grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 201 ...

, Ajeti started and put on a strong performance but was forced to be replaced in the 85th minute due to an injury; his ouster weakened the team which conceded two late goals. In the third and final match against

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 ...

on 19 June, Ajeti produced a Man of the Match performance by helping the team to keep a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory to provide last 16 hope. With Ajeti on the pitch, Albania did not concede any goal during the course of the competition, making him a favourite of many Albania fans. Albania finished the group in the third position with three points and with a goal difference –2, and was ranked last in the third-placed teams, which eventually eliminated them.

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Ajeti was unable to join the Albania national team in their first three

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 in September and October 2016 due to an injury. He was called up for the fourth game against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

on 12 November 2016 but unable to recover in time to play in this match. He was called up for the first time after the full recovery for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 24 March and a friendly against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

on 28 March 2017.

Personal life

In June 2015, Ajeti married Pranvera Krasniqi. Despite having been born and raised in

, all of the Ajeti brothers have knowledge of the

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

, and mostly communicated in Albanian in their private life.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Basel *

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

: 2011–12; runner-up: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 * Uhren Cup: 2013 Vejle *

: 2019–20 Padova * Coppa Italia Serie C: 2021–22 Individual * UEFA Euro 2016 Group A - Romania vs Albania: Man of the Match

References

External links

* * *
U21U20U19U18U17
profiles at Swiss FA *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajeti, Arlind 1993 births Living people Footballers from Basel-Stadt Albanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Swiss Super League players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Danish 1st Division players Liga I players Süper Lig players FC Basel players Frosinone Calcio players Torino FC players FC Crotone players Grasshopper Club Zurich players Vejle Boldklub players Calcio Padova players Nuovo Pordenone 2024 FC ASD players CFR Cluj players Bodrum F.K. footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Swiss people of Albanian descent Sportspeople of Albanian descent Swiss people of Kosovan descent Albanian people of Swiss descent Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Kosovo Albanians UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century Swiss sportsmen 21st-century Albanian sportsmen