Artim Šakiri

Artim Šakiri or Shaqiri (Macedonian: Артим Шаќири, Albanian: Artim Shaqiri; born 23 September 1973) is a retired football midfielder from the Republic of Macedonia, who last played for Qarabağ FK in Azerbaijan in 2009. While managing FK Kukësi in 2014, Šakiri was ranked as the best manager of the Albanian Superliga and the second best manager of Albanian origin in the world.

Šakiri was born to an Albanian family in Livada, a village near Struga. In his youth, he played football for his village squad (FK Dinamo Livada).

In 1997, he moved from Vardar to Swedish side Halmstads BK, a team that won the Swedish premier league Allsvenskan the same year. He played alongside developing star Fredrik Ljungberg.

In 2003, he moved from Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia to West Bromwich Albion in England. He made his debut in a 4–1 defeat away at local rivals Walsall. In his first home league match for Albion, Šakiri scored a spectacular long-range goal, helping his team to a 4–1 win over Burnley. It was, however, his only goal for the club. He made 30 appearances during 2003–04, but the next season he only played three games and left the club. He was set to move to Burnley, but the move fell through as his work permit wasn't renewed. Instead, Šakiri went to AaB in Denmark. He was released by AaB in 2006. In Autumn 2006, Šakiri signed for Finnish club FC Inter. He made five Veikkausliiga appearances and scored three times, but his contract was not renewed. In 2007, he signed for FC Vaduz. At the beginning of the season 2008 he has signed for Azerbaijani side Qarabağ FK.

Career statistics

Šakiri made his debut for Macedonia in a March 1996 friendly match against Malta, coming on as a late substitute for Sašo Miloševski, and has been capped 75 times. He has been captain of the team for many of those years. In 2002, he scored a goal directly from a corner kick against England.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 1997	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Lithuania	1–0	1–2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	6 September 1998	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Malta	3–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
3				4–0
4	8 September 1998	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	FR Yugoslavia	1–4	2–4	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5	7 June 2000	Azadi Stadium, Teheran, Iran	South Korea	1–2	1–2	Friendly
6	2 June 2001	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Moldova	1–1	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	6 June 2001	Bursa Atatürk Stadium, Bursa, Turkey	Turkey	0–1	3–3	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	27 March 2002	Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–1	4–4	Friendly
9				4–3
10				4–4
11	21 August 2002	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Malta	2–0	5–0	Friendly
12				4–0
13	16 October 2002	St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, England	England	0–1	2–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
14	11 June 2003	BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	0–2	3–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
15	18 August 2004	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Armenia	2–0	3–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

• Macedonian Cup: 1999

• Allsvenskan: 1997

• A Group: 2002–03

• Azerbaijan Cup: 2008–09