Armando Sadiku

Armando Sadiku (born 27 May 1991) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Lugano in the Swiss Super League on loan from Zürich and the Albania national team. He is the first ever player to score for the Albanian team in a major tournament. He is also the top scorer of the current Albanian national team.

Early career & Turbina Cërrik

Sadiku played for Albanian First Division side KF Turbina Cërrik during the two season 2007–08 and 2008–09.

Gramozi Ersekë

In 2009 he moved to newly promoted Albanian Superliga side Gramozi Ersekë, owned by the brother of Albanian oil tycoon Rezart Taci. He made it his first debut for the club and in the Albanian Superliga on the opening day of the 2009–10 season in a goalless draw at home against Shkumbini Peqin, where Sadiku came in as a substitute for Brazilian forward Marko dos Santos in the 66th minute. His first goal in the Albanian Superliga came on the fourth match of the season in a 4–1 away loss to fellow newly promoted side Skënderbeu Korçë. Sadiku started the game and played the full 90 minutes with his goal coming on 18th minute of the game to make the scores 1–1 at the time, he netted from close range with his right foot after an assist from Marko Dos Santos.

In total Sadiku played in 28 games and scored 8 goals during the 2009–10 season. Gramozi ranked in the last place of the table and were relegated to Albanian First Division.

Elbasani

During the summer transfer window, Sadiku signed for his hometown club Elbasani. During the 2010–11 season first-half he played 14 matches and scored 5 goals. He made his debut with the club on 22 August 2010 during the opening league match against Tirana at home, playing 75 minutes in a 1–1 draw. He scored his first goal of the season in his second appearance six days later, netting a last-minute winner in a 2–1 away win over Bylis Ballsh. As it happened with Gramozi Ersekë in previous season, Elbasani also ranked in the last place and were relegated to Albanian First Division.

Locarno

Sadiku signed for Swiss Challenge League side FC Locarno on 13 March 2011. He arrived in the morning and even travelled with the side to the away fixture with FC Schaffhausen. He made his debut for the club on the very day he signed, starting the game before being substituted in the 82nd minute in the 2–1 loss. His first goal came in his third appearance of the season, against Chiasso on 1 April; he scored the winning goal in the 64th minute of 2–1 away win, before being substituted in the 75th minute. His goal against Chiasso was then followed up by a brace against Kriens, scoring during the first half and then again in injury time in a game which ended 3–0 for Sadiku's side. He then scored again in the next game against Aarau which took his tally to 4 goals in 3 games. Sadiku scored against Winterthur on 7 May, opening the score in the 4–1 win. This goal was followed up by another 4 goals in his next 3 appearances. During the second half of the 2010–11 season he scored 9 goals in 12 games, which helped his side avoid relegation.

Sadiku began the 2011–12 season in the same form as he ended the last, netting twice on the opening day of the new season against Wohlen in a match his side lost 5–2. Sadiku's next goals came four games later against Étoile Carouge on 20 August, scoring twice in the first half of the 3–0 win. He scored a late equaliser at home against Stade Nyonnais on 10 September to earn his side a draw. In the next game he scored again, this time the opening goal in a 2–1 win against Vaduz. Sadiku then scored in the Swiss Cup against Wil on 16 October, but Locarno were knocked out on penalties after a 1–1 draw. His goal in the Swiss Cup was then followed by three goals in his next three league games, including the winner away at Chiasso. Sadiku then ended 2011 in Switzerland with a goal in the 82nd minute against Aarau, to give his side a point that left them in 8th place at the end of the year. He finished season 2012–13 of Swiss Challenge League as Top scorer with 19 goals.

Lugano

After much speculation about his future, on 23 July 2012 Locarno released a statement revealing that Sadiku had left the club and signed a three-year contract with Lugano, also in the Swiss Challenge League.

On 13 February 2013, Sadiku scored twice against his previous former team Locarno in the opening match for second phase of the 2012–13 Swiss Challenge League, where the match finished in the 3–0 victory with Sadiku scoring the second and the last goal in the 42nd and 87th minutes.

For the second consecutive season and also with two different teams, Sadiku finished the complete season as Top goalscorer. In the end of 2012–13 Swiss Challenge League he registered a total of 18 goals in 32 appearances and Lugano finished in the 7th place.

Zürich

After speculations of last days about his transfer to Zürich, on 13 November 2013 he officially signed with the Zürich in the Swiss Super League and in this way in December 2013 he finished his adventure with Lugano and after window of transfers opens, he joined his new club Zürich, exactly on 1 January 2014. He made it his presentation with the new club Zürich days later on 18 November 2013, where he was given the shirt with the number 11 and he signed the new contract until June 2018. Coming in Zürich, Sadiku joined there another fellow Albanian player Burim Kukeli. His first match with Zürich came on 14 January 2014 and was a friendly against MSV Duisburg, where Sadiku also scored a goal.

2013–14 season

Sadiku made it his first debut in the Swiss Super League with Zürich, on 1 February 2014 against Sion coming on as a substitute in the 82nd minute in place of Franck Etoundi. On 26 March 2014, Sadiku played in the semi-final match of Swiss Cup against Thun as he came in as a substitute in the 19th minute of the extra-time, after the full 90-minutes and also 30-minutes of the extra-time had finished in the goalless draw, match decided by penalties were Zürich won 5–4 with Sadiku scoring the 3rd penalty take. He played first match as a starter for Zürich on 16 April 2014 in the 4–2 loss against Basel, where he got substituted off in the 80th minute. Sadiku played five days later, on 21 April 2014 even against Basel in the Swiss Cup final match, as he came in as a substitute in the 91st minute (1st minute of stoppage time) in place of Franck Etoundi, were the full 90-minutes finished in the goalless draw and the match passed in to the 30 minute extra-time, were the Zürich striker Mario Gavranović scored twice on the 10th & 24th minutes to give it the final match result 2–0, with Zürich declaring the champions of the 2013–14 Swiss Cup. Sadiku scored on 26 April 2014 against Luzern but his goal wasn't enough as Zürich lost with 1–2 result. During the match between Zürich and St. Gallen on 10 May 2014, Sadiku came in as a substitute in the 70th minute in place of Franck Etoundi and after just nine minutes he suffered a hard injury as he broken knee ligament, then substituted off for Amine Chermiti in the 79th minute. He ended the season two weeks before the end as he remained six months out of play due to his injury.

2014–15 season

Sadiku got returned from the long-injury on 22 November 2014 as he participated in to the 16th week match of the 2014–15 Swiss Super League against FC Sion. He was an unused substitute during the entire match. Five days later he was on the bench again for the entire match of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage against Apollon Limassol. Another three days after he made it his new season debut by coming on as a substitute in the 71st minute in place of Davide Chiumiento in a 1–2 loss in extreme against Basel. For Basel scored twice the fellow Albanian international striker Shkëlzen Gashi in the 41st minute an goal which equaled by the Zürich midfielder Yassine Chikhaoui in the 88th minute and where then Gashi scored in the 94th to sign the victory for opponents of Basel. Being returned before just a week, on 3 December 2014 Sadiku played as a starter and scored the first season goal in a 5–0 victory over Cham valid for the third round of Swiss Cup, in where Sadiku scored the 3rd goal in the 73rd minute.

Loan to Vaduz

During the first part of 2015–16 season, Sadiku was used scarcely, and often as a substitute by coach Sami Hyypiä despite being the team's top goalscorer in the league. That lead him to request a loan to an other Swiss Super League side in order to play more to be ready to represent Albania in the UEFA Euro 2016 in France. His wish was fulfilled and on 12 January 2016 Sadiku was loaned out to the bottom-side Vaduz until the end of season. During his presentation one day later, Sadiku was allocated squad number 32 and dubbed his Vaduz move as the "right desicion". His parent club Zürich was criticized by the Swiss media, which dubbed the loan an "own goal" and an "arrogant" decision.

Sadiku made his debut for the club on 6 February scoring a brace and providing two assists in a 5–2 away win against fellow relegation strugglers Lugano, one of his former sides. On 28 February, he was again on the scoresheet scoring his team's only goal in a 1–1 draw against Grasshopper, giving Vaduz one point.

On 6 April, he scored a brace in the 2015–16 Liechtenstein Cup semi-final match against Eschen/Mauren, helping the team to win the 2–1 and progress to the final. Four days later, Sadiku scored his fourth league goal for Vaduz and also provided an assist during the 3–0 home win against St. Gallen, helping Vaduz to a first success after six consecutive winless league matches. He scored his tenth league goal of the season during the 5–4 away defeat to Young Boys.

Loan to Lugano

Following arrival of Paolo Tramezzani from Sadiku's national team Albania at FC Lugano made Sadiku himself to move on loan at FC Lugano making also a return.

Youth teams

He has been included in Ramadan Shehu's squad Albanian U19 for their UEFA U19 Championship 2010 qualification and played only one game.

In the qualifiers for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Sadiku scored two goals as a second-half substitute against Moldova U21 on 7 September 2011 to earn Albania their first points of the campaign. He then scored twice against Poland in a 3–4 loss for Albania. He followed this up with another two goals in a 2–2 draw with Portugal, taking his tally to 6 goals in his first 7 games for Albania U21.

Senior team

New senior national team coach Gianni De Biasi, called up Sadiku for a friendly against Georgia on 29 February 2012 at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi. He made his senior international debut in the game, coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute for goalscorer and fellow debutant Edgar Çani in the 2–1 loss for Albania. He was then called up to Albania's next two friendliest against Qatar and Iran in May, where he came off the bench for both games, winning both times. Sadiku scored his first international goal in the open match against Cyprus for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers on 7 September 2012. Goal came after an assist cross by Alban Meha from a free-kick. This match finished 3–1 winning by Albania.

On 11 October 2015, in the last qualifying match against Armenia at Yerevan, Sadiku came on the field as a substitute in the 59th minute and scored in the 76th minute after a cross by Odise Roshi and with a weak shoot inside the box, helping Albania qualified for the UEFA Euro 2016 in its first ever appearance at major football tournament.

Euro 2016

On 21 May 2016, Sadiku was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, and in Albania's final 23-man UEFA Euro 2016 squad on 31 May.

Sadiku played all Group A matches as a starter where he completed 1 full 90-minutes matches against hosts of France where they lost 2–0. On 19 June 2016, Sadiku scored a header against Romania in the UEFA Euro 2016 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, becoming the first Albanian player to score a goal in the UEFA European Championship. The match finished in the 1–0 victory by Albania, which was also their first victory in a major football tournament. Albania finished the group in the third position with three points and with a goal difference –2, and was ranked last in the third-placed teams, which eventually eliminated them.

In April 2016, Sadiku signed a sponsorship deal with American sportswear and equipment supplier, Nike.

Sadiku was born on 27 May 1991 in Elbasan. His father is from Trebisht, Albania and his mother from Podujevo, Kosovo. Sadiku is related to Taulant and Granit Xhaka through his mother.

Club

As of 1 April 2016

International

As of 5 September 2016

International goals

As of match played 5 September 2016. Albania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sadiku goal.

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref
1	7 September 2012	Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania	4	Cyprus	1–0	3–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	11 October 2015	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia	14	Armenia	3–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
3	29 March 2016	Stade Josy Barthel, Route d'Arlon, Luxembourg	18	Luxembourg	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
4	29 May 2016	Stadion Hartberg, Hartberg, Austria	19	Qatar	3–1	3–1	Friendly match
5	3 June 2016	Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, Bergamo, Italy	20	Ukraine	1–1	1–3	Friendly match
6	19 June 2016	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon, France	23	Romania	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2016
7	5 September 2016	Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania	25	Macedonia	1–0	2–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Club

Zürich

• Swiss Cup: 2013–14

Vaduz

• Liechtenstein Cup: 2015–16