Valmir Nafiu

Valmir Nafiu (born 23 April 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer of Albanian descent who plays as a forward for Shkëndija.

Valmir Nafiu
Personal information
Full name Valmir Nafiu
Date of birth (1994-04-23) 23 April 1994
Place of birth Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Shkëndija
Youth career
Shkëndija
2012 Basel
2012–2013 Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Shkëndija 19 (1)
2011–2012 Basel 0 (0)
2012–2013 Hamburg II 12 (4)
2013–2015 Hamburg 9 (0)
2015 APOEL 10 (1)
2016 Skënderbeu 1 (0)
2016–2018 Renova 62 (11)
2018– Shkëndija 32 (4)
National team‡
Macedonia U17 16 (11)
Macedonia U19 5 (1)
2013–2015 Macedonia U21 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 November 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 June 2015

Club career

Childhood and early career

Nafiu was born in Tetovo and is of Albanian ethnicity. Growing up in Tetovo, Nafiu joined the Shkëndija youth team. Nafiu was labelled as a gifted and talented player due to him possessing great agility and technical skill, which allowed him to debut for the senior team at the age of sixteen.

Shkëndija

Nafiu debuted for the senior team of Shkëndija in the 2010–11 season of the Prva Liga and helped the club win its first ever league title. He also played in the away leg of the Champions league qualifier against FK Partizan.[1]

At the end of his debuting season, Nafiu garnered interest from FC Basel and FC Barcelona. Nafiu at seventeen was invited to go on trial to Barcelona. Nafiu, as a member of the Macedonian U17 national team at the time played alongside David Babunski, who was already a member of the Barcelona youth system.[2] Barcelona scouts were watching Babunski but noticed Nafiu, who impressed the scouts and invited him to come on trial at Barcelona. He went on trial at Barcelona and every indication was that it went well.[2] Swiss champions Basel became very interested in Nafiu and have been tracking him for months. Nafiu was also invited to join the Basel training camp earlier this year and he played several friendly games.

He went on trial where he impressed the Swiss club and Basel and Shkëndija reached a deal for Nafiu to remain in Switzerland before officially completing the transfer once he turned eighteen.

Basel

Nafiu officially joined on 23 April 2012, on his eighteenth birthday. He mainly played for the youth teams at Basel and was not capped at senior level. At Basel, Nafiu trained under Thorsten Fink, who highly regarded Nafiu as a very talented player who can play every position in the attack.[3]

Hamburger

When Fink left Basel and took the managerial position at Hamburger SV, Nafiu followed suit. In 2012, Nafiu made his debut for Hamburger's reserve team. He made his Bundesliga debut at 25 October 2014 against Hertha BSC replacing Pierre-Michel Lasogga after 74 minutes in a 3–0 away defeat.[4] He added a further Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 November 2014,[5] before he mutually terminate his contract with Hamburger SV in January 2015.

APOEL

On 27 January 2015, Nafiu signed a four-and-a-half year contract with contract with Cypriot club APOEL FC.[6] He made his official debut on 31 January 2015, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in APOEL's 0–1 away victory against Nea Salamina for the Cypriot First Division.[7] He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 21 March 2015, in his team's 2–2 home draw against Apollon Limassol for the play-offs of the Cypriot First Division.[8] In his first season at APOEL, he appeared in twelve matches in all competitions and helped his team to win both the Cypriot championship and the cup.[9]

On 18 December 2015, APOEL announced that Nafiu's contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent.[10]

Career statistics
As of 20 April 2015[11]
Club Season League National Cup Continental[lower-alpha 1] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FK Shkëndija 2010–11 Macedonian First League 19100—191
2011–12 Macedonian First League 00001010
Total 1910010201
FC Basel 2011–12 Swiss Super League 00000000
Total 00000000
Hamburger SV II 2012–13 Regionalliga Nord 121——121
Total 121——121
Hamburger SV 2013–14 Bundesliga 0000—00
2014–15 Bundesliga 2000—20
Total 2000—20
APOEL 2014–15 Cypriot First Division 10120—121
2015–16 Cypriot First Division 00000000
Total 10120—121
Career total 4332010463
  1. Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.

Honours
FK Shkëndija
APOEL

References
  1. "Four-goal Partizan too hot for Skendija". UEFA.com. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  2. "Valmir Nafiu accompanies Basel for their training camp". Macedonianfootball.com. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  3. "Valmir Nafiu training with Hamburger". Macedonianfootball.com. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  4. "Hertha BSC vs. Hamburger SV 3-0". Soccerway. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  5. "Wolfsburg vs. Hamburger SV 2-0". Soccerway. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  6. "Σύναψη συμφωνίας με Valmir Nafiu" (in Greek). APOEL FC. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  7. "Ν. ΣΑΛΑΜΙΝΑ 0-1 ΑΠΟΕΛ". APOEL FC. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  8. ΑΠΟΕΛ 2-2 Απόλλωνας Λεμεσού [APOEL 2-2 Apollon Limassol] (in Greek). APOEL FC. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  9. "APOEL secure league to wrap up Cypriot double". UEFA.com. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  10. Κοινή συναινέσει λύση συνεργασίας με Valmir Nafiu (in Greek). APOEL FC. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  11. "V. Nafiu". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
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