Jozef Pukaj (born 13 February 2000) is a Kosovan 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

Pukaj is a product of the youth academies of FC Amicitia Riehen and

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 20 January 2021, he joined Stade Lausanne Ouchy on loan for the second half of the 2020-21 season. On 2 June 2021, he transferred to the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

club

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

. He made one appearance in the Challenge League that season, as they won the tournament and earned promotion into the

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 ...

for the 2022-23 season. He made his professional debut with Winterthur in a 1–1

tie with his childhood club Basel on 16 July 2022.

International career

Born and raised in Switzerland, Pukaj is of Kosovo Albanian origin. From 2015, until 2019, he has been part of Switzerland at youth international level, respectively has been part of the U16, U17, U18, U19 and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

teams and he with these teams played 20 matches. On 11 November 2022, Pukaj received a call-up from

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 ...

for the

friendly matches 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 sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. His debut with Kosovo came eight days later in a friendly match against Faroe Islands after being named in the starting line-up.

Retirement

On 12 September 2023, Pukaj decided to retire from playing football professionally due to multiple injuries.

Honours

Winterthur *

: 2021–22

References

External links

*
SFL Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pukaj, Jozef 2000 births Living people People from Riehen Kosovan men's footballers 21st-century Kosovan sportsmen Kosovo men's international footballers Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Swiss people of Kosovan descent Men's association football goalkeepers FC Basel players FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy players FC Winterthur players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players 21st-century Swiss sportsmen