Edon Lulzim Zhegrova (born 31 March 1999) 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

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

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

Club career

Early career

Zhegrova is a product of youth team systems of the different Kosovan and Belgian sides. In 2012, he was chosen as the best player of the Milan Junior Camp which was held in Kosovo.

Genk

On 22 March 2017, Zhegrova joined

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

side

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

. On 10 September 2017, he made his debut in a 1–1 away draw against

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute in place of

Ruslan Malinovskyi Ruslan Volodymyrovych Malinovskyi (; born 4 May 1993) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, right winger or second striker for club Genoa and the Ukraine national team. He is a set piece specialist and p ...

Basel

Period on loan

On 4 February 2019,

announced the loan of Zhegrova to

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 ...

side

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 ...

. On the same day later, the Swiss club confirmed that he had joined on a one and a half season loan contract and received squad number 30. On 23 February 2019, he made his debut in a 2–0 away win against

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 83rd minute in place of Valentin Stocker. He scored his first goal for his new club on 25 September 2019 in the home match in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

against

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 ...

as Basel won 4–0. It was the third goal of the game.

Return as a permanent player

On 22 September 2020, Zhegrova signed a three-year contract with

club

and received squad number 30. Five days later, he made his debut in a 1–0 away win against

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

after being named in the starting line-up. Seven days after debut, Zhegrova scored his first goal for Basel in his third appearance for the club in a 3–2 home win over

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

in Swiss Super League. On 14 January the club announced that Zhegrova had transferred out and signed for French team

for undisclosed fee. During his three years with the club from January 2019 to January 2022 Zhegrova played a total of 89 games for Basel scoring a total of 15 goals. 60 of these games were in the

, 3 in 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 ...

, 11 in the

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 ...

and Conference League and 15 were friendly games. He scored 9 goals in the domestic league, 2 in the Conference League and the other 4 were scored during the test games.

Lille

On 14 January 2022, Zhegrova signed a four-year contract with

club Lille and received squad number 23. Lille reportedly paid a €7 million transfer fee. Eight days later, he was named as a Lille substitute for the first time in a league match against Brest. His debut with Lille came on 6 February in a 1–5 home defeat against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute in place of

Jonathan Bamba Jonathan Fousseni Bamba (born 26 March 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a left winger or attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire. Born in France, he plays for the Ivory Coast national team. Club career Sa ...

. One month after debut, Zhegrova scored his first goal for Lille in his fourth appearance for the club in a 4–0 home win over Clermont in Ligue 1.

International career

He had the option to represent

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 ...

being an ethnic

n, but decided to represent

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 ...

. In August 2017, Zhegrova refused a call-up from Kosovo U21 with the pretense that it's important for him to concentrate on playing at the club level for now. On 6 March 2018, he finally decided to play with

. Thirteen days later, Zhegrova received a call-up from Kosovo for friendly matches against

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

. Five days after the call-up, he made his debut with Kosovo in a friendly match against Madagascar after being named in the starting line-up. He scored his side's only goal during a 1–0 home win, thus becoming, at 18 years and 11 months, Kosovo's youngest goalscorer ever, beating the record of

Bersant Celina Bersant Celina (born 9 September 1996) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Swedish club AIK and the Kosovo national team. He began his professional career with Manchester City, having previously been w ...

Personal life

Zhegrova was born in

Herford Herford (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is situated in the cultural region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and the Detmold (administrat ...

, Germany to Kosovan parents from the village

Dobrajë e Madhe Dobrajë e Madhe (, ) is a village in Lipjan municipality. Dobrajë has seen a big improvement in infrastructure and quality of life in the past decade, with having the road fixed and asphalted, having lights that cover a big part of the village ...

Lipjan Lipjan ( sq-definite, Lipjani) or Lipljan ( sr-Cyrl, Липљан) is a town and municipality located in the District of Pristina in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Lipjan has 6,870 inhabitants, while the municipality has 57,6 ...

, which later would be his temporary residence after his family returned to Kosovo's capital,

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 ...

, after the end of

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 ...

. Zhegrova's younger sister, Valza is a former singer.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Kosovo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zhegrova goal.''

Honours

KRC Genk *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 2018–19 FC Basel *

: 2018–19 Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: March 2024

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhegrova, Edon 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Herford People from Lipjan Footballers from the District of Pristina Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers German men's footballers German people of Kosovan descent Men's association football wingers KF Flamurtari players FC Prishtina players Belgian Pro League players KRC Genk players Swiss Super League players FC Basel players Ligue 1 players Lille OSC players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in France Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century German sportsmen