Fatos Bećiraj ( cnr, Фатос Бећирај, sq, Fatos Besim Beqiraj; born 5 May 1988) is a Montenegrin 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 le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for FK Mornar and the Montenegro national team.

Club career

Early career and Budućnost

Bećiraj began his career in his hometown of

Peja Peja ( Indefinite Albanian form: ''Pejë'' ) or Peć ( sr-Cyrl, Пећ ) is the fourth largest city of Kosovo and seat of Peja Municipality and Peja District. It is situated in the region of Rugova on the eastern section of the Accursed Mount ...

with the local club Shqiponja at 17 years of age, before joining their city rivals Besa Pejë in July 2007. After spending the first half of the 2007–08 season with Besa Pejë, his good performances in the

Kosovar Superliga The Football Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Kosovar football ...

attracted attention from several clubs in the region, and in January 2008, Bećiraj moved to the Montenegrin First League side

Budućnost Podgorica Budućnost means "the future" in many Slavic languages, and it may also refer to: *SD Budućnost Podgorica, a sports society from Podgorica, Montenegro ** KK Budućnost Podgorica, a professional basketball club FK Budućnost may refer to: * FK Bud ...

. He immediately established himself as a first team regular at Budućnost, scoring 9 goals in 15 appearances in the second half of the 2007–08 season, helping the club win the Montenegrin championship title and finish runners-up in the

2007–08 Montenegrin Cup The 2007–08 Montenegrin Cup was the second season of the Montenegrin knockout football tournament. The winner of the tournament received a berth in the first qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. The defending champions were Rudar, who ...

. In the following two seasons, Bećiraj scored 28 league goals in 62 matches for the club, becoming league top scorer in the 2008–09 season with 18 goals scored.

Dinamo Zagreb

On 30 August 2010, it was announced that Bećiraj signed for Croatian club

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. He played well in his debut season with Dinamo and became regularly called up to the Montenegro national team. He played in 22 league matches and scored 8 goals, most notably a beautiful goal against

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

and a fine header against

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. Bećiraj struggled to find his goalscoring form at the beginning of the 2011–12 season, finally scoring after eight matches without a goal, netting the fifth goal in a 5–0 win against

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

. He then scored the last goal in a 4–1 win against Malmö in the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

Play-off. Bećiraj then continued his goalscoring form in domestic competition, scoring against Varaždin, Istra 1961, Zadar, Šibenik and Split. Fatos Beqiraj 2011

On 22 November 2011, Bećiraj scored Dinamo's first goal in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, netting a header in the club's 6–2 away loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

at the Santiago Bernabéu. Bećiraj was the first choice striker throughout the 2011–12 season and became top scorer of the

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

with 15 goals in 28 appearances, becoming the first foreign player to accomplish that feat.

Changchun Yatai

In February 2014, Bećiraj transferred to Chinese Super League side

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home stadi ...

. On 8 March 2014, he made his debut for Yatai in a 1-0 away defeat against Beijing Guoan. On 23 April 2014, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3-1 away win against defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande. He made 28 appearances for Yatai in the 2014 season and scored 7 goals.

Dinamo Minsk

In January 2015, Bećiraj transferred to

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

side Dinamo Minsk. On 6 August 2015, he scored a 118th-minute winner in a 1–1 extra-time (2–1 aggregate) win over Swiss side Zürich in the second leg of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Dynamo Moscow

On 18 February 2016, Bećiraj signed a 3.5-year contract with Russian side

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

. He scored his first goal for Dynamo Moscow on 19 March 2016, giving his club a 1–0 win against Ufa. On 11 January 2018, Bećiraj's Dynamo contract was dissolved by mutual consent, making him a free agent.

Mechelen

The day after leaving Dynamo Moscow, on 12 January 2018, Bećiraj signed a contract with the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

Maccabi Netanya

On 5 September 2018, Bećiraj signed with Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Netanya. He was the top goalscorer for the club in his debut season scoring 15 goals in all club competitions. His second season with Netanya wasn't as successful, scoring only 7 times in the league and once in the Toto Cup. On 7 June 2020, Bećiraj requested to be released from the club. In the two seasons with the club, he scored a total of 23 goals in 63 appearances for the club.

Wisła Kraków

On July 25, 2020 Bećiraj signed with Polish side Wisła Kraków on a two-year contract after leaving Maccabi Netanya by contract termination.

Bnei Yehuda

On February 11, 2021 Bećiraj signed for Bnei Yehuda of the Israeli Premier League.

International career

Bećiraj was first called up for the Montenegro U21 national team by head coach Dušan Vlaisavljević in 2009, winning his first cap in a 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Kazakhstan on 7 June 2009. He went on to earn five caps for the U21 team before receiving his first call-up for the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

team in March 2009, for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Italy. Bećiraj made his international debut in that match, coming on as a substitute for Radomir Đalović in the 70th minute of the game. He scored his first goal for Montenegro on 17 November 2010 in a friendly match against Azerbaijan. On 7 June 2019, Bećiraj captained Montenegro in a 1–1 draw against his country of birth of Kosovo. In November 2022, Bećiraj announced the end of his national team career, after 86 appearances and 15 scored goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Montenegro's goal tally first.''

Honours

Budućnost Podgorica * Montenegrin First League: 2007–08 Dinamo Zagreb *

1. HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

, 2011–12 * Croatian Super Cup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Dynamo Moscow * Russian Football National League: 2016–17

Individual

Performance * Montenegrin First League top goalscorer: 2008–09 (18 goals) *

top goalscorer: 2011–12 (15 goals)

References

External links