Agim Zeka

Agim Sali Zeka (born 6 September 1998) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a right winger for French club Lille B and represents the Albania national under-21 football team.[2]

Agim Zeka
Personal information
Full name Agim Sali Zeka[1]
Date of birth (1998-09-06) 6 September 1998
Place of birth Ludwigsburg, Germany
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s) Right winger
Club information
Current team
 Lille B
Youth career
0000–2016 Prishtina
2016 Skënderbeu Korçë
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2017 Skënderbeu Korçë 3 (0)
2017– Lille B 20 (1)
2018 → Varzim (loan) 2 (1)
2018 → Leixões (loan) 3 (0)
2019 → Fortuna Sittard (loan) 5 (1)
National team‡
2014 Albania U17 3 (1)
2016 Albania U19 3 (3)
2017– Albania U20 1 (0)
2017– Albania U21 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 February 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2017

Club career

Early career

Zeka started his youth career at FC Prishtina. He passed through all age levels and on 2 February 2016 he moved for free to KF Skënderbeu Korçë.[3][4]

Skënderbeu Korçë

He debuted as a professional for Skënderbeu Korçë on 28 September 2016 in the Albanian Cup game against Butrinti Sarandë playing the full 90-minutes match.[5] Then he played another 2 Albanian Cup games in the next round in both legs against Apolonia Fier. During the period October–November he participated regularly in each match, playing 3 Albanian Superliga games under coach Andrea Agostinelli.[6]

Lille

On 31 January 2017, Zeka found an agreement with French side Lille OSC signing a four and a half year contract to play initially with Lille B in the Championnat de France Amateur.[7] Lille paid €300K to Skënderbeu Korçë and also the later kept 20% of his card.[8] He debuted in France on 4 February 2017 against L'Entente playing as a starter until the 62nd minute when he was substituted in favour of Imad Faraj.[9]

He debuted in the 2017–18 season against Furiani-Agliani on 12 August 2017 playing as a starter under coach Patrick Collot and substituting off in the 72nd minute for Romain Jamrozik in a 1–1 draw.[10] He scored his first goal in the 3rd game week of the 2017–18 Championnat National 2 and his second game on 26 August 2017 against Sedan Ardennes in the 64th minute for the 1–1 equaliser to give his side the 1–1 draw.[11]

Loan to Varzim

On 9 January 2018, Zeka was loaned out to Varzim in the Portuguese second-highest division LigaPro until the end of the 2017–18 season.[12] He was given the shirt number 22 and debuted on 14 January against Vitória de Guimarães II coming on as the 82nd minute substitute in a 2–1 loss.[13]

Loan to Leixões

On 8 August 2018, Zeka was loaned out to Leixões in the Portuguese second-highest division LigaPro.[14]

Loan to Fortuna Sittard

On 28 January 2019, Zeka was loaned out to Fortuna Sittard until the end of the 2019–20 season.[15] On 20 December 2019, it was announced Zeka's loan deal had been terminated by mutual agreement due to injuries.[16]

International career

Albania U17

Zeka was called up at Albania national under-17 football team by coach Dzemal Mustedanagić to participate in the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round on match-dates 8–13 October 2014.[17] He played in all 3 matches, 1 as a starter and 2 as a substitute scoring 1 goal against San Marino U17.

Albania U19

He was called up at Albania national under-19 football team by coach Arjan Bellaj to participate in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification from 6–11 October 2016.[18] He played as a starter in the opening match against Republic of Ireland U19 and was substituted off in the 70th minute for Xhonatan Lajthia. He scored twice against Germany U19 in the 72nd and 90+2 minutes but however wasn't enough as Albania U19 lost 3–2 where Germany U19 had scored all 3 goals in the first-half. In the last game against Gibraltar U19 he scored the only goal in the 8th minute to give Albania U19 the 1–0 victory.[19]

Albania U21

Following injures of 3 players at Albania national under-21 football team, Qazim Laçi, Leonardo Maloku & Emanuele Ndoj during the gathering for the Friendly match against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification opening match against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017, coach Alban Bushi chose Zeka among Regi Lushkja as a replacement.[20] In the opening match of the qualifiers against Estonia U21, Zeka played as a 64th-minute substitute in place of Valdrin Mustafa but 3 minutes later he was sent-off by receiving a Red card for a foul on Märten Kuusk.[21]

He received his first call up for the Albania under-20 side by same coach of the under-21 team Alban Bushi for the friendly match against Georgia on 14 November 2017.[22] He debuted for under-20 team against Georgia by playing the full 90-minutes match, missing a penalty kick at first half in an eventual 3–0 loss.[23]

Career statistics

Club
As of 14 January 2018 [24]
Club statistics
Club Season League Cup Europe[lower-alpha 1] Other[lower-alpha 2] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Skënderbeu Korçë2016–17Albanian Superliga 3030——60
Lille B2016–17Championnat National 2 110———110
2017–18 91———91
Total 201———201
Varzim (loan) 2017–18 LigaPro 10———10
Career total 24130——271
  1. Including continental competitions, such as UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
  2. Including other competitions, such as Albanian Supercup

References
  1. Presidenti Nishani jep shtetësi për 5 talentet e Kombëtares U17 Archived 2016-10-24 at the Wayback Machine aSport.al
  2. Agim Zeka at WorldFootball.net
  3. Zbulohet e vërteta e hidhur: Ja pse u largua Agim Zeka nga Prishtina (VIDEO) Gazeta Olle
  4. "Agim Zeka profile" (in Albanian). FSHF.org. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  5. Butrinti Sarandë vs. Skënderbeu Korçë - 28 September 2016 Soccerway
  6. "Agim Zeka matches". Soccerway. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  7. "Avec Zeka, le LOSC prépare l'avenir" [With Zeka, LOSC prepares for the future]. losc.fr (in French). Lille OSC. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  8. "Agim Zeka zyrtarizohet te Lila, tjetër sukses për Skënderbeun" [Agim Zeka formalized to Lila, another success for Skënderbeu] (in Albanian). Sport Ekspres. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  9. "Lille II vs. Entente SSG - 4 February 2017". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  10. "Furiani-Agliani vs. Lille II - 12 August 2017". Soccerway. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  11. "Agim Zeka gjen golin e parë sezonal në Francë" [Agim Zeka finds the first seasonal goal in France] (in Albanian). Sport Ekspres. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  12. "Talenti i Shpresave transferohet te Varzim në Portugali" [Hopes talent transferred to Varzim in Portugal] (in Albanian). Albsport. 9 January 2018. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  13. "Zeka debuton në Portugali, skuadra e shqiptarit në krizë të thellë" [Zeka debuts in Portugal, the Albanian's team in deep crisis] (in Albanian). Albsport. 14 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  14. "Lille prête encore Agim Zeka" (in French). lequipe.fr. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  15. "ALBANESE VLEUGELAANVALLER VERSTERKT SITTARDSE GELEDEREN". Fortuna Sittard. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  16. "Fortuna Sittard neemt afscheid van Agim Zeka en Sander Rau". fortunasittard.nl (in Dutch). 20 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  17. Kombëtarja U-17, gati per Eliminatoret Archived 2017-02-17 at the Wayback Machine FSHF.org
  18. Grumbullohet ekipi kombëtar U-19 Archived 2017-08-19 at the Wayback Machine FSHF.org
  19. Agim Zeka – UEFA competition record
  20. Tronditet kombëtarja U-21, dëmtohen tre titullarë. Thirren me urgjencë Lushkja dhe Zeka Panorama Sport
  21. Under-21 - Albania-Estonia UEFA.com
  22. "U-21, Bushi ne konference per shtyp" (in Albanian). FSHF.org. 6 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  23. "U-20, humbet ndeshjen miqësore në Gjeorgji" (in Albanian). FSHF.org. 14 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-11-15. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  24. Agim Zeka at Soccerway. Retrieved 18 November 2017.


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