Fatmire "Lira" Alushi (; born 1 April 1988) is a German 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 an

attacking midfielder 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 the Germany women's national team. She placed third in 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or competition, an annual award given to the world's best player.

Club career

Alushi began her career at DJK/VfL Giesenkirchen. From 1997 to 2004, she played for FSC Mönchengladbach, before moving to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side and joining

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga (women), Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrel ...

. She made her Bundesliga debut in September 2004 for the club and scored her first goal one month later. Alushi immediately became a regular starter for Duisburg. She was runner-up with Duisburg for four seasons in a row from 2005 to 2008. During the 2008–09 season, Alushi won the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

. She also claimed the 2009 German Cup title, where she scored in the final. After five seasons at Duisburg, Alushi moved to league rivals

1. FFC Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

for the 2009–10 season. At her new club, she won the Bundesliga title in 2010 and 2011. In the 2009–10 season, Potsdam also claimed the inaugural

title, with Bajramaj scoring during the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in the final. One year later, Potsdam again made it to the final, but lost against

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

Alushi came in third place for the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or award. She announced to move to 1. FFC Frankfurt for the 2011–12 season. The transfer was the most expensive in women's Bundesliga history at the time. In 2014, she transferred to

Paris Saint-Germain Féminines Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain or simply PSG, are a French professional women's football club based in Paris. Founded in 1971, they compete in the Première Ligue, the top division of Fr ...

. Alushi announced her retirement on 28 February 2017.

International career

Alushi made her debut for Germany’s senior national team in October 2005 against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. One year later, she won 2006 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship at junior level. At the

2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship The 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in Russia from 17 August to 3 September 2006. It was the officially recognized world championship for women's under-20 national association football teams. Matches were held in four Moscow st ...

, the German team was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Alushi started in all four of the team's matches and scored three goals during the tournament. She won her first major international title at the 2007 FIFA World Cup. She was a reserve player for Germany, appearing in four games, including the tournament's final, in which she won the corner that let to Germany's second goal. One year later, Alushi claimed bronze with Germany at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. She was brought on after 62 minutes in the third-place play-off and scored both goals in Germany's 2–0 win over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In 2009, Alushi won her first European trophy at the 2009 European Championship, where Germany claimed its seventh title. She was also called up for Germany's 2011 FIFA World Cup squad.

Personal life

Alushi's parents Ismet and Ganimete, who are Kosovo-Albanians, moved their family from

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 ...

, Kosovo to Germany in 1993. In October 2009, she published her autobiography ''Mein Tor ins Leben – Vom Flüchtling zur Weltmeisterin'' (''My Gate into Life – From Refugee to World Champion'' ordplay: German "Tor" translates to both "Goal"/"Gate". In June 2011, Alushi began dating fellow footballer

Enis Alushi Enis Alushi (born 22 December 1985) is a Kosovan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career 1. FC Nürnberg On 28 July 2016, Alushi joined 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Nürnberg. His debut with 1. FC Nürnberg came on ...

. Both their fathers are working together as police officers 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 bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. The couple announced their engagement the following year. Shortly after, in September 2012, both suffered ACL injuries in matches within 72 hours of each other. The couple got married in December 2013. Following the 2015 UEFA Women's Champions League Final, Alushi announced that she was pregnant and would be forced to miss the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Canada. She stated that she expected to get back to the pitch eventually but that "there are things in life that are simply more important than football".

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Alushi goal.''

Honours

Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* Olympic bronze medal:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

FCR 2001 Duisburg *

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

: 2008–09 *

: runner-up 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2008–09; runner-up 2006–07 Turbine Potsdam *

: 2009–10 *Bundesliga: 2009–10,

2010–11 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 ...

FFC Frankfurt *UEFA Women's Champions League: runner-up 2011–12 *DFB-Pokal: 2013–14 *

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 ...

* Olympic bronze medal:

* UEFA Women's U-19 Championship:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual * Women's Footballer of the Year: 2011 *

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (, ), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games ...

: 2007 *

FIFA Ballon d'Or The FIFA Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") was an annual association football award presented to the world's best men's player from 2010 to 2015. Awarded jointly by FIFA and ''France Football'', the prize was a merger of the FIFA World Player of the Y ...

: third place

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alushi, Fatmire 1988 births Living people German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers German expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Women's association football midfielders Eintracht Frankfurt (women) players 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players Frauen-Bundesliga players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Première Ligue players FCR 2001 Duisburg players FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics German expatriate sportspeople in France German people of Albanian descent Sportspeople of Albanian descent Kosovan emigrants to Germany Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Kosovo Albanians Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in football Olympic footballers for Germany Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players People from Istog Footballers from the District of Peja UEFA Women's Championship–winning players Yugoslav emigrants to Germany Footballers from Peja UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players 21st-century German sportswomen