Full name Elvir Maloku 2004–2007 Lokomotiva Rijeka Weight 65 kg Place of birth Rijeka, Croatia Name Elvir Maloku Date joined 2013 | Playing position Role Football player Siblings Trojan Maloku Number 19 Height 1.76 m | |
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Date of birth (1996-05-14) 14 May 1996 (age 19) Current team HNK Hajduk Split (#19 / Forward) Similar People Anton Maglica, Goran Milovic, Mijo Caktas, Nikola Vlasic, Andrija Balic | ||
Δηλώσεις Imanol Idiakez / Elvir Maloku
Elvir Mehdi Maloku (born 14 May 1996) is an Albanian footballer who plays as a winger for Cypriot club AEK Larnaca, on loan from Spanish club Gimnàstic de Tarragona and the Albania national under-21 football team.
Contents
- Imanol Idiakez Elvir Maloku
- Early career
- Hajduk Split
- Gimnstic
- Croatia
- Albania
- 2019 UEFA European Under 21 Championship qualification
- Career statistics
- Club
- References
Early career
Born in Rijeka, Maloku passed through various clubs in his native region where he had started his career with NK Lokomotiva Rijeka in 2004 and moved in 2007 at NK Stari Grad Rijeka, before moving to the youth setup of the local Prva HNL side HNK Rijeka in early 2012. In the 2012–13 season he was the top scorer of the club's under-17 team, scoring 13 goals in 26 appearances. In February 2013 Maloku had a successful trial at Italian giants Juventus F.C. but transfer wasn't made.
Hajduk Split
In the summer of 2013, Maloku moved to HNK Hajduk Split along with his younger brother Trojan. He made his first team debut on 28 August 2013 in his team's 3-1 away win against NK Lokomotiva Zagreb, coming in the 83rd minute for Anton Maglica.
During his first two seasons under coach Igor Tudor, Maloku was used mostly as a bench player. His pace would sometimes prove good in the last minutes of the game. When Damir Burić took over the club in 2015, Maloku made his way into the first lineup but after some bad performances, he was benched again and used as a substitute. Out of his 69 total caps for Hajduk, he made it only 13 times in the starting lineup and was used 35 times as a substitute. In only 4 matches during his Hajduk career, he managed to play the entire game for 90 minutes. After the end of the season, he was released by Hajduk and given the option to search for his new club.
Gimnàstic
On 18 July 2016, Maloku signed a four-year contract with Spanish Segunda División club Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Then on 7 January, after being rarely used in the league, he was loaned to AEK Larnaca until June 2018.
Croatia
Maloku was a Croatian youth international, playing for the under-17 team in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the summer of 2013 and several matches for the under-19 team and the under-21 team.
Albania
He was eligible to play for Albania at international level due to his parents origin. He accepted the invitation from head coach Skënder Gega to play for Albania national under-21 football team in 2015, later stating that to play for Albania at senior international level should be a chance arise. He was called up for the Friendly matches against Kazakhstan & Sweden on 12 & 16 June 2015, but however was unable to join the national side due to an injury.
Following arrival of Alban Bushi as a head coach of Albania U21, Maloku was re-invited to Albania U21 for a gathering from 18–28 January 2017. In a press conference later, coach Alban Bushi declared that are proceeding to give Maloku the Albanian passport to make him eligible for Albania U21 in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification. On 18 March 2017 he was re-invited again at under-21 national side for a double Friendly match against Moldova U21 on 25 & 27 March 2017. Two days later he received the Albanian citizenship by president Bujar Nishani among Taulant Seferi & Çlirim Shabani, to become eligible to play for Albania in competitive matches.
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Maloku was called up for the Friendly match against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification opening match against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017. On 7 June 2017 Maloku received the go ahead from FIFA to be eligible to play for Albania U21 in competitive matches. Day before the opening match of the qualifiers against Estonia U21, Maloku suffered a late injury which made him miss the match.