Full name Eros Grezda Years Team Place of birth Slovenia Name Eros Grezda | Role Football player Number 18 Height 1.83 m | |
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Date of birth (1995-04-15) 15 April 1995 (age 20) Current team NK Lokomotiva (#18 / Midfielder) | ||
Playing position | ||
SOCCER SCHOOLS | Eros Grezda
Eros Genc Grezda (born 15 April 1995) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a Attacking midfielder for Croatian club Osijek and the Albania national team.
Contents
- SOCCER SCHOOLS Eros Grezda
- Early career
- Austria and Slovenia
- NK Lokomotiva
- NK Osijek
- Albania U21
- Senior team
- Club
- International
- References
Early career
Eros Grezda started his career at FC Prishtina, playing there between the ages of 9 and 15. He subsequently moved for a short while to FK Rabotnički where he was scouted by GNK Dinamo Zagreb, where he soon moved and spend 1 year there playing with the under-17 side.
Austria and Slovenia
Grezda's first taste of senior football was in Austria, where he moved in the summer of 2012, signing for Grazer AK's lower league reserve side. He played in merely two games before moving on. Grezda arrived in Slovenia in the summer of 2013, signing for second-tier NK Aluminij. He stayed in Kidričevo for a year and a half, accumulating 29 caps and 6 goals for the first team. He then moved up a tier, signing for the Slovenian PrvaLiga side NK Zavrč on 23 January 2015 alongside Antonio Pavić.
NK Lokomotiva
On 9 July 2015 Grezda signed for NK Lokomotiva in the Croatian First League for a fee of €100,000. He scored twice against Slaven Belupo on 23 December 2015 in a 3–0 win and was named best player of the week. He scored another brace against Osijek on 27 February 2016 in a match finished in the 1–3 victory. He scored the first and last goals in the 9th and 90th minutes. On 20 April he was selected in the team of the week. On 8 May 2016 Grezda scored his 9th goal of the season in the derby against Zagreb where Lokomotiva won 2–0.
Grezda assisted the fellow Albanian U21 international Endri Çekiçi's goal against Osijek on 25 February 2017 in the 32nd minute, providing a cross from right side as Lokomotiva won 2–0. Grezda scored 1 goal and won a penalty kick himself on 7 April 2017 against Cibalia where Lokomotiva won 4–1. A week later Grezda scored again, in the Zagreb derby against Dinamo Zagreb in a 1–2 loss where Grezda scored the opening goal in the 5th minute.
NK Osijek
On 25 May 2017 Grezda signed a transfer to NK Osijek which gained the right to play in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League qualifying round for the next season. On 13 July 2017 Grezda scored his first UEFA clubs competition goal in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round first leg match against Swiss side Luzern where Osijek won 2–0. In the second leg against Luzern 1 week later, Grezda assisted the only Osijek's goal scored by Muzafer Ejupi and the match finished in the 2–1 loss but however Osijek advanced in the next round by winning 3–2 on aggregate. Grezda scored his first league goal on 9 September 2017 against Hajduk Split in the 90'+3 minute to give Osijek the 2–1 win in the deadly end. Following his impressive performance and the importance of his goal in the later win, Grezda was chosed as the best player of the week.
Albania U21
Grezda is a Kosovar Albanian and initially only had Kosovo citizenship but he declared that he is waiting an invitation by Albanian Football Association. He first received a call up from Albania under-21s coach Skënder Gega in August 2014 for a friendly against Qatar, but due to visa problems the game which was planned to be played in the United Kingdom did not go ahead. He was again called up in September for a friendly against Romania on 8 October 2014. He made his first debut for Albania U21 in the Friendly match against Romania U21 on 8 October 2014 by playing as a starter in a 3–1 loss.
Following his good running form with Lokomotiva, Grezda grabbed again the attention of Albanian Football Association and he received a call up by coach Redi Jupi for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Greece U21 and Hungary U21 on 24 & 28 March 2016 respectively. However, due to the absence of Albanian citizenship Grezda could not feature in any of both games.
He received the Albanian citizenship on 31 March 2016 among fellow Albania under-21 member Jasir Asani.
He was called up for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Greece U21 on 2 September 2016. He debuted against Greece U21 playing as a starter and substituting off at half-time for Kostandin Kariqi due to the injury.
Senior team
Grezda got his first call up to the Albania senior team by coach Gianni De Biasi for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Liechtenstein and Spain in October 2016. He was an unused substitute in both occasions. He was called up then for the 5th 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification fixture against Italy on 24 March 2017 and the Friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 28 March 2017. Grezda made his first senior debut on 24 March 2017 against Italy coming on as a substitute in the 87th minute in place of Odise Roshi.