Anel Raskaj

Anel Raskaj
Raskaj with Sandnes Ulf in March 2014
Personal information
Full name Anel Raskaj
Date of birth (1989-08-19) 19 August 1989
Place of birth Prizren, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 AFC Eskilstuna
Number 21
Youth career
0000–2003 Liria
2003 IF Leikin
2003–2006 Halmstads BK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2011 Halmstads BK 112 (2)
2012–2016 Sandnes Ulf 131 (5)
2017 AFC Eskilstuna 13 (0)
2017 Prishtina 3 (0)
2018– AFC Eskilstuna 1 (0)
National team‡
2009–2017 Kosovo 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 March 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 June 2017

Anel Raskaj (born 19 August 1989) is a Kosovo Albanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Swedish club AFC Eskilstuna.

Club career

Halmstads BK

Raskaj with Halmstads BK in 2010

Raskaj started to play football for KF Liria, in Prizren, SFR Yugoslavia. At the age of 14 he moved with is his family to Halmstad in Sweden, where he continued his football career in IF Leikin, however only for a few months before leaving for local rivals Halmstads BK.[1] Although he had not been selected as a trainee, a youth team player training with the senior squad, in 2007 he was put on the bench home against IFK Göteborg in Allsvenskan and in the following away game against Kalmar FF he made his debut, replacing Martin Fribrock, just days following his 18th birthday.[2]

Prior to the 2008 season. He was raised from the youth team to become a full member of the senior squad,[3] mainly being used as left winger.[4] In 2009 Raskaj and Michael Görlitz was the only players to have played in all league games of the season, 30 matches in total, he also represented the club in all the other 17 games of the year, 2 cup and 15 friendly matches, thus being the only player that had played in all the clubs matches in that year.[5] Anel Raskaj scored his first league goal in 2009 against Kalmar FF.[6]

The 2010 season saw Janne Andersson leave as Halmstads BK manager and being replaced by Lars Jacobsson, the former assistant manager. Lars continued with Janne's 4-5-1 system, Raskaj played most of his matches on the right side of the midfield, few times being used as left winger, scoring his second goal early in the season in Halmstad's 4-0 win over Åtvidabergs FF. The 2011 season started as the one before, Lars Jacobsson left the club and be replaced by Spanish Josep Clotet Ruiz, along with the new manager came a number of Spanish midfielders, which saw Anel moved from the starting lineup to the bench in the beginning of the league season, against many people's expectations.[7][8] In the mid of the 2011 season the Spanish players left as their loan ended with the club and Clotet Ruiz was sacked following a long serie of poor results, under new manager Jens Gustafsson Raskaj returned to the starting lineup,[9] he was however unable to help Halmstad from bein relegated by the end of the season.

Following the end of the 2011 season, several Halmstad players decided to leave the club, Anel Raskaj among them, as his contract with the club ended.[10] Rumors placed him in both Örebro SK and Kalmar FF.[11]

Sandnes Ulf

On 30 January 2012. Newly promoted Norwegian club Sandnes Ulf, confirmed that they had signed Raskaj on a one-year contract.[12]

AFC Eskilstuna

On 27 December 2016, Raskaj signed with the newly promoted team of Allsvenskan side AFC Eskilstuna.[13] On 2 April 2017, he made his debut in a 3–1 away defeat against GIF Sundsvall after being named in the starting line-up.

Prishtina

On 11 August 2017. Raskaj signed to Football Superleague of Kosovo side Prishtina.[14] On 20 August 2017, he made his debut in a 0–1 home defeat against Drita after being named in the starting line-up.[15] On 29 September 2017. Raskaj disconnected the contract with Prishtina, cause of not adapting.[16]

Return to AFC Eskilstuna

On 18 December 2017. Raskaj returned to Superettan side AFC Eskilstuna.[17] On 31 March 2018, he made his debut in a 0–0 home draw against IK Brage after being named in the starting line-up.

International career

Anel Raskaj as team captain for Kosovo in 2010

On 27 March 2009. In an interview with the local newspaper Hallandsposten, Raskaj stated that he had been in contact with Swedish U21 co-manager Jörgen Lennartsson, who had told him that he just had missed out on the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship as he had not yet gained Swedish citizenship. He also stated in the interview that he would choose Sweden ahead of Kosovo, if he was considered good enough to get a position on the Swedish team.[1] In another interview with Fotbolldirekt.se, he stated that Albania had already approached him and he had however turned them down.[18]

In 2009. Raskaj was called up to the unofficial Kosovo national team, playing under the name Team Kosovo, to play in two matches against Swedish opposition, first against 2008 Swedish champions Kalmar FF.[19] Raskaj did not take part in the second match against Malmö FF.

On 17 February 2010. Raskaj was again called up from Kosovo for a friendly match against Albania.[20]

On 10 June 2010. Raskaj participated as team captain when Kosovo played a friendly against his club Halmstads BK on Örjans Vall in Halmstad, the match ended 4–4 with another Halmstads BK and Kosovo national player Kujtim Bala, scoring a goal.[21]

On 28 July 2010. Raskaj announced that he had chosen to represent the Kosovo, stating that he wished to play national team football and that he believed he would have more chance of doing so with Kosovo rather than Sweden. He also stated that he had not yet fully closed the door regarding Sweden as U21 coach Jörgen Lennartsson had stated he wished to see Raskaj in the U21 team and the 2011 U21 European Championship in Denmark. However, he has yet to obtain Swedish citizenship and Kosovo has yet to be approved by FIFA.[22]

New Zidane

Halmstads BK's former manager, Janne Andersson, compares him with former French international star Zinedine Zidane and former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas,[23] claiming he has more talent than two earlier Halmstads BK players, Fredrik Ljungberg and Niclas Alexandersson.

Career statistics

As of 5 November 2016
Club performance League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Sweden League Svenska Cupen Europe Total
2007 Halmstad Allsvenskan 30–30
2008 2703––300
2009 3012––321
2010 2611––271
2011 2602––280
Norway League Norwegian Cup Europe Total
2012 Sandnes Tippeligaen 21310–223
2013 30020–320
2014 26010–270
2015 OBOS-ligaen 29220–312
2016 25030–280
Total Sweden 11228––1202
Norway 13159––1405
Career total 243717––2607

References

  1. 1 2 "Anel har många mål i kikaren" (in Swedish). Hallandsposten.se. 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  2. ↑ "Anel Raskaj debuterade" (in Swedish). SvenskaFans.com. 2007-09-03. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  3. ↑ "Talanger till A-truppen" (in Swedish). hbk.se. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  4. ↑ "Kombinerar elitfotboll med studier" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 2008-09-04. Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  5. ↑ "Anel har spelat samtliga matcher" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 2009-10-30. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  6. ↑ "Raskajs första allsvenska mål" (in Swedish). fotbollsverige.se. 2009-04-19. Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  7. ↑ "Raskaj brinner för nya Halmstad" (in Swedish). hallandsposten.se. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  8. ↑ "Bortglömd Raskaj: "Bara mål som räknas"" (in Swedish). svenskfotboll.se. 2011-04-05. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  9. ↑ "Det är klart att man tänker på framtiden" (in Swedish). sportal.se. 2011-07-20. Archived from the original on 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  10. ↑ "Spelarflykt hotar Halmstads BK: "Superettan lockar inte"" (in Swedish). fotbolltransfers.com. 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  11. ↑ "Anel börjar bli orolig" (in Swedish). hallandsposten.se. 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  12. ↑ "Raskaj klar for Sandnes Ulf" (in Norwegian). sandnesulf.no. 2012-01-30. Archived from the original on 2012-04-28. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  13. ↑ "Officiellt: Anel Raskaj klar för AFC Eskilstuna". FotbollTransfers (in Swedish). 27 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Anel Rashkaj nënshkruan kontratë dyvjeçare" (in Albanian). FC Prishtina. 11 August 2017.
  15. ↑ "Rashkaj debuton me Prishtinën" (in Albanian). Koha Ditore. 20 August 2017.
  16. ↑ "Prishtina liron Anel Rashkajn" (in Albanian). FC Prishtina. 29 September 2017.
  17. ↑ "Officiellt: Anel Raskaj återvänder till AFC Eskilstuna". FotbollTransfers (in Swedish). 18 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "Superlöftet missar EM-slutspelet" (in Swedish). Fotbolldirekt.se. 2009-02-02. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  19. ↑ "Kalmar FF - Team Kosovo" (in Swedish). kalmarff.se. 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  20. ↑ "Anel spelade med Kosovo" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 2010-02-19. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  21. ↑ "Målrik vänskapsmatch mot Kosovo" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 2010-06-10. Archived from the original on 13 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  22. ↑ "Anel har bestämt sig för Kosovo" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 2010-07-28. Archived from the original on 13 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  23. ↑ "Nye Zidane tar Djuric roll i HBK" (in Swedish). svd.se. 2008-03-28. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
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