Labinot Haliti (born 26 October 1985) is a former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

or winger. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented Australia at youth level.

Early life

Haliti's was born in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

, and fled his homeland due to the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

at the age of 14 with his family, arriving as refugees in Australia in 1999, where they settled in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Club career

Since arriving in Sydney, Haliti stamped himself as a potential superstar of the game with impressive stints at Sydney Olympic and Sydney United in the defunct NSL. Haliti's talent was spotted by the legendary Frank Arok, a former Yugoslav player and coach. It was at Sydney Olympic where Haliti played alongside former Socceroos striker and close friend

Ante Milicic Ante Milicic ( ; ; (born 4 April 1974) is an Australian soccer manager and former professional player who currently is the head coach of the China women's national football team. Personal life The son of Croatian immigrants, Milicic grew up i ...

, who proved influential in bringing the attacking midfielder to the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

in the newly formed

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

Newcastle Jets

Haliti's impressive first season with the Jets led to much speculation about his international future, with the Albania national team and Australia U23 national team courting his services. A change in manager in his second season at Newcastle saw his opportunities decrease, and Haliti returned to Sydney United in the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

. In June 2007, he signed for Croatian

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 ...

team

NK Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

, however, he failed to make an appearance for the club after signing for

KS Teuta Durrës Klubi i Futbollit Teuta, commonly referred to as ''Teuta'', is an Albanian professional association football, football club based in Durrës. The club competes in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Football in Albania, Albanian football. Th ...

in the Albanian first division a month later. After a string of appearances and 3 goals, he signed for Polish

Orange Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

team Łódzki KS, where he established himself as a first team squad member. On 26 August 2009, he was signed to a short-term deal for the

as an injury replacement for Marko Jesic. On 2 October 2009, Haliti extended his contract with the Jets to a two-year deal. On 3 September 2009, Haliti was included in the squad against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

after a late clearance from his Polish side

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, and in the past ice hockey, ...

and the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the ), the national cups, and manages the men's and women's national teams. It also runs the nati ...

. He scored with a header in the 87th minute to secure a 1–1 draw for the Jets. During the

2011–12 A-League The 2011–12 A-League was the 35th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the seventh season of the Australian A-League soccer competition since its establishment in 2004. At the end of the previous season, the North Queensland Fury we ...

season, Labinot continued to be an integral part of the Newcastle Jets team and was a fans favourite.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 2 July 2012, Haliti joined A-League expansion club

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football, association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South W ...

on a free transfer. Haliti played his first game for the new club on 6 October 2012 and it was Western Sydney Wanderers's first competitive match of any kind against reigning A-League Premiers

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

in the first round of the league. On 2 February, Haliti scored a historic goal against Central Coast Mariners in a top of the table clash in front of a packed house at

Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. From the establishment of the first venue at the site in 1915 it was known as Waterside Park, being renam ...

. Wanderers went on to claim the Premiership Plate. During the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

campaign, Haliti was a key member of the squad playing all 14 games to the Final and ultimately winning the

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the d ...

trophy against Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia. They became the first Australian team to be crowned Asian Champions, an achievement they reached in only their first attempt in the Asian tournament. Haliti is also the first Albanian to ever win the ACL. In the

2014 FIFA Club World Cup The 2014 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club association football, football ...

in Morocco, Haliti captained his side Wanderers for the first time against

ES Sétif Entente Sportive Sétifienne (), known as Entente de Sétif, commonly referred to as ES Sétif or ESS for short, is an Algerian professional association football, football club based in Sétif. The club was founded in 1958 and its colours are bl ...

Return to Newcastle Jets

On 22 July 2015, Haliti signed a two-year deal with Newcastle Jets, back to the club where he started his A-League career. On 21 October 2015 It was confirmed that Haliti would miss the remainder of the season after suffering an ACL injury in the defeat to

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

International career

Haliti holds

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 ...

and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

passports, making him eligible to represent Albania and Australia.

Coaching career

While still recovering Haliti announced that he had begun studying for his coaching badges. Haliti retired at the end of the

2017–18 A-League The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018. Sydney FC won the A-Le ...

season, having already taken up a position as Assistant Coach of the Newcastle Jets FC Reserves, serving under Jets CEO and head youth coach

Lawrie McKinna Lawrie McKinna (born 8 July 1961) is a Scottish-Australian politician and former soccer player and coach. He is currently serving as Mayor for the Central Coast Council and is serving for the East Gosford Ward, heaving led "Team Central Coast" ...

. On 8 May 2019, it was announced that Haliti signed with the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

as an assistant coach ahead of the

2019–20 A-League The 2019–20 A-League, also known as the 2019–20 Hyundai A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 43rd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 15th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced ...

season. In 2022, Haliti was appointed head coach of

Sydney Olympic FC Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The club was founded as Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club in 1957 by Greek immigrant ...

for NPL NSW 2023 season.

References

External links

Western Sydney Wanderers profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haliti, Labinot 1985 births Living people Footballers from Pristina Kosovo Albanians Serbian emigrants to Australia Australian people of Albanian descent Men's association football forwards Albanian men's footballers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Australian men's soccer players FC 2 Korriku players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Newcastle Jets FC players NK Slaven Belupo players KF Teuta players ŁKS Łódź players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Ekstraklasa players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Australian expatriate sportspeople in Poland AFC Champions League Elite–winning players Albanian football managers Australian soccer managers Sydney Olympic FC managers 21st-century Australian sportsmen