Full name Astrit Ajdarevic Name Astrit Ajdarevic Position Midfielder 2001–2005 Falkenbergs FF Weight 87 kg | 1996–2000 Rinia IF Height 1.90 m Role Footballer Current team Orebro SK | |
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Date of birth (1990-04-17) 17 April 1990 (age 25) Place of birth Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia Number 42 (Helsingborgs IF / Midfielder), 42 (Standard Liege / Midfielder), 42 (Charlton Athletic F.C. / Midfielder) | ||
Playing position Similar Ilir Nallbani, Anton Wede, Jordan Larsson | ||
Astrit Ajdarević (born 17 April 1990) is a Swedish professional footballer of Albanian descent playing as an attacking midfielder for AEK Athens.
Contents
Early life
Born in Pristina, Kosovo, to Kosovar-Albanian parents with origin from Medveđa, he moved with his family to Sweden in 1992. His father Agim Ajdarević was a member of FK Spartak Subotica in the Yugoslav First League in the 1980s and 1990s, and moved to Sweden in 1992; he later signed with Falkenbergs FF.
His younger brothers, Arben Ajdarevic and Alfred Ajdarević are also footballers.
Early career
Ajdarević began his career in 1996 in his adopted nation of Sweden. He first played for Rinia IF, and later signed with Falkenbergs FF, where he played between Winter 2006/2007.
On 5 December 2006 Ajdarević completed a second trial at Liverpool and transferred soon afterwards to the club, having impressed the club's coaching staff. He made his Liverpool youth team debut in the FA Youth Cup victory against Reading in January 2007. However, Ajdarević was unable to make a breakthrough into the first team at Liverpool, which has increasingly frustrated him.
Leicester City
He joined Leicester City on trial in January 2009 and signed for the Foxes on the loan signing deadline for football league clubs on 26 March 2009 until the end of that season, when the Midlands-based club had the option to sign him permanently. He made his debut as a second-half substitute replacing Max Gradel after 70 minutes of Leicester's 2–2 draw with Carlisle United at the Walkers Stadium.
On 30 June 2009, Ajdarević joined Leicester permanently having been released by Liverpool, signing a one-year deal. However, Ajdarević struggled in the first team at Leicester City and a result, he went on trial at Brighton & Hove Albion. After a trial, Ajdarević joined Hereford United on loan until the end of the season, linking up with Leicester teammate Craig King on 25 March 2010. Ajdarević made his debut for the club on 3 April 2010, where he came on as a substitute and played 16 minutes, in a 2-1 win over Barnet. This turns out to be his only appearance for Hereford United.
On 17 May 2010, Ajdarević was released by Leicester City, along with Stephen Clemence, Levi Porter, Robbie Burns, Carl Pentney, Billy Kee and Alex Cisak.
Örebro SK
Ajdarević returned to Sweden in June 2010 and trained with Örebro SK before being offered a contract with them in early July.
Ajdarević made an impact on his debut when he scored his first goal for the club on 18 July 2010, in a 3-3 draw against IF Elfsborg on 18 July 2010, which was followed up in the next game n 26 July 2010 against Elfsborg for the second time this season, which Örebro win 3-0. Later in the 2010 season, Ajdarević scored two more goals against Brommapojkarna, which saw them drew 1-1 on 25 October 2010, and Göteborg, which turned out to be his last appearance on 1 January 2011. Ajdarević established himself in the first team at the club, where he scored five times in thirteen appearances.
IFK Norrköping
Ajdarević used a contractual clause that allowed him to find another club after the 2010 season had ended and despite Örebro SK's attempt to keep him by offering a new contract, IFK Norrköping managed to sign a long-term deal with the midfielder. Previously, Ajdarević had also been linked with a move to Italian side Cesena.
Ajdarević made his debut for the club, in the opening game of the season, in a 2–0 win over GAIS. In a match against his former club Örebro SK on 25 May 2011, Ajdarević was booed by Örebro's supporters throughout and even displayed a banner about him, which saw IFK Norrköping lose 2-0. Ajdarević then scored his first goal for the club, in a 2–2 draw against BK Häcken on 10 June 2011 and his second then came on 27 June 2011, in a 2-1 loss against Kalmar. Ajdarević went on to score two more goals later in the season against Trelleborgs and Halmstads. Like at Örebro SK, Ajdarević established himself in the first team and had a successful season at Norrköping, where he made twenty-nine appearances and scoring four times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2012 season, Ajdarević was linked with a move to Champions side Helsingborgs, but the move never came for it. In the opening game of the season, Ajdarević set up a goal for Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson, in a 1-0 win over Helsingborgs. Ajdarević continued to be in the first team, having played in central midfield and in the last two games of his career, he scored two goals against AIK and Åtvidabergs. By the end of May, Ajdarević made twelve appearance and scoring two times.
Standard Liège
In late-June, IFK Norrköping agreed to sell Ajdarević to Belgium side Standard Liège with a transfer reportedly cost SEK 15 million and Ajdarević, himself, confirmed via Twitter that he left the club on 1 July 2012. The move was confirmed on 3 July 2012, where he signed a four-year contract.
On the opening game of the season, Ajdarević made his debut, coming on as a substitute for Yoni Buyens, in a 1–0 loss against Zulte Waregem. Several weeks later, on 19 August 2012, Ajdarević scored his first goal in a 6–2 win over Charleroi. In the round of 32 of Belgian Cup, Ajdarević scored and set up a goal for Jelle Van Damme, who scored an winning goal, as Liège beat KV Kortrijk 3–2. Despite becoming a regular in the first team under new manager Ron Jans until his sacking on 22 October 2012, Ajdarević soon lost his first team place later in the season and despite this, he made twenty-one appearance and scoring two times in all competitions.
In the 2013-14 season, Ajdarević kept out of the first team throughout the whole year and made no appearance for the side.
After his loan spell at Charlton Athletic came to an end, Ajdarević returned to the first team under the management of Guy Luzon and made his first appearance of the season on 25 July 2014, with a 3-0 win over Charleroi in the opening game of the season, followed up by scoring in the next game on 2 August 2014, with a 3-2 win over KV Kortrijk. However, Ajdarević lost his first team place at the club and only made eight appearances in the first half of the season. On 11 August 2015, Ajdarević left the club by mutual agreement. However, Ajdarević later stated that Manager Luzon left him out of the squad and ruined him.
Loan Spells
Ajdarević signed a six-month loan deal with Charlton Athletic on 3 January 2014. Ajdarević made his first-team debut as a 77th-minute substitute in a 1–0 Championship away defeat to Middlesbrough on 18 January 2014. Seven days later, on 25 January 2014, he made his first start in the 1–0 fourth round of the FA Cup away win against Huddersfield Town. He scored his first and second goals in the month of April with one against Yeovoil Town in a 3–2 win at home and the other in the last minute of a 2–1 defeat to Barnsley, also at home. Despite hopes of joining the club on a permanent basis, Ajdarević returned to the club and made twenty-three appearance and scoring two times in all competitions. During his time there, Ajdarević was the club's fan favorite.
On 19 February 2015, Standard Liège loaned Ajdarević to the Sweden club Helsingborgs for the rest of the 2014–15 season. Ajdarević made a good start for Västerås SK when he scored his first goal for the club in the first round of Svenska Cupen, with a 4-0 win, on 1 March 2015. The following month on 4 April 2015, Ajdarević made his league debut for the club, in the opening game of the season, in a 0-0 draw against Kalmar. Despite suffering from a leg injury, Ajdarević returned to the first team and then scored his first goal for Helsingborg, in a 2-1 loss against Gefle on 9 May 2015. Ajdarević went on to make thirteen appearance before returning to his parent club in mid-July.
Örebro SK
Two days after leaving Standard Liege, Ajdarević returned to Örebro SK for the 2016 season on 11 August 2015 in his second spell.
Ajdarević made his Örebro SK debut on 15 August 2015, where he made his first start, in a 1-0 loss against GIF Sundsvall. After serving a suspension, he scored on his return, as well as, setting up a goal, in a 2-1 win over Hammarby on 13 September 2015. Later in the season, Ajdarević provided assists, including a double twice in separate matches against Elfsborg, which see them win 4-2 on 21 September 2015 and another against Gefle, which see them drew 2-2 on 19 October 2015. Ajdarević finished the season, making twelve appearance. Following this, Ajdarević signed a new contract with the club, keeping him until 2017.
Like the previous season, Ajdarević continued to play as a centre-forward for the side in the 2016 season and then scored his first goal of the season on 11 April 2016, in a 2-1 win over Jönköpings Södra. Ajdarević then scored two more goals against Hammarby IF and Gelfe IF. After playing in the Summer Olympics, Ajdarević returned to the first team, but soon suffered a thigh injury that kept him out for weeks. After returning to the first team, Ajdarević scored on his return on 22 September 2016, in a 3-2 loss against Göteborg. Following a 5-1 defeat to Östersunds on 31 October 2016, Ajdarević was assaulted by the club's supporters, who told him to leave the club and hope he leaves the club. Ajdarević went on to finish the 2016 season, making twenty-six appearance and scoring four times in all competitions.
AEK Athens
On 13 December 2016, Ajdarević signed a contract with Greek side AEK Athens for two and a half years, keeping him until 2019. Since moving to Greece, Ajdarević revealed that he lost 7 kilos in just sixteen days.
Ajdarević made his AEK Athens debut on 4 January 2017, where he made his first start and played 85 minutes, in a 0-0 draw against Panetolikos. On 19 February he scored what proved to be the only goal in a home derby win against Olympiacos.He was also named MVP of the match.
International career
Ajdarević is eligible to play for Sweden and Albania.
After previously played for Sweden U17 and Sweden U19, Ajdarević was called up by Sweden U21 for the first time and after appearing in an international friendlies match, he debuted for the Sweden U21 team in a friendly against Serbia on 6 June 2011.
Despite hopes of earning attention from the national team, Ajdarević was on the stand-by instead for the UEFA Euro 2016 and was cut from the squad as a result.
Nevertheless, Ajdarević was called up by Sweden U23 team for 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and was appointed captain soon after. On 4 August 2016, Ajdarević scored in the opening game against Colombia, which saw them drew 2-2. However, in the next two games, Sweden lost against Nigeria U23 and Japan U23, which saw them out of the tournament.