Ylldren Ibrahimaj (born 24 December 1995) is a 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 for Czech club

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It lies on the left bank of the Jizera (river), Jizera River. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region. I ...

. His primary position is a winger, but he can also play as an attacking or

central 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 ...

. Born in Norway, Ibrahimaj represents

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 ...

internationally.

Club career

Early career and Mjøndalen

Ibrahimaj was part of the youth team of

IK Grane Idrettsklubben Grane is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Arendal. It has sections for association football, team handball, athletics and orienteering. The club was founded on 10 February 1902 and named after Grani of Norse mythology. The men's ...

until December 2011. From 2012, he played for the club of his birthplace,

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

for five years and made 129 league appearances and scored fourteen goals. On 22 December 2017, Ibrahimaj signed a four-year contract with

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

club

Mjøndalen Mjøndalen is a built up area in Drammen municipality in Buskerud, Buskerud county, Norway. It is situated south of the Drammenselva River opposite of Krokstadelva. History Mjøndalen has traditionally been a railway site most known as an indu ...

. On 2 April 2018, he made his debut against

Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjord ...

after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's only goal during a 1–1 home draw.

Viking

On 20 July 2018, Ibrahimaj joined

side

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Two days later, he made his debut in a 4–1 home win against Jerv after coming on as a substitute at 77th minute in place of Usman Sale.

Ural Yekaterinburg

On 16 January 2021, Ibrahimaj signed a three-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Ural Yekaterinburg and received squad number 17. On 28 February 2021, he made his debut in a 2–2 away draw against

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Lillestrøm

On 7 February 2022, Ibrahimaj signed a three-year contract with

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

club

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

and received squad number 20.

Mladá Boleslav

On 29 January 2025, Ibrahimaj signed a contract with

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

club

as a free agent.

International career

On 22 May 2019, Ibrahimaj received a call-up from

for the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

matches against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, but he was not available for these matches after FIFA did not permit him to play for Kosovo due to problems with his documentation. His debut with Kosovo came on 13 January 2020 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

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 ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Viking *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

Top assist provider:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahimaj, Ylldren 1995 births Living people Footballers from Arendal Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's international footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Norwegian men's footballers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Norwegian people of Kosovan descent Norwegian people of Albanian descent Men's association football midfielders Norwegian Third Division players Norwegian Second Division players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Arendal Fotball players Mjøndalen IF Fotball players Viking FK players Lillestrøm SK players Russian Premier League players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players Expatriate men's footballers in Russia 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen FK Mladá Boleslav players Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic