Loret Sadiku (born 28 July 1991) is a Kosovan 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

defensive 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 Turkish club

Adanaspor Adanaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Adana; currently, they play in the TFF First League. The club was founded in 1954 by middle-class merchants and artisans in response to their perceived ali ...

, on loan Kasımpaşa.

Early life

Born in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, Sadiku was raised in

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 ...

and started to play youth football with local club Hånger IF in

Värnamo Värnamo (), historically known as Wernamo, is a town in Jönköping County in the south of Sweden. It is situated on the river Lagan (Sweden), Lagan just north of the lake Vidöstern. It is the seat of Värnamo Municipality and has 19,822 inhab ...

. In 2003, he joined the youth setup of

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swede ...

, the town's biggest club.

Club career

IFK Värnamo

In 2009, Sadiku was promoted to Värnamo's first team and made his professional debut in Ettan, Sweden's third tier. He was part of what would be known as a

golden generation In sport, a Golden Generation, or Golden Team is an exceptionally gifted group of players of similar age, whose achievements reach or are expected to reach a level of success beyond that which their team had previously achieved. The term was firs ...

in the history of the club, together with players like

Viktor Claesson Viktor Johan Anton Claesson (; born 2 January 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left winger for the Danish Superliga club Copenhagen and the Sweden national team. He is known for his passing and set piece abilities. Clu ...

Simon Thern Johan Simon Thern (born 18 September 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Allsvenskan club IFK Värnamo. Starting off his career with IFK Värnamo in 2008, he went on to represent Helsingborgs IF, Malmö F ...

Niklas Hult Bo Niklas Hult (born 13 February 1990) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left back for IF Elfsborg. Beginning his career with IFK Värnamo in 2008, he went on to represent IF Elfsborg, Nice, Panathinaikos, AEK Athens, and Hann ...

and

Joseph Baffo Joseph Baffoe (born 7 November 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for Halmstads BK as a centre-back. Club career Baffoe started off in IFK Värnamo and played there at senior level for one year. After that he signed for Allsve ...

. In 2010, Värnamo won a promotion to

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

. In 2011, led by head coach

Jonas Thern Jonas Magnus Thern (born 20 March 1967) is a Swedish football manager who manages Allsvenskan club IFK Värnamo. As a player, Thern was a midfielder. Starting his career with Malmö FF in 1985, he went on to represent FC Zürich, Benfica, Nap ...

, Värnamo finished 13th in the Superettan table. Sadiku made 29 league appearances, scoring twice, and appeared in both relegation play-off legs against

Väsby United Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish professional football club based in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching owne ...

, which the club won by 3–0 on aggregate.

Helsingborgs IF

On 20 January 2012, Sadiku transferred to

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

. Two months later, he won the

2012 Svenska Supercupen 2012 Svenska Supercupen (Swedish Super Cup 2012) was the 6th edition Svenska Supercupen annual association football, football match that Helsingborg (2011 Allsvenskan, league and 2011 Svenska Cupen, cup double-champions) successfully defended again ...

with the club, through a 2–0 win against AIK. As defending Swedish champions, Helsingborg finished 6th in Allsvenskan, in which Sadiku made 19 appearances. Throughout the season, he also played five games in

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was p ...

, before Helsingborg was knocked out in the play-off round by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

by 0–4 on aggregate. In 2013, Sadiku played 27 league games, scoring twice, as Helsingborg finished 5th in the Allsvenskan table. Halfway through the 2014 season, after making 11 league appearances, Sadiku sought a move elsewhere and reportedly attracted interest from

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

Turkish Süper Lig

On 28 June 2014, Sadiku signed a three-year contract with

Mersin İdman Yurdu Mersin İdman Yurdu was a Turkish sports club from Mersin, Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean Region. The team played in the Turkish first division for 15 seasons, and after the 1983–84 season the football team played in the Turkish second and ...

, newly promoted to the

Turkish Süper Lig Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The wor ...

, together with

Abdul Khalili Abdul Rahman "Abbe" Khalili (; born 7 June 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder. Club career Early career and Helsingborgs IF Born and raised in Helsingborg, Khalili started playing football with local cl ...

from Helsingborg. On 17 August 2016, Sadiku transferred to Kasımpaşa for a fee of €2 million, signing a three-year contract. On 12 January 2019, Sadiku signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal with the club.

Hammarby IF

On 18 February 2022, Sadiku signed a three-year contract with

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

in Allsvenskan, thus returning to Sweden after eight years abroad. Sadiku featured in the final of the

2021–22 Svenska Cupen The 2021–22 Svenska Cupen is the 66th season of the Svenska Cupen and the tenth season with the current format. The winners of the competition will secure a spot in the second qualifying round of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, unl ...

, in which Hammarby lost by 4–5 on penalties to Malmö FF after the game ended in a 0–0 draw. In early July, Sadiku tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and suffered from persistent symptoms that kept him sidelined for almost two months. He ended the season making 21 league appearances, helping his side to finish 3rd in the 2022 Allsvenskan table.

International

Sweden

Under-21

On 31 May 2012, Sadiku made his debut for Sweden U21 after being named in the starting line-up in a 2013 UEFA Under-21 qualification against Ukraine U21 and was nominated "Newcomer of the year".

Kosovo

On 2 March 2014, Sadiku 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 nation's first permitted by FIFA match against

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadiku, Loret 1991 births Living people Footballers from Pristina Swedish people of Kosovan descent Swedish people of Albanian descent Kosovan emigrants to Sweden Men's association football defenders Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers IFK Värnamo players Helsingborgs IF players Mersin Talim Yurdu footballers Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Adanaspor footballers Hammarby Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Ettan Fotboll players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Swedish sportsmen