Armando Vajushi

Armando Vajushi (born 3 December 1991) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Petrolul Ploiești and the Albania national team.

Vajushi joined local side Vllaznia Shkodër as a child and made his way through the youth teams at the club before making his professional debut in 2009. He quickly established himself in the Vllaznia first team and soon became one of the club's star players, which attracted the interest of several foreign clubs. He completed a move to Bulgarian club Litex Lovech in January 2012 for a reported fee of €100,000.

Early career

Vajushi is a product of the academies of his hometown club Vllaznia Shkodër, where he was part for 3 years before becoming professional.

Vllaznia Shkodër

Vajushi made his professional debut for Vllaznia Shkodër in the Europa League against Rapid Vienna on 16 July 2009, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Fetim Kasapi in the 5–0 loss. He then played in the return fixture a week later in Shkodër where he again came on as a substitute, this time in the 62nd minute for Ansi Nika. He made his league debut in the opening game on 23 August 2009 against Besa Kavajë, replacing Ansi Nika in the 72nd minute in the 2–0 loss.

In UEFA.com's season review of 2010–11, Vajushi was the 'One To Watch' and described as "one of the hottest prospects in Albania" after a successful campaign in which he made 32 league appearances for Vllaznia Shkodër and earned his first full international cap with Albania.

He went on trial at German Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln before the start of the 2011–12 season but Köln did not follow up their interest in the player as they deemed his €300,000 price tag too expensive. He even scored twice in a 7-0 friendly against Vorgebirgsauswahl and was described by manager Stale Solbakken as being "very fast, even mentally" and that he was convinced in his ability.

Litex Lovech

2011–12 season

On 3 January 2012, Vajushi joined Bulgarian A PFG title holders Litex Lovech on a three and a half year contract, for a fee of €100,000. He made his debut in a 3–0 home win over Vidima-Rakovski on 3 March, coming on as a substitute for Galin Ivanov.

2012–13 season

On 12 May, Vajushi scored his first goal, netted the fourth for Litex's 5–0 victory over Kaliakra Kavarna. On 23 September 2012, he scored latest goal of the away victory 4-0 over Etar 1924. He scored twice a week later on 29 September 2012 in the 5–0 victory against Slavia Sofia. On 18 November 2012 he scored opening goal in the victory 5-0 over Pirin Gotse Delchev. Vajushi scored on 28 November 2012 against Lokomotiv Sofia, as match finished in an away victory 0–2. On 2 March 2013, he scored two goals in the 0–2 away win over CSKA Sofia and a few days later he voted by journalists as the player of the Bulgarian A Football Group 16th week. On 30 March 2013 Vajushi scored twice in the victory 5-1 over Botev Vratsa. In 2012–13 season, Vajushi played in all 30 league games for Litex and finished the season with 9 goals. On 10 August 2013, Vajushi scored Litex's 1000th A PFG goal in a 5–1 away win over Pirin Gotse Delchev.

2013–14 season

Vajushi assisted the opening goal of the 2–4 away victory on 20 October 2013 against a hard opponent such as Ludogorets Razgrad. On 9 November 2013 Vajushi scored twice opening goals in the victory 6–2 against Pirin Gotse Delchev.

Vajushi finished first part of 2013–2014 season with a total of 24 appearances (including 2 in the Bulgarian Cup), 9 goals (were 8 goals scored in the league, positioning than on 10th place in the League's rank of Top scorers and 1 goal scored in Bulgarian Cup), also a total of9 assists, positioning on second place behind Zdravko Lazarov on League's rank of Top assists. Litex were placed as runners-up in the League table and gained entry in the Championship Group, who played with a total of seven teams. Vajushi started playing second phase of the league on 13 March 2014 in the match against Cherno More Varna finished in a goalless draw, where he came in as a substitute in place of Tom in the 57th minute. He scored first goal in the second phase, on 9 April 2014 against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, match finished in the 3–0 win, where Vajushi also scored the latest goal in the 80th minute. He scored in the 2nd consecutive match on 12 April 2014 against Levski Sofia, match finished in the victory 1–2, were Vajushi scored the first goal in the 23rd minute and then get substituted off for his compatriot Jurgen Gjasula.

Vajushi finished the 2013–2014 season scoring in total 11 goals (including 1 in the Bulgarian Cup) in 33 appearances and Litex ranked 3rd in the league table, gaining entry to play in the UEFA Europa League for the next season.

2014–15 season

Litex were shorted to play against the Moldova side Veris Chișinău in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase - 1st round. In first leg match on 3 July 2014 Vajushi played as a starter and got substituted off in the 80th minute as the match finished in a goalless draw. Then in the second leg a week later, on 11 July 2014 he played the full 90-minutes match, which finished in the 3–0 victory and made Litex advancing in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase - 2nd round with the same aggregate result as the win. In the Second round, Litex was shorted to play against the Hungary side Diósgyőri. Vajushi played for the entire first leg match, which played on 17 July 2014 and finished as a 0–2 home loss. Vajushi played another full 90-minutes at the second leg on 24 July 2014, which finished in the 1–2 away victory but anyway wasn't enough for Litex as they lost on aggregate 2–3.

He started another season of the A PFG, the 2014–15, with the opening match against CSKA Sofia on 20 July 2014, finished in the 0–1 loss with Vajushi playing the full 90-minutes. He managed to score his first season goal on 27 September 2014 in the Bulgarian Cup's match against Pirin Blagoevgrad finished in the 1–2 victorywith Vajushi scoring the opening goal in the 74th minute from the Penalty spot. He scored first league season goal on 24 October 2014 in the 4–2 win over Lokomotiv Sofia. In an away 1–4 victory of Litex over Haskovo on 13 December 2014, Vajushi scored the second goal in the 32nd minute. Vajushi also gave two assist, for the opening goal by Plamen Galabov in the 12th minute, scored after a cross from Vajushi and then for the last 4th goal in the 58th minute by Wilmar Jordán.

Chievo Verona

On 1 February 2015 Vajushi signed for Italian Serie A team A.C. Chievo Verona becoming the second Albanian player to transfer in Italy during the Winter transfers window, after Andi Lila who moved to Parma.

Pro Vercelli

On 20 July 2016, Vajushi moved to F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892.

Teuta Durrës

On 4 February 2019, Vajushi joined KF Teuta Durrës on a contract for the rest of the season.

Petrolul Ploiești

On 22 January 2020, he signed for Romanian club Petrolul Ploiești.

Albania U19

He made his international debut with the Albania national under-19 football team in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (Qualifying round) 2010 on 13 November 2009 in the opening match against Italy, finished in the hard 5–0 loss in where Vajushi came in as a substitute in the second-half 59th minute in place of Edon Hasani. Two days later for the match against Republic of Ireland Vajushi played in the starting line up and got substituted off in the 60th minute for Xhulio Pulaj as the match finished in the 2–0 loss. Three days later Albania played the closing match of the Group 1 against San Marino, and Vajushi scored the opening goal of the match 1 minute before the end of the half-time and then the match finished in the 4–1 win. In this way Vajushi finished the Albania U19 campaign playing in all 3 matches and Albania finished in the 3rd place of the Group 1.

Albania U21

Vajushi was called up for the Albania national under-21 football team's closing match of the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification - Group 10 against Azerbaijan on 4 September 2010. He made it his debut for Albania U21 against Azerbaijan by coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute in place of Ardit Shehaj and the match finished in the 3–2 loss.

For the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Vajushi played in 7 out 8 matches, all as a starter where he got substituted off in only 1 match, as Albania U21 came last trailing behind Russia, Portugal, Poland and Moldova, with 1 win and 2 draws, 11 goals scored and 18 conceded.

Senior team

He made his international debut for Albanian national football team on 20 June 2011 in a friendly match against Argentina. Second match came on 14 November 2012 against Cameroon finished in goalless draw, were Vajushi came in as a substitute on 70th minute in place of Armando Sadiku. He played on 6 February 2013 against Georgia, finished in the loss 1–2. He played again as a substitute on 26 March 2013 against Lithuania in a match finished in the victory 4–1.

Vajushi scored his first goal for Albania on 8 June 2014, playing as a starter against San Marino and scoring the second goal in the 32nd minute, also gave an assist for the opening goal scored by Mërgim Mavraj in the 28th minute.

Club

As of 1 February 2015

International

As of 8 June 2014

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 June 2014	Serravalle Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0–2	0–3	Friendly match

Individual

• Albanian Superliga Talent of the Season: 2010–11
• Albanian Superliga Player of the Month: February 2011