Valon Berisha

Kosovan footballer

Valon Berisha (born 7 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Austrian Bundesliga club LASK and the Kosovo national team.

Valon Berisha
Berisha with Red Bull Salzburg in 2017
Personal information
Full name Valon Berisha
Date of birth (1993-02-07) 7 February 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth Malmö, Sweden
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
LASK
Number 14
Youth career
1998–2009 Egersund
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Egersund 31 (11)
2009–2012 Viking 56 (4)
2012–2018 Red Bull Salzburg 167 (31)
2018–2020 Lazio 11 (0)
2020Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 13 (0)
2020–2023 Reims 37 (0)
2022 Reims B 3 (0)
2022–2023Melbourne City (loan) 27 (1)
2024– LASK 12 (0)
National team
2010 Norway U15 4 (0)
2009 Norway U16 10 (2)
2010 Norway U17 8 (0)
2010 Norway U18 7 (0)
2011 Norway U19 8 (0)
2011–2014 Norway U21 18 (3)
2013 Norway U23 1 (1)
2012–2016 Norway 20 (0)
2016– Kosovo 40 (4)
Honours
Representing  Norway
European Under-21 Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Israel U-21[1]
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 May 2024
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 September 2023

Career

change

Berisha was born in Stockholm. His family is of Albanian origin. They moved from Kosovo to Sweden before he was born. His younger brother Veton also plays professional football for Viking Stavanger in Norway. He started football at the local club Egersunds IK. On 20 June 2008, when he was 15 years old, he played his first senior match for EIK against Staal Jørpeland IL in the Norwegian Third Division. His good performance attracted the interest of Viking Stavanger, a top club of Norway. He signed with them in March 2009. In July 2012 Berisha went on to Red Bull Salzburg together with his fellow Norwegian Håvard Nielsen. Unlike Nielsen he was soon part of the starting team of Salzburg.

International career

change

Valon Berisha was part of every youth national team in Norway. For the Under-17, U-19 and U-21 teams he played 29 games and scored 3 goals. With the U-21 he played in the European Under-21 Championship 2013 in Israel and reached the semifinal. His first match in the senior team was on January 15, 2011. It was a friendly match against Denmark League XI (unofficial national football team run by the Danish Football Association).

Career statistics

change
As of match played 9 April 2022[2][3]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Viking 2010 Tippeligaen 12 1 3 0 15 1
2011 28 3 4 2 32 5
2012 16 0 1 0 17 0
Total 56 4 8 2 64 6
Red Bull Salzburg 2012–13 Austrian Bundesliga 30 6 3 0 33 6
2013–14 32 5 3 3 12 0 47 8
2014–15 14 4 3 0 2 0 19 4
2015–16 33 5 6 1 4 0 43 6
2016–17 34 7 3 0 9 1 46 8
2017–18 24 4 3 2 18 7 45 13
Total 167 31 21 6 45 8 233 45
Lazio 2018–19 Serie A 8 0 1 0 5 0 14 0
2019–20 3 0 1 0 4 0 8 0
Total 11 0 2 0 9 0 22 0
Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 2019–20 Bundesliga 13 0 0 0 13 0
Reims 2020–21 Ligue 1 24 0 1 0 2 1 27 1
2021–22 13 0 1 0 14 0
Total 37 0 2 0 2 1 41 1
Career total 284 35 33 8 56 9 373 52

International

change
As of match played 12 September 2023[4]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Norway 2012 8 0
2013 3 0
2014 2 0
2015 3 0
2016 4 0
Total 20 0
Kosovo 2016 4 1
2017 6 0
2018 4 0
2019 6 2
2020 6 0
2021 5 0
2022 5 1
2023 4 0
Total 40 4

International goals

As of match played 2 June 2022[5]
Scores and results list Kosovo's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Berisha goal.
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1. 5 September 2016 Veritas Stadion, Turku, Finland   Finland 1–1 1–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification [6]
2. 10 September 2019 St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton, England   England 1–0 3–5 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying [7]
3. 2–5
4. 2 June 2022 AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, Larnaca, Cyprus   Cyprus 1–0 2–0 2022–23 UEFA Nations League C [8]

Honours

change

Red Bull Salzburg

Lazio

Melbourne City

Individual

References

change
  1. "- Nyland bedre enn de Gea i EM". 20 June 2013.
  2. "V. Berisha". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. "Valon Berisha » Club matches". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  4. "Valon Berisha". EU-Football.info.
  5. Valon Berisha at National-Football-Teams.com
  6. "Kosovë brilante, debuton me barazim në kualifikimet e Botërorit 2018" [Brilliant Kosovo, debuts with a draw in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers] (in Albanian). Football Federation of Kosovo. 5 September 2016.
  7. "Anglia ndal serinë e shkëlqyeshme të Dardanëve" [England stopped the excellent Dardanian series] (in Albanian). Football Federation of Kosovo. 10 September 2019.
  8. "Kosova e nis me fitore edicionin e ri në Ligën e Kombeve" [Kosovo starts the new edition of the Nations League with a victory] (in Albanian). Football Federation of Kosovo. 2 June 2022.
  9. Melbourne City vs. Western Sydney Wanderers (Television production). Australia: Paramount+. 28 April 2023. Event occurs at 2:26:30. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2023.