Edvan Bakaj (born 9 October 1987) is an

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 ...

n former 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 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

Besa Kavajë

During the winter break, Bakaj announced his departure from Laçi along with the striker

Julian Malo Julian Malo (born 2 February 1985) is an Albanian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Shënkolli in the Albanian First Division. Career Partizani Tirana On 30 January 2014, Malo left the club after realizing that there wa ...

, and, in the first days of 2010, he joined

Besa Kavajë Besa or BESA may refer to: Arts & entertainment * ''Besa'' (newspaper), a newspaper published in Albania * ''Besa'' (TV series), a Serbian-British television series produced by Adrenalin and Red Planet Pictures * ''The Besa'', a novel by Albanian ...

on a free transfer for the second part of 2009–10.

Romania

Following recommendation from his cousin Elis Bakaj, Edvan was given a trial at newly promoted

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 ...

side Alro Slatina. At first it was believed to be an unsuccessful trial as he did not impress in a friendly. However, on 15 July 2011 he signed a contract at the club and joined his cousin and former teammate

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...

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 ...

Return to Laçi

On 8 August 2012, Bakaj signed a one-year deal with Laçi. He made his return debut with the club on 24 September 2012 during the league match away against

Skënderbeu Korçë Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian feudal lord and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serb ...

, where Bakaj concealed three times for a 3–0 defeat. On 4 May 2014, Bakaj scored his first career goal during the 6–0 thrashing of

Kastrioti Krujë Klubi Sportiv Kastrioti is an Albanian football club based in the city of Krujë. The club's home ground used to be the Kastrioti Stadium, but after the stadium got closed and demolished, Kastrioti decided to move to the Kamëz Stadium in Kamëz, ...

, valid for the 22nd week of 2013–14 season, scoring from the penalty kick. He left the team after the end of the season by terminating his contract by mutual consensus.

Tirana

On 25 July 2014, Bakaj signed a two-year contract with

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, taking the vacant number 31 for the 2014–15 season. He made his league debut with the club on 30 November 2014 against his former side Laçi, keeping his first clean-sheet of the season in a goalless draw at home. During the 2014–15 season, he served mostly as a back-up for first goalkeeper

Stivi Frashëri Stivi Frashëri (born 29 August 1990) is an Albanian professional footballer who as a goalkeeper for Liria Prizren in the Kosovar Superliga. Club career Early career Frashëri joined the youth setup of his local side Skënderbeu Korçë as a ...

, but he took his place in early March 2015 after the match against

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's home ground is the newly built sta ...

, were Frashëri made a mistake that was decisive for the faith of the match. Bakaj ended the season with 16 appearances in all competitions, including 9 in league, with Tirana who finished it in the fourth place and was eliminated in semi-finals of 2014–15 Albanian Cup against Laçi with the 1–0 aggregate. He left the club on 7 August 2015 after being told that he was not in the plans of the technical staff, but, five days later, however, a call from the club's president

Refik Halili Refik Halili is the chairman and main sponsor of KF Tirana. Since 2003, Halili had been one of the sponsors of the club. His duty as Chairman of KF Tirana started on May 29, 2008. He is a businessman and founder and owner of one of Albania's lead ...

made him to change his mind and return in training. Bakaj was the starting goalkeeper of the team during 2015–16 season, making 29 league appearances, collecting 2610 minutes as Tirana finished in 5th position. He also played in 5 Albanian Cup matches, as Tirana was eliminated in the quarter-final to

Flamurtari Vlorë Flamurtari Football Club is an Albanian professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria Superiore, which is the first tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Alba ...

. During 2016–17 season, with the arrival of veteran

Ilion Lika Ilion Lika (born 17 May 1980) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During his 25-year career span, Lika played more than 500 matches on club level. He began his professional career in 1999 with Dinamo Tirana ...

, Bakaj was dropped to second choice, making only 5 appearances, all of them in cup, as Tirana was relegated for the first time in history, and won the cup for a record 16th time. In August 2017, Bakaj terminated his contract by mutual consent due to lack of playing time.

Liria Prizren

On 10 August 2017, Bakaj completed a transfer to Liria Prizren of

Football Superleague of Kosovo The Football Superleague of Kosovo (), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo () for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Football in Kosovo#Men's, Kosovar football league system. The Superleague is organized by t ...

for an undisclosed fee.

Drita

On 8 June 2018, Bakaj completed a transfer to fellow

and defending champions Drita. On 17 July 2018, he made his debut with Drita in

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

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 ...

against Swedish side

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

after being named in the starting line-up. Bakaj left the club on 21 January 2019, terminating the contract by mutual consent.

Luftëtari Gjirokastër

On 29 January 2019, Bakaj returned in Albanian Superliga after one-and-a-half years absence, signing with Luftëtari until the end of the season. This marked the return of the goalkeeper at the club for the first time since 2007. He spent the second part of 2018–19 season mainly as back-up, collecting only six appearances, including three in

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

, leaving the team afterwards.

Tirana return

On 10 July 2019, Bakaj was presented the new player of Tirana, returning to the capital side for the first time since 2017.

International career

Bakaj has been a former youth international player of

, player three and two matches respectively with

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

and U19 side.

Personal life

Edvan is the cousin of Elis Bakaj, an Albania international midfielder and player of His cousin Elis Bakaj is an Albania international midfielder who plays of Kukësi. They were teammates for two years at Tirana.

Career statistics

Honours

;Besa Kavajë *

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

: 2009–10 *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Prior to 2000, Supercup final was not played when the champion team won the Double. However, after the ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

;Laçi *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

;Tirana *

: 2019–20 *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakaj, Edvan 1987 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian men's footballers Albania men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FK Partizani Tirana players KF Laçi players KF Besa Kavajë players FC Dinamo City players KF Tirana players KF Liria Prizren players FC Drita players Kategoria Superiore players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Kosovo Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Kosovo 21st-century Albanian sportsmen