Valmir Nafiu

Valmir Nafiu

File:Valmir Nafiu 2013.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Valmir Nafiu
Date of birth	(1994-04-23) 23 April 1994
Place of birth	Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Skënderbeu Korçë
Number	23
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	Hamburger SV II	12	(1)
2013–2015	Hamburger SV	2	(0)
2015	APOEL	10	(1)
2016–	Skënderbeu	0	(0)
International career‡
	Macedonia U17	16	(11)
	Macedonia U19	5	(1)
2013–	Macedonia U21	6	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 April 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 June 2015

Valmir Nafiu (born 23 April 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Albanian club KF Skënderbeu Korçë.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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. He added a further Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 November 2014, 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. 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. 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. 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.

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

Career statistics

As of 20 April 2015

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FK Shkëndija	2010–11	Macedonian First League	19	1	0	0	—		19	1
	2011–12	Macedonian First League	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
	Total		19	1	0	0	1	0	20	1
FC Basel	2011–12	Swiss Super League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hamburger SV II	2012–13	Regionalliga Nord	12	1	—		—		12	1
	Total		12	1	—		—		12	1
Hamburger SV	2013–14	Bundesliga	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2014–15	Bundesliga	2	0	0	0	—		2	0
	Total		2	0	0	0	—		2	0
APOEL	2014–15	Cypriot First Division	10	1	2	0	—		12	1
	2015–16	Cypriot First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		10	1	2	0	—		12	1
Career total			43	3	2	0	1	0	46	3

Honours

FK Shkëndija

• Macedonian First League: 2010–11

APOEL

• Cypriot First Division: 2014–15
• Cypriot Cup: 2014–15

External links

• APOEL official profile
• Valmir Nafiu at Soccerway
• Valmir Nafiu career statistics at Soccerbase
• Valmir Nafiu at footballzz.co.uk
• Valmir Nafiu profile at Fussballdaten