Ilir Azemi

Ilir Azemi

Azemi playing for Fürth in 2012.
Personal information
Date of birth (1992-02-21) 21 February 1992
Place of birth Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Number 33
Youth career
0000–2007 Motor Gispersleben
2007–2010 SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010– SpVgg Greuther Fürth II 60 (21)
2012– SpVgg Greuther Fürth 50 (15)
National team‡
2014– Kosovo 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:56, 19 May 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 May 2014

Ilir Azemi (born 21 February 1992 in Pristina) is a Kosovar football striker who currently plays for SpVgg Greuther Fürth in the 2. Bundesliga.[1]

Personal life

Azemi was born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (present day Kosovo) but moved to Germany when he was just three years old to flee the conflict in the region.

Following the loss of his father, Azemi has been providing for his mother and three sisters through his footballing income.[2]

On 7 August 2014, he had a car crash and was heavily injured.[3]

Career

Early career

Azemi began his career at local side Motor Gispersleben as a child where he remained until he was spotted by SpVgg Greuther Fürth scouts in 2007. He joined the Greuther Fürth youth setup in the summer of 2007, joining the under-17 squad a year later where he made 24 appearances, scoring four goals. He was then included in Jürgen Brandl's under-19 side, where he scored ten goals in 23 games, which earned him a call up to the under-23 team before the end of the 2010–11 season, where he made two appearances. The 2011–12 campaign in the under-23 squad (Greuther Fürth II) proved to be his best so far at the club, scoring 15 goals in 35 appearances, where he helped his side finish sixth and he ended the season as the Regionalliga Süd fifth top scorer.

SpVgg Greuther Fürth

Following Greuther Fürth's promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2012–13 campaign, Azemi joined the senior team during pre-season where he impressed with his goal scoring ability. He finished pre-season as the top scorer of all the Bundesliga sides, with 16 goals, five more than second places Vedad Ibišević of VfB Stuttgart. He managed to score six goals in a 14–0 win over amateur side TV Market Weiltingen.[4]

He signed a long term contract keeping him at the club until 2015 with the option of an extension.[5]

International career

The Albanian media has reported that Azemi has been called up by the Albania national under-21 football team, but Azemi has declined the invitation, in that he needs time to get himself established in his club first, however he has declared that he is looking forward to becoming part of the Albania senior team in the future,[6] and that wearing the red-and-black jersey is one of his primary goals.[7] On 8 October 2012, his club SpVgg Greuther Fürth announced that he had accepted a recent call-up from the U21 national team of Albania[8] In January 2013 Azemi repeated to the Albanian media that he expects a call up from manager Gianni de Biasi, to which he will respond positively in order to play for Albania.[9] In January 2014 he confirmed his intentions.[10] But meanwhile he decided to play for Kosovo and joined Kosovo's first international match on 5 March 2014 in Mitrovica.

In June 2014, Azemi reiterated his interest in playing for Albania, since he wants to be in the field against Serbia for the Euro 2016 qualifiers,[11] however this objective couldn't be met as Azemi had a car crash accident in August 2014 that will keep him off the football pitch until complete recovery.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Azemi, Ilir" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Pöhlmann, Florian (16 August 2012). "Ilir Azemi: Das Küken im Fürther Sturm" (in German). Nürnberger Zeitung. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Schwere Verletzungen nach Unfall – Azemi mit Lungenquetschung und Knochenbrüchen" (in German). SpVgg Greuther Fürth. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Klare Sache in Weiltingen SpVgg Greuther Fürth" (in German). SpVgg Greuther Fürth. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "SpVgg bindet Ilir Azemi langfristig" (in German). SpVgg Greuther Fürth. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Tanku, Andi (31 August 2012). "FSHF: Ilir Azemi refuzon Kombëtaren, lojtari deklaron të kundërtën" (in Albanian). sportishqiptar.com.al. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Nikolli, Mario (10 August 2012). "Një 20-vjeçar mes 34 talenteve të Bundesligës". Sport Ekspres. p. 4. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Heinrich Schmidtgal muss Länderspielreise absagen" (in German). SpVgg Greuther Fürth. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Ilir Azemi: Dua te luaj per Shqiperine, po pres ftesen e De Biasit" (in Albanian). Info Albania. 18 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Sportekspres (27 January 2014). "Ilir Azemi "në sulm": S'e kam refuzuar Shqipërinë!". Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Zeqiri, Betim (4 June 2014). "Azemi: Luaj me Shqipërinë për ta mposhtur Serbinë" (in Albanian). Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Ilir Azemi seriously injured in car crash, not life threatening says Hack". Vavel. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
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