Valon Ethemi (; born 3 October 1997) is a Macedonian 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Turkish club

Iğdır Iğdır (; or ; ; or ) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Iğdır Province and Iğdır District.

. A former youth international for Albania, he plays for the North Macedonia national team.

Club career

Early career

Ethemi was born in Palatica,

Želino Municipality Želino (, ) is a municipality in the northwestern part of North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania ...

to ethnic Albanian parents but later moved to

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

where he joined the

Dinamo Tirana Football Club Dinamo City, commonly referred to as Dinamo City and colloquially known as Dinamo, is an Albanian professional football club based out of Tirana. They compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Founded i ...

academy as a 17-year-old, where he remained for one year before joining professional side Adriatiku Mamurras in the

Albanian First Division 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 ...

, the second tier of football in Albania. He featured in 22 league games for the club during the 2016–17 campaign, scoring 4 goals in the process which landed him a move to Albanian Superliga champions Kukësi.

Kukësi

He officially joined Kukësi on 28 August 2017, penning a three-year contract and receiving squad number 27. Later on 6 September, he was on the bench for his side's 2017 Albanian Supercup loss to

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. He played his first

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

match three days later on the opening league game of the season, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute for

Ndriçim Shtubina Ndriçim Shtubina (born 18 March 1987) is an Albanian professional association football, football coach and a former Midfielder (association football), left midfielder. He is an assistant manager with KF Vllaznia Shkodër, Vllaznia Shkodër. Clu ...

in the 1–0 home win over newly promoted Kamza. He scored his first league goal for the club on 16 October 2017 in a 4–2 home victory over

KF Teuta Durrës Klubi i Futbollit Teuta, commonly referred to as ''Teuta'', is an Albanian professional football club based in Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Al ...

. His goal, scored in the 31st minute, made the score 2–0 in favor of Kukësi. He was later subbed out, being replaced by

Rauf Aliyev Rauf Sahraman oğlu Aliyev (, born 12 February 1989) is an Azerbaijani former international footballer who played as a striker. He made his national debut in an away friendly match against Jordan on 25 February 2010. Club career In August 2017 ...

in the 78th minute.

İstanbulspor

Ethemi helped İstanbulspor achieve promotion in the 2021–22 season for the first time in 17 years. He started in İstanbulspor return to the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

in a 2–0 season opening loss to

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

on 5 August 2022.

International career

On 28 May 2018 Ethemi made his debut with Albania U21 in a

friendly match 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 sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 after being named in the starting line-up. On 12 June 2022 Ethemi made his debut with

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

in a match of

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ethemi, Valon 1997 births Living people People from Želino Municipality Macedonian men's footballers 21st-century Macedonian sportsmen North Macedonia men's international footballers Albanian men's footballers Albania men's youth international footballers Macedonian people of Albanian descent Men's association football midfielders FC Dinamo City players KF Adriatiku Mamurras players FK Kukësi players İstanbulspor footballers Konyaspor footballers Kategoria Superiore players Kategoria e Parë players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Albanian expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century Albanian sportsmen