Azdren Gani Llullaku (born 15 February 1988) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

club Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud.

Club career

Early career

Llullaku was born on 15 February 1988 in

Istok Istok may refer to: Places * Istok, Kosovo, a town and municipality located in the District of Peja of western Kosovo also known as Istog or Burim * Istok River or Istog River, originating near the city of Istog, Kosovo * Bolshoy Istok, a villag ...

. Due to the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, aged 12 Llullaku moved to Italy along with his mother and his brother, settling in Tarzo in the

Province of Treviso The province of Treviso () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso. The province is surrounded by Province of Belluno, Belluno in the north, Province of Vicenza, Vicenza in the west, Pro ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. He began his youth career with A.C. Vallata 1999, a team of the third category, the lowest level of "amateur" football in Italy.

Italian lower divisions

In the regional competitions, Llullaku revealed himself to be a talented goalscorer and he was recruited by Denis Florin, sporting director of

Conegliano Conegliano (; Venetian language, Venetian: ''Conejan'') is a town and ''comune'' of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of people. The remains of a 10th ...

, which played in

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

at that time. Llullaku accepted with enthusiasm and in the 2005–06 season, he started playing with the juniors team, and after ten matches, in December 2005 he transitioned into the senior team by Umberto Trinca and at 17, he scored three goals in 18 matches, helping to avoid a difficult relegation but especially stood out as a player deserving to be a professional. He moved into

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

, joining A.S.D. Sacilese Calcio in 2006. In the 2006–07 Season he made a total of 31 appearances and scored eight goals. In the summer of 2007, Llullaku joined

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

side

Südtirol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The provinc ...

. In the 2007–08 season he made a total of 12 appearances. In 2008, he joined Serie D side Domegliara. In the 2008–09 season he made a total of 33 appearances and scored 11 goals. He returned in 2009 to the previous team Sacilese in

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

(previous name

) but didn't made any appearances for entire 2009–10 season due to the law that prohibits the enrollment of non-EU citizens. This made him move to Tamai in Serie D. In the 2010–11 season, he made a total of 33 appearances and scored 22 goals. In February, he was elected by the statistics of the Corriere dello Sport as the best striker in the

and is placed in the Top 11 Serie D. ;SandonàJesolo In 2011, he joined fellow Venetian team SandonàJesolo. On 25 September 2011, Llullaku scored by penalty the opening goal in the victory 2–0 against San Giorgio. Later on 18 December, Llullaku scored hat-trick to give the clean 3–0 victory SandonàJesolo against I.S.M. Gradisca. In the 2011–12 season he made a total of 30 appearances and scored 13 goals. SandonàJesolo finished in the 6th place in the final rank and qualified for the

fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

of the Promotion play-off as the finalist of 2011–12 Coppa Italia Serie D and were shorted to play against

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. First play-off match against Arezzo played on 27 May 2012 finished in the goalless draw, and then was decided by penalty shoot-out as SandonàJesolo won it by 3–4 result. SandonàJesolo 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, ...

where they played against Legnago Salus on 3 June 2012 and won the match with the 2–0 result, in which also Llullaku scored the closing goal in the 51st minute after an personally attack himself. SandonàJesolo managed to get in the final and they played against

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

, where Llullaku scored the second goal advantage but not enough to win the game as Cosenza came from behind to win the match by the 3–2 result. Llullaku also managed to play in the

Coppa Italia Serie D Coppa Italia Serie D (Italian language, Italian for Serie D Italian Cup) is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie D in Italy, Italian football (soccer), football. The competition is held since the 1999–2000, when Ser ...

with SandonàJesolo in the 2011–12 season. SandonàJesolo played in a two-legged match for the semi-final against Bogliasco and the first leg was won by the 1–0 home result, then in the second leg SandonàJesolo lost by the 2–1 result and they qualified due to the away goals rule, where the only away goal was scored by Llullaku himself. They advanced to the final and Llullaku also played in a 2–1 loss for the cup final match against Sant'Antonio Abate. At the end of the 2011–12 season many professional clubs like Cremonese and

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 ...

wanted to buy Llullaku but his foreign players status didn't help him.

Gaz Metan Mediaș

After spending 6 years in

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 July 2012 after a trial, Llullaku signed for Romanian top division side Gaz Metan Mediaș. Llulaku made his competitive debut on 24 August 2012 during the league match against

Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. It is one of six Romanian county seats lying on the river Danube. "Drobeta" is the name ...

, coming on as a substitute in an eventual 2–0 home win. He netted his first goal for the team on 1 December in the match against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

, giving his team a 1–1 draw. Llullaku started 2013 by scoring a goal in team's 3–1 win over Gloria Bistrița on 22 February, which was followed by a brace in the 4–1 home win against Viitorul Constanța. Llullaku was again decisive for his team by scoring the lone goal in the match against Concordia Chiajna, giving his team three important points. That was his final strike of the season, as he finished it by playing 22 matches between league and cup, scoring five in the process. Lullaku lost his place in the starting lineup during the 2013–14 season, making only nine league starts. He scored his first goal of the season on 26 July in the league encounter against

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...

, finished in a 1–2 defeat. On 25 September 2013, he scored twice in Gaz Metan Mediaș' 0–4 win over Petrolul Ploiești in the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

. The 2013–14 season was a bad one for Llullaku; he scored only one league goal in 28 appearances, in addition two

goals in two matches. Llullaku started 2014–15 season by playing the entire match against

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative b ...

for the quarter-finals of 2014–15 Romanian Cup, which finished in a 1–0 defeat in extra-time. He made his first league appearance for this season on 27 July 2014 in the 3–0 away win over Botoșani. Lullaku scored his first goal of the season on 8 August, a last-minute equalizer against

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

in the matchday 3 to give his side a 1–1 draw. On 12 September, during the 3–1 loss against Steaua București in which Llullaku scored his team's only goal, he got injured after just kicked the ball cause of an accident collision with opponent player. On 5 December, in the matchday 17 against

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

, Llullaku scored a brace inside first five minutes to give his team a 2–1 win in the last match of 2014. The new year found him injured, as he return to play in the team only in March, playing for 59 minutes in the match against Rapid București, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. He scored his first goal of 2015 on 14 March in the 1–1 draw against

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

. Llullaku concluded the 2014–15 season with 30 appearances, 16 as a starter and 14 as a substitute in which he scored 8 goals but Gaz Metan Mediaș got relegated as they were ranked in the 13th place of the table, a place which was the higher of the rank which would result relegation. Llullaku remained at Gaz Metan Mediaș for the 2015–16 season, where he made his

Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

debut on 29 August 2015 in the opening day against UTA Arad. He scored his first goal of campaign on 11 September in the 1–1 home draw against Șoimii Pâncota. Later that month, Llullaku scored his second goal of the season, a 91st-minute penalty, helping his side to earn a 3–3 home draw against Mioveni. On 13 January 2016, Llullaku left Gaz Metan Mediaș after three-and-a-half seasons where he managed to score 17 goals in 93 league appearances. He announced via his official

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profile that he has terminated his contract with the club by mutual consensus, being a free agent.

CSMS Iași

Llullaku returned to

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

as he signed with CSMS Iași on 30 January 2016. He made his debut on 13 February 2016 against Viitorul Constanța coming on as a substitute in the 82nd minute in place of Nuno Viveiros. During the second part of 2015–16 season, Llullaku made 14 league appearances, including 9 as a starter, collecting 698 minutes, but failed to score a single goal, as CSMS Iași finished the season in the 7th position.

Astana

On 24 December 2016, Llullaku signed a 2-year contract with Kazakh champions

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

, on a free transfer. His new salary would be from €50K and in the 2017–18 season he has secured a participation in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League - Second qualifying round. He made his debut on 4 March 2017 in the Kazakhstan Super Cup against Kairat playing as a starter. He scored his first goal in his 4th match in the

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 ...

on 17 March 2017 against Akzhayik. Llullaku scored the 2nd goal in the 13th minute and the match finished in the 3–1 victory.

Loan to Tobol

On 2 July 2017 Llullaku was loaned to fellow

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

side

FC Tobol FC Tobol () is a Kazakhstan, Kazakh professional association football, football club based at the Kostanay Central Stadium, Central Stadium in Kostanay. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992. In 20 ...

for 6 months. He debuted 8 days later in the matchday 19 against Irtysh Pavlodar playing as a starter and becoming protagonist of the match. In the 82nd minute after a cross from the right side, Llullaku did a header which was deflected into the goal by opponents defender Carlos Fonseca and this goal was enough for Tobol to take the away 0–1 victory. In December he was exhibited by FC Astana for the transfer. He was returned to Astana following the end of the 2017 season and later on 15 January 2018 he announced via his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

profile to have departed from Astana.

International career

In April 2013, FSHF has been reported to have an interest in Llullaku representing

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 ...

and asked him to apply for an Albanian passport (citizenship). On 24 May 2013, Llullaku received the Albanian citizenship among 4 fellow Albanian international players, Jurgen Gjasula, Ilir Berisha, Amir Abrashi and Vullnet Basha. He received the first call-up from the national team coach Gianni De Biasi who declared that due to the absence of Edmond Kapllani, he had decided to call-up Llullaku to replace him for the match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 7 June 2013 and this due to his both-wings playing ability. Llullaku was an unused substitute for the entire match as he remained on the bench. In October 2016, after a three years absence, following a series of good performances with Gaz Metan Mediaș, Llullaku was called up again from De Biasi for the

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

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He made his senior debut on 6 October by playing as a starter in the match against Liechtenstein which finished a 2–0 away win, as Albania took the lead of Group G with six points.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Astana * Kazakhstan Super Cup runner-up:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Astra Giurgiu *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Shakhtyor Soligorsk * Belarusian Super Cup runner-up:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual

top scorer: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Llullaku, Azdren 1988 births Living people People from Istog Footballers from the District of Peja Albanian emigrants to Italy Naturalised citizens of Italy Kosovo Albanians Kosovan men's footballers Albanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Albania men's international footballers Serie D players Serie C players Serie B players Liga I players Liga II players Kazakhstan Premier League players Belarusian Premier League players FCD Conegliano Calcio 1907 players ASD Sacilese Calcio players FC Südtirol players SSD Domegliara players ASD Polisportiva Tamai players SSD Calcio San Donà players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players FC Astana players FC Tobol players Virtus Entella players FC Astra Giurgiu players FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk players CS Concordia Chiajna players ASD Cjarlins Muzane players CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț players CS Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud footballers Albanian expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Belarus Footballers from Peja 21st-century Albanian sportsmen