Betim Halimi (born 28 February 1996) is a Kosovan 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

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 ...

for Kosovo Superleague club

Suhareka Suva Reka ( sr-Cyrl, Сува Река) or Suharekë () or Therandë () is a List of cities in Kosovo, town and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality located in the District of Prizren, Prizren district of central-southern Kosovo. According to ...

Club career

Early career and Drita

Halimi was part of Kosovo First League club Vllaznia Pozheran until 1 February 2016. On 19 January 2016,

Telegrafi ''Telegrafi'' is an Albanian-language news website published in Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is ...

announced that he is on trial to Chelsea's under-18 team competing in the

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 ...

, but unfortunately this test turned out to fail. On 1 February 2016, Halimi joined Kosovo Superleague side Drita, to replace the injured

Artan Latifi Artan Isa Latifi (born 5 April 1983) is a Kosovo Albanian professional Association football, football coach and former player who is the current goalkeeping coach of FC London, London Soccer School. Club career Drita and KEK In 1996 Latifi began ...

and played 15 matches in the league.

Hajvalia

On 7 July 2016, Halimi joined Kosovo Superleague side

Hajvalia Hajvalia ( sr-Cyrl, Ајвалија) is a village in the municipality of Pristina, Kosovo. It has a population of 7,702 inhabitants. A small creek begins in the town, while another begins north-east of the town and runs through it. After 1970, t ...

. On 21 August 2016, he made his debut in a 4–0 away defeat against

Ferizaj Ferizaj or Uroševac,, or Uroševac sr-Cyrl, Урошевац, . Also formerly known as Ferizovići (). is a city and a municipality in Kosovo. It is the third largest city in Kosovo by population and also the seat of Ferizaj Municipality and ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Return to Drita

On 30 December 2016, Halimi returned to Kosovo Superleague club Drita and this return would become legally effective two days later. On 26 February 2017, he made his debut in a 1–1 away win against Gjilani after being named in the starting line-up.

Narva Trans

On 13 June 2018, Halimi joined

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

side

Narva Trans Jalgpalliklubi Narva Trans, commonly known as Narva Trans or simply Trans, is an Estonian professional football club based in Narva that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. Although the club's traditional home gro ...

. On 21 August 2018, he made his debut with Narva Trans in the 2018–19 Estonian Cup third round against SK Kadrina after being named in the starting line-up. Seven days later, he made his first Meistriliiga appearance after coming on as a substitute at last minutes in place of Artur Kotenko in a 0–3 away win against

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a populated places in Estonia, town on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Municipality and the seat of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded popul ...

Olimpik Donetsk

On 27 February 2019, Halimi signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

club

Olimpik Donetsk FC Olimpik Donetsk ( ) is a Ukrainian inactive football team based in Donetsk, Ukraine. The club currently doesn't play in any Ukrainian competition due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since its promotion to Ukrainian Premier League in 2 ...

and received squad number 12. Four days later, he made his debut in a 0–1 home defeat against

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fac ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Prishtina

On 10 August 2021, Halimi signed a three-year contract with Kosovo Superleague club

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 ...

. Seven days later, he made his debut with Prishtina in the 2021 Kosovar Supercup against Llapi after being named in the starting line-up.

International career

Under-21

On 21 March 2017, Halimi 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 Republic of Ireland U21, he was an unused substitute in that match.

Senior

On 23 December 2019, Halimi confirmed that he 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

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

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 ...

, but due to injury, could not be part of the national team. On 17 March 2021, he received again a call-up from

for the friendly match 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 ...

and

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

matches against

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 ...

, but he was an unused substitute in these matches. On 11 June 2021, Halimi made his debut with Kosovo in a friendly match against

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halimi, Betim 1996 births Living people People from Viti, Kosovo Footballers from the District of Gjilan Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Estonia Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Albania Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Albania Men's association football goalkeepers Football Superleague of Kosovo players KF Vllaznia Pozheran players FC Drita players FC Hajvalia players FC Prishtina players SC Gjilani players Meistriliiga players JK Narva Trans players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Olimpik Donetsk players Kategoria Superiore players FK Kukësi players