Ervin Bulku

KF Tirana

Bulku started his career as a youngster in the KF Tirana youth teams. At the age of 18 he was put into the first team by coach Sulejman Mema and was given a chance to break into the first team and compete with the likes of Sokol Prenga and Ardian Mema for a spot in the first team. in his first season with the club and in professional football he managed to feature in 13 games during the season. During the 1999–2000 season with Tirana, Bulku found it easier to make an impact in the first team with the club's new manager Shkëlqim Muça having faith in the promising youngster and fellow midfielders Eldorado Merkoçi, Devis Mukaj, Klodian Duro and Sokol Prenga all leaving the club. These departures meant that Bulku would feature more frequently in the first team and he did so making an impressive 21 appearances in his second season in which he won his first trophie of his career, the Albanian Superliga title. After a very good season he tried to repeat it for the 2000–2001 season, this did not happen as both injury and some mediocre displays meant that Bulku spent most of the season on the side lines. He did however manage to win the Albanian Supercup at the start of the season but his side Tirana narrowly lost the race for the title to Vllaznia. During the next few seasons of his career Bulku managed to make a name for himself in the squad and in the league, he was receiving a lot of attention from the media and the fans because he was destined for a successful career. He began to feature in almost every game when fit and became a key member in the squad and a key figure in all the trophy winning sides that the club produced over the next few years. Bulku was also a key player in Tirana's European games and featured against teams such as Dinamo Tbilisi, Ferencváros, CSKA Sofia and Kayserispor. He also played in 6 Albanian Supercup finals during his time with Tirana, winning 5 of them, including the famous 6–0 win over city rivals Dinamo Tirana in which Bulku managed to score in. In his final season with SK Tirana, Bulku was once again a key member in the team that won the league, the cup and the supercup. He played 30 games and scored one goal in the league, played in the 2–0 supercup win over KS Elbasani and he also played in 1–0 win over Vllaznia in the final of the Albanian Cup.

Kryvbas

In the summer transfers 2007 Bulku signed with Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih in the Ukrainian Premier League. He played among fellow Albanian compatriots Dorian Bylykbashi, Isli Hidi and also Ansi Agolli who joined the club two years later. He made it his debut on 28 July 2007 against Karpaty Lviv in the loss 3–0. He finished 2007–08 season with a total of 19 appearances, where 14 in the starting line up.

He started the 2008–09 season on 19 July 2008, playing 90-minutes in the victory 1–0 against Metalurh Zaporizhya. Bulku scored his first goal with Kryvbas on 22 March 2009 against Kharkiv, giving his team the victory 0–1. He managed to score the second goal in the season 2008–09, on 4 April 2009 against Zorya Luhansk finished in the victory 2–1, were Bulku scored the opening goal of the match in the 7th minute. He finished the 2008–09 season with a total of 24 appearances, when 21 times were as a starter.

Bulku started the 2009–10 season with the match against Shakhtar Donetsk on 18 July 2009, finished in the loss 3–0. Bulku played in the last match of the year 2009, on 13 December 2009 in the loss 1–3 against Metalurh Zaporizhya. This was the last match for the club, as he interrupted his contract with Kryvbas. On the first half of the 2009–10 season, he made a total of 14 appearances.

Hajduk Split

After 6 months as Free agent, in August 2010 he signed for Croatian side Hajduk Split in the Prva HNL. He made it his first debut with the team on 16 September 2010 in a match valid for UEFA Europa League 2010–11 group stage against AEK Athens, were Bulku played in the starting line up and substituted off after 81 minutes for Dinko Trebotić, as the match finished in the loss 3–1. He made it his league debut on 19 September 2010 against HNK Rijeka, where the match finished in the away victory 0–1 and Bulku played 83 minutes, as he got substituted off for Mirko Oremuš in the 83rd minute. He played second match in the UEFA Europa League 2010–11 group stage on 30 September 2010, in the victory 1–0 over Anderlecht. Bulku played full 90-minutes on 4 November 2010 in the home defeat 2–3 against Zenit St. Petersburg, valid for the UEFA Europa League 2010–11 group stage. At the club he was important part of the starting line up in the league matches, as he played in total of 15 matches were 12 as a starter and only 3 as a substitute, also got substituted off 6 times. In the Uefa Europa League he made in total 4 appearances. In the end of the 2010–11 season, Hajduk finished as runners-up.

AZAL

At the end of June 2011 Bulku signed with AZAL of the Azerbaijan Premier League. Bulku made his debut for AZAL on 7 August 2011 against Simurq, going on to score his first goal for the club 3 games later against Neftchi Baku on 27 August 2011. In total Bulku made 22 league appearances for the club scoring three goals.

Sepahan

On 21 July 2012, Bulku signed a one-year contract with Iranian champions Sepahan F.C., joining there another fellow Albanian player Xhevahir Sukaj, who had come in the team early on January.

He made it his first debut on 29 August 2012, playing the full 90-minutes in the home victory 1–0 against Fajr Sepasi. Bulku scored his first goal for Sepahan on 6 April 2013 against Naft Tehran winning the match within the 3–1 result, were his goal was the opening of the match, scored in the 12th minute, also Bulku was sent off in the 41st minute after receiving his second yellow card as the first was received in the 12th minute for taking his shirt off after scored the goal. In his first season with Sepahan, he made twenty-one league appearances, scoring once. He also appeared five AFC Champions League matches.

In his second season with Sepahan, he made twenty six league appearances, failing to score. He did score once in the AFC Champions League, but Sepahan failed to get out of the group stage phase. In the 2012–13 Hazfi Cup Bulku scored once in the 1/4-finals on 9 January 2013 against Sanat Naft to open the way towards qualifying for the semifinals as the match finished in the 2–0 victory.

In May 2014, Bulku declared that he left the club after the end of the 2-year contract.

KF Tirana return

Being a Free agent footballer, on 5 June 2014 KF Tirana announced to have convinced Bulku to sign for the club and to make a return in his base after 7 years, as KF Tirana was his hometown club where he started his career as a youth. On 14 June 2014 Bulku decided to sign with KF Tirana, a 2-year contract among with fellow players such as Mario Morina and Erando Karabeci, where these two made it a renew of their contract with the club and on the other side Bulku was made the first transfer of the KF Tirana for the Window Summer Transfers 2014 and starting from 1 July 2014 they joined the club which was managed by the coach Gugash Magani.

He made his debut after the return, on 24 August 2014, where he played the full 90-minutes match against Apolonia Fier, valid for the opening of the 2014–15 season and finished in the 3–0 victory. He scored his first goal on 11 September 2014 in the 3rd match for Tirana and the 3rd week as well, to give his team the 1–1 draw against Vllaznia Shkodër in the last seconds of the match, in the 90+4' minute.

Albania U18

Bulku made it his first international debut, with Albania national under-18 football team in the 1999 UEFA European Under-18 Championship qualifying, playing in the opening match on 24 November 1998 against Liechtenstein, match finished as a 0–1 loss.

Albania U21

Bulku played for Albania national under-21 football team 15 matches and scored 1 goal in the 2000 & 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification between years from 1999 to 2002.

Albania senior team

Bulku was part of Albania national football team since 2002 when he made his first debut under coach Sulejman Demollari on 17 April 2002 against Andorra, coming on as a substitute in place of Altin Rraklli in the 54th minute in a 2–0 loss. He made another 2 appearances in the same year.

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

He wasn't included in national team until 2006 when he was called up by coach Otto Barić for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Netherlands on 11 October.

His next appearance for Albania came in 2007 playing on 7 February in a friendly against Macedonia, finished in the loss 0–1.

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

He scored first goal on 9 February 2011 in the friendly match against Slovenia finished in the loss 1–2, where Bulku scored the equalising goal for 1–1 in the 62nd minute.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Bulku retained his starting place for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers under coach Gianni De Biasi playing 9 out 10 matches as a starter. In the 2012s matches he formed a duo defensive-midfielders partnership with Burim Kukeli playing all 4 matches as the full 90-minutes with Albania taking 2 wins and 2 loses. Then he played two full 90-minutes matches against Norway away on 22 March 2013 and home on 7 June 2013 with a new partner Migjen Basha and provided 1 assist in both cases for Hamdi Salihi's goal away which was decisive for albania taking the 0–1 glorious victory and for Valdet Rama's goal in home in the 1–1 draw. In remaining matches Bulku played one full 90-minutes match, 2 as a starter until second-half and 1 as a substitute against Iceland as coach De Biasi played with Basha and new Ergys Kaçe as a starter and Bulku replaced Basha in the 64th minute with Albania 2–1 behind but unable to change the score. For his performances during the qualifiers, Bulku among Mërgim Mavraj were rated as impenetrable and very actives on the field.

Euro 2016 qualifiers

During the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying under same coach De Biasi, Bulku was regularly called up into the national side, except for the two closing matches in October 2015 but however he participated in just one match vs Armenia on 29 March 2015, this due to upcomings of fellow Defensive midfielders from Switzerland national under-21 football team such as Taulant Xhaka, Amir Abrashi, Migjen Basha and also the presence of experienced and younger players Burim Kukeli, Ledian Memushaj and Ergys Kaçe.

Managerial career

In November 2015 Bulku was appointed as assistant manager of Gianni De Biasi at the Albania national football team becoming the third one after Paolo Tramezzani and Erjon Bogdani. He debuted in his assistant manager role on 17 November 2015 against Georgia. He participated with Albania in their first major competition the UEFA Euro 2016.

Club

International

International goals

The Bulku Cult

Ervin Bulku is amongst the most renowned football players of Albanian origin in the world today. Many children of Albanian descent see him as a role model. Fanatical reactions can vary from simple meet and greets to mass hysteria.

Club