Elvir Mehdi Maloku (born 14 May 1996) is an Albanian 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 winger for German

Oberliga Niedersachsen The Oberliga Niedersachsen (), sometimes referred to as ''Niedersachsenliga'' (Lower Saxony league), is the fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Lower Saxony (). Since 1994, the league was s ...

club BSV Schwarz-Weiß Rehden.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

into an ethnic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

family, Maloku passed through various clubs in his native region where he had started his career with NK Lokomotiva Rijeka in 2004 and moved in 2007 to NK Stari Grad Rijeka, before moving to the youth setup of the local

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

side

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

in early 2012. In the 2012–13 season, he was the top scorer of the club's under-17 team, scoring 13 goals in 26 appearances. In February 2013, Maloku had a successful trial at Italian giants

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

but talks over potential signing were ultimately called off.

Hajduk Split

In the summer of 2013, Maloku moved to

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

along with his younger brother Trojan. He made his first team debut on 28 August 2013 in his team's 3–1 away win against

NK Lokomotiva Zagreb Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

, coming in the 83rd minute for Anton Maglica. During his first two seasons under coach

Igor Tudor Igor Tudor (born 16 April 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Serie A club Juventus. Capable of playing either as a defender or defensive midfielder, Tudor spent most of his playing career a ...

, Maloku was used mostly as a bench player. His pace would sometimes prove good in the last minutes of the game. When Damir Burić took over the club in 2015, Maloku made his way into the first lineup but after some bad performances, he was benched again and used as a substitute. Out of his 69 total caps for Hajduk, he made it only 13 times in the starting lineup and was used 35 times as a substitute. In only 4 matches during his Hajduk career, he managed to play the entire game for 90 minutes. After the end of the season, he was released by Hajduk and given the option to search for his new club.

Gimnàstic

On 18 July 2016, Maloku signed a four-year contract with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

. Then on 7 January, after being rarely used in the league, he was loaned to

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

until June 2018. On 23 August 2018, he was loaned out to

NK Aluminij Nogometni klub Aluminij (), commonly referred to as NK Aluminij or simply Aluminij, is a Slovenian football club based in the town of Kidričevo that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian football. The club was founded in ...

for the rest of the season.

Olimpia Grudziądz

In September 2019, Maloku signed with Polish side

Olimpia Grudziądz Olimpia Grudziądz is a Polish football club from Grudziądz. The club was formed on 30 June 1923. Currently, Olimpia plays in the II liga, following promotion in the 2022–23 season. On 1 March 2022, thanks to defeating Wisła Kraków in a ...

. His contract with the club was terminated on August 1, 2020.

Dečić Tuzi

Maloku spent the first part of the 2020–21 season without a club, before signing for

FK Dečić FK Dečić ( Montenegrin: ФК Дечић; Albanian: FK Deçiq), known as Dečić Admiral Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a Montenegrin professional football club from Tuzi. Currently, the club is a member of the Montenegrin First League. It is ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

.Zoran Bogolin već doveo prvo zvučno pojačanje, braća Maloku iduće sezone u istim dresovima
at sportcom.hr

Opatija

In June 2021, Maloku was presented as a new NK Opatija player in June 2021.

International career

Croatia

Maloku was a Croatian youth international, playing for the under-17 team in the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates from 17 October to 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, claimin ...

in the summer of 2013 and several matches for the under-19 team and the under-21 team.

Albania

He was eligible to play 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 ...

at international level due to his parents origin. He accepted the invitation from head coach

Skënder Gega Skënder Gega (born 14 November 1963) is an Albanian Association football, football coach and a former player. He is the manager of FK Partizani Tirana, Partizani. Playing career Club Gega played the majority of his career at FK Partizani Tiran ...

to play for

Albania national under-21 football team The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which is held every two years. ...

in 2015, later stating that he intends to play for Albania at senior level should a chance arise. He was called up for the

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 ...

es against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

and

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 ...

on 12 and 16 June 2015 respectively, but his appearance for the team was thwarted by club duties with Hajduk Split. Following arrival of

Alban Bushi Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional association football, football coach and former player who is the Manager (association football), manager of Albania national under-21 football team, Albania under-21 and Albania nati ...

as a head coach of Albania U21, Maloku was re-invited to Albania U21. In a press conference later, Bushi stated that Maloku would be given the Albanian citizenship to make him eligible for Albania U21 in the

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 ...

. Maloku was given the Albanian citizenship by president

Bujar Nishani Bujar Faik Nishani (; 29 September 1966 – 28 May 2022) was an Albanian politician. He served as the president of Albania from 24 July 2012 to 24 July 2017. Nishani was the youngest person to have been chosen as president of Albania, taking of ...

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Maloku was called up for the

against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the

opening match against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017. On 7 June 2017,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

granted Maloku clearance to start for Albania U21 in competitive matches. However, a day before the opening match of the qualifiers against Estonia U21, Maloku suffered a late injury which made him miss the match.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Hajduk Split * Croatian Super Cup runner-up:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

AEK Larnaca *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

runner-up: 2016–17 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Elvir Maloku
at hajduk.hr * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maloku, Elvir 1996 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Croatian people of Albanian descent Men's association football wingers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Albanian men's footballers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Albania men's under-21 international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers AEK Larnaca FC players NK Aluminij players Olimpia Grudziądz players FK Dečić players NK Opatija players PAEEK FC players VfR Mannheim players BSV Schwarz-Weiß Rehden players Croatian Football League players Segunda División players Cypriot First Division players Slovenian PrvaLiga players I liga players Montenegrin First League players First Football League (Croatia) players Oberliga (football) players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Montenegro Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Montenegro Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century Croatian sportsmen