Edgar Çani

Early career

Çani was born in Tirana, Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve in the Perugia central Italy, after his family emigrated to Italy in the famous exodus of the Vlora ship in 1990. [1]. Çani was first spotted by a Pescara scout in 2004, and then signed by the biancazzurri.

Palermo & loans to Serie B teams

After playing the first half of the 2007–08 season with Pescara in Serie C1, on 31 January 2008 Serie A side Palermo confirmed they had signed Cani, along with Luca Di Matteo, for a reported €600,000 and €500,000 respectively. In their June 2008 accounts Palermo showed the signings as being for €450,000 each.

Çani made his Serie A debut on 27 April 2008 in a 0–0 home tie against Atalanta.

Ascoli

In July 2008, Ascoli confirmed they had signed Çani on loan for the 2008–09 Serie B season. He scored 4 goals in 24 appearances, most of them as a starter. Ascoli finished the season in 16th.

2009–10 season with Padova & Piacenza

On 20 August 2009 he was loaned out to fellow Serie B team, Padova. In the first half of the 2009–10 season he scored only 2 goals in total of 19 appearances.

He left Padova in January 2010 to be loaned out to another Serie B team, Piacenza, for the rest of the season. He made his debut for Piacenza by scoring two goals in a 3–1 win over Triestina. Treiestina opened the scoring in the 10th minute, through Marcello Cottafava, Çani then scored in the 55th and 64th minutes, the last goal was scored by Davide Moscardelli in the 89th minute. He finished his loan spell with a total of 6 goals in 14 appearances.

Modena

After his loan move to Piacenza expired at the end of the season, he was sent out on loan again to Modena, another Serie B club, in July 2010. He scored twice in a 2-1 victory against Vicenza. He finished the 2010–11 Serie B season with 34 appearances, scoring 5 goals.

Polonia Warsaw

The following year he was sold to Polonia Warsaw. He soon got into a conflict with the club's owner, coach and team and started to look for a new team, however he decided to stay with Polonia. In the Summer of 2012 he refused to return to Poland and missed the teams pre-season training camps. After finally returning he found his opportunities limited and, after an argument with the team coach, found himself training with the youth academy team.

In total he scored 11 league goals for Polonia, with 16 of his 31 league appearances coming as a substitute. His move to Serie A side Catania was considered controversial, by the Polish media, as he was considered to be still technically a Polonia Warsaw player until 2015.

Catania and loans

Çani made his return to Serie A, signing on 22 January 2013 for Catania on a 3-year contract. He made his debut on 3 March 2013 in a 3-2 loss against Inter, coming on as a substitute in place of Gonzalo Bergessio in the 85th minute, he was booked just a minute after coming on.

Carpi

He was loaned to Serie B side Carpi F.C. on 23 July 2013, making his debut on 11 August 2013 in a Coppa Italia - 2nd round match against Reggina, Cani played the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss. His league debut came on 24 August 2013 against Ternana, the match finished in a 1–0 loss with Çani playing the full 90-minutes. He scored his first goal for Carpi on 21 September 2013 against Cesena, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Alessandro Sgrigna and scoring 10 minutes later. The match ended in a 4–1 defeat.

Bari

In January 2014 he was loaned to A.S. Bari until 30 June 2014. He made his debut in a 2-1 loss against Brescia on 1 February, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for Stefano Sabelli. His first start came in a 0-0 draw against Crotone on 22 March, Çani played the full 90-minutes. /his second start came on 26 April 2014 against Padova, the game finished in a 2-1 victory but Cani was taken off in the 62nd minute for João Silva. Çani scored his first goal for Bari on 13 May 2014, scoring in the 2nd minute of a 2-1 win against previous club Carpi. On 30 May 2014 Çani scored twice in a 4-1 victory against Novara in the closing match of the regular season 2013–14 Serie B. Cani scored an equalizer in the 62nd minute, only 6 minutes after coming on as a substitute, and a second in the 74th minute. Bari finished the regular season in 7th place to qualify for the play-off promotions to Serie A where they shorted to play against Crotone for the quarter-finals.

Bari played Crotone on 3 June 2014 and won 3-0 result, with Çani playing the full 90-minutes. With this victory Bari advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Latina in a two-legged tie. Çani scored in the first leg, a 2-2 draw played on 8 June 2014. The second-leg was played on 12 June 2014 and again resulted in a 2–2, Cani playing the full 90-minutes. With the aggregate score at 4–4 Latina advanced to the final as the higher placed team of the regular season, as they finished in 3rd place and Bari in 7th place.

Return to Catania

After finished loans to Carpi and Bari he returned to Catania for the 2014–15 Serie B season. He wasn't included to the team for the opening match against Virtus Lanciano, but starterd the 2nd match on 7 September 2014 against Pro Vercelli, which ended in a 3–2 defeat. In the 7th game week between Catania and Frosinone on 4 October 2014, Çani came on as a 68th-minute substitute for Sebastián Leto, he was then sent off after 5 minutes. Once he had completed his suspension, Çani became first choice striker alongside striking partner Emanuele Calaiò. On 25 October 2014 Çani scored his first goal for Catania in a 3–1 victory against Vicenza.

On 6 December 2014 he scored a goal, and provided an assist, in a 2-2 draw away at Bologna. His next goal came 2 weeks later when he scored the opening goal, a 6th-minute header, in a 2–2 draw against Brescia.

Leeds United

On 2 February 2015, Çani joined Leeds United on loan for the remainder of the 2014–15 season, the deal includes an option to buy. Granddi N'Goyi's number was then changed to number six with Football League approval, with Çani taking the number 10 shirt.

He made his debut, as an 85th-minute substitute, against Brentford on 7 February 2015. He was an unused substitute in the next game, against Reading.

On 18 April 2015, Cani was one of six Massimo Cellino signings (along with Mirco Antenucci, Giuseppe Bellusci, Souleymane Doukara, Dario Del Fabro, Marco Silvestri) who controversially pulled out of the squad with an 'injury' the day before a 2-1 loss against Charlton Athletic.

Pisa

On 31 August 2015, after the club, Çani confirmed his agreement with his new club A.C. Pisa 1909 from the third division of Italy Lega Pro. He confirmed that he was happy that the agreement came up after some negotiations and he will play alongside to a great coach as Gattuso.

Çani scored his first goal of the 2016–17 season in his 22nd game on 4 February 2017 against Virtus Entella as he came in as a substitute in the 68th minute for fellow Albania national team's striker Rey Manaj to score the equalizer 10 minutes later and to give his team an 1–1 important draw.

International career

In February 2011 Çani told the Albanian media that it was his dream to be part of the Albania national football team. He was called up for the match against Georgia on 29 February 2012 by the coach Gianni De Biasi. His debut brought his first international goal as well, as he scored the opening goal only two minutes after the kick-off and the match finished as a 2–1 loss.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

In the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus, Çani came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Hamdi Salihi and scored in the 84th minute after a cross from Jahmir Hyka, the game ended in a 3–1 win. In the 3rd match of the qualifiers, against Iceland, he scored after an assist by Alban Meha, but his goal wasn't enough as Iceland went on to win 2-1.

On 26 March 2013 he scored in a 4–1 win against Lithuania in a friendly match.

Cani was left out of the squads for the final two qualifying matches, against Switzerland and Cyprus on 11 and 15 October 2013.

Following the absence of fellow strikers Armando Sadiku & Rey Manaj which were injured and unable to recover in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Liechtenstein on 6 October 2016 and against Spain on 9 October 2016, coach Gianni De Biasi decided to return back Çani to the national team after 3 years as a replacement. He was an unused substitute for both matches. He was called up also for the next 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Israel on 12 November 2016 as Armando Sadiku wasn't recovered yet. He played against Israel coming on as a substitute in the 79th minute in place of Elseid Hysaj playing in the front line among Bekim Balaj & Rey Manaj as Albania were down by 9 mens and in 0–2 disadvantage looiking to score. The match however ended in the hard 0–3 loss.

Style of play

Due to his height, Çani is renowned as a target man centre forward, with his strengths being his heading ability and ability to hold the ball up to bring his teammates into the game.

Club

International

International goals