Armando Broja (; born 10 September 2001) 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 striker for side Chelsea. Born in England, he plays for the Albania national team.

Club career

Early career

Broja was born in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

, England to Albanian parents from

Koplik Koplik (also known as Koplik i Poshtëm) is a town and former municipality in the northwestern tip of Albania. At the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision, and the seat of the municipality Malësi e Madhe. It was the seat of the ...

Malësi e Madhe District Malësi e Madhe District (), commonly known as Malësia, was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created counties. It had a population of 36,770 in 2001, and an area of . It is in the ...

. He began his football career with Burnham Juniors, then had trials with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, before signing with

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 ...

and joining their under-8 selection.

Chelsea

After a two-year stint at Tottenham, Broja transferred to Chelsea and joined their

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 2009. With the under-18 side, he won the domestic treble of

U18 Premier League The Professional Development League is a system of English youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player P ...

, U18 Premier League Cup and

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 2017–18. He also won the

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of Football in England, English youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Th ...

with the under-23s in 2019–20, scoring three goals in ten appearances. On 26 February 2020, Broja signed his first professional contract with the club after agreeing to a two-year deal. On 8 March, he made his professional debut in a 4–0

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

win against Everton after coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute in place of

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

2020–21 season: Loan to Vitesse

On 21 August 2020, Broja signed for Vitesse on a season-long loan. On 19 September, he scored his first ever league goal in a 2–0 win over

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. Broja finished his loan spell at Vitesse as their joint-top scorer in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

for the

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 ...

season, netting ten goals.

2021–22 season: Loan to Southampton

On 18 July 2021, Broja signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea. On 10 August 2021, he was loaned to fellow Premier League club

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

for the 2021–22 season. On his debut on 25 August, he scored two goals in an 8–0 win over League Two side Newport County in the second round of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. On 16 October, Broja scored his first league goal for The Saints in a 1–0 win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, and became the first Albanian player to score in the Premier League.

2022–23 season

On 2 September 2022, Broja signed a new long-term contract with Chelsea until 2028. He scored his first goal for the club on 8 October 2022 against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, helping Chelsea seal a 3–0 win. He was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury in a friendly game against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

during the international break for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

2023–24 season: Loan to Fulham

After scoring two goals in 19 games across all competitions for Chelsea in the first half of the season, Broja was sent on loan to fellow Premier League side

on 1 February 2024, signing a contract until the end of the season. He made his debut on 3 February, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Rodrigo Muniz in a 2–2 away draw to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in the Premier League.

2024–25 season: Loan to Everton

On 30 August 2024, shortly before the transfer window closed, Broja signed for fellow Premier League side Everton on a season-long loan with an option to make the transfer permanent.

International career

Broja was eligible to play for

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 ...

through his place of birth, and for

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 ...

through his Albanian parents. In early 2019, he declined an invitation by the England under-21 team as his desire was to play only for Albania.

Under-19

Broja received his first international call-up from the Albania under-19 team by coach

Nevil Dede Nevil Thanas Dede (born 10 January 1975) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. A centre-back, Dede spent most of his club career with his hometown club Tirana, winning a string of trophies, including 8 championships, bei ...

for the first gathering of 2019 in February. He was then called up for a double friendly against

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

the following month. Broja made his international debut in the first game played on 24 March, when he started the match and scored in the 60th minute for the final score of 1–1. He started again in the second game two days later, putting his side 1–0 up in the 10th minute, but North Macedonia overturned the score and won 2–1. In May 2019, he received a call-up for another double friendlies against

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 ...

. Broja was named in the starting line-up in the first match, and also scored his side's third goal in a 3–1 away win. Two days later, Albania won 4–1 over Kosovo with Broja scoring twice. In November, Broja was invited to participate in the 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification Group 4 where his side were shorted to play against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

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 ...

. He played the full 90 minutes in the first match versus Greece where his side were beaten 5–1, and against Belgium where he managed to score a consolation goal in the second half as Albania lost 2–1. In the third game against Iceland, he started the match and helped his side to score two goals in the first half, but received a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

in the 65th minute as Iceland eventually overturned the game and won 4–2.

Under-21

On 9 June 2019, Broja made his debut with the Albanian under-21 side in the friendly match 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 ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 46th minute in place of

Din Sula Din Sula (born 2 March 1998) is a footballer who plays as a forward for Polish I liga club Odra Opole. Born in Belgium, Sula represented his country of birth at youth level, before switching to Albania in 2018. Career Sula played his first off ...

, and scored his side's two goals during a 2–1 home win.

Senior

In May 2019, Broja received a call-up from Albania for a training camp 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 from 21 to 26 May 2019. On 7 September 2020 he made his debut in a 1–0 home loss against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. On 5 September 2021, Broja scored his first senior goal in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, helping his team to a 1–0 victory.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broja, Armando 2001 births Living people Footballers from Slough Albanian men's footballers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Chelsea F.C. players SBV Vitesse players Southampton F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Everton F.C. players Premier League players Eredivisie players Albania men's youth international footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's international footballers Albanian expatriate men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Albanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands English people of Albanian descent UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century English sportsmen