Migjen Basha

Early life

Basha was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, to Kosovar Albanian parents who were originally from Theranda, also called Suhareka. Basha went to Theranda for the first time in his early childhood to learn the Albanian language and went to school there for several years. He returned to Lausanne before the Kosovo war broke out. During the war, Theranda was burned to the ground by the Serbian aggressors and Basha's uncle was killed. Those events have left a profound mark on his life.

Lausanne

Basha started his youth career at an amateur club called Team Vaud, and in 2004 he moved to Lausanne. In his first year at Lausanne, Basha gained entry to the first team. He made his professional debut at the age 18, on 16 July 2005 in the 2005–06 season. This match against Winterthur ended with a 5–4 victory for Lausanne, with Basha entering as a substitute in the 60th minute in place of Patrick Isabella. He scored his first goal in his third match appearance two weeks later, on 30 July 2005 in a 4–1 victory over Luzern. Basha once again came in as a substitute in place of Isabella in the 68th minute, scoring in the 88th minute and bringing the score to 3–1.

Lucchese

For the second half of the 2005–06 season, Basha moved to Italy at Luccehse-Libertas in the Serie C1. He played in five matches until the end of the season. He played for Lucchese in eight matches in the 2006–07 season.

Viareggio

In 2007, Basha moved to Viareggio in Serie C2. He made a total of 15 appearances and scored 1 goal, only in the first half of the 2007–08 season.

Rimini

For the second half of the 2007–08 season, Basha moved to Rimini. He played 12 matches for Rimini in the second half of the 2007–08 season, since he made his debut on 2 February 2008 in the away victory 0–1 against Bari, entering as a substitute in the 77th minute.

Basha began the 2008–09 season with a goal on 17 August 2008 against Ravenna in Coppa Italia. The match finished in a draw 3–3 and ended a penalty shoot-out, where Basha missed a penalty and finished in a penalty loss 5–7. He debuted with a goal in Serie B on 29 August, scoring the equalising goal against Parma, 1–1. He managed to score another two goals in the month of February against Treviso on 7 February, which finished in a draw 2–2, and on 28 February against Ancona, a 2–1 victory. He concluded the 2008–09 Serie B season with 38 appearances and 3 goals, and he also played in two-legged match against Ancona, where the first leg played on 6 June 2009 finished in the draw 1–1, and the second leg played a week later on 13 June finished in a 0–1, with Rimini relegated.

Frosinone

Basha transferred to Serie B club Frosinone. Basha made his first appearance for Frosinone on 21 August 2009 against Salernitana, where he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–2 victory. Basha would go on to make 38 appearances for the club and score three times. Basha helped Frosinone reach the fourth round of the Coppa Italia and scored a goal against Varese.

Atalanta

In June 2010, Atalanta, which had just been relegated from the Serie A, acquired Basha from Frosinone. Basha made his debut for Atalanta on 21 August 2010 against Vicenza, playing the full 90 minutes as the match finished in a 2–0 victory. During the 2010–11 season, he played 7 matches as a starter in total 23 appearances.

Torino

Basha moved on loan to fellow Serie B club Torino for the 2011–12 season.

2011–12 season

Basha made his Torino debut on 27 August 2011 against Ascoli in a victory 1–2. He scored first goal for the Granata on 10 December against Pescara, won 4–2, where he scored the opening goal. He made a total of 36 appearances for Torino, scoring two goals in Serie B. Torino finished in second place, ensuring promotion to Serie A for the 2012–13 season. In July 2012, Basha's loan deal at Torino was made permanent.

2012–13 season

Basha made his Serie A debut on 26 August 2012 against Siena in a 0–0 draw, entering the match as a substitute in the 76th minute for Giuseppe Vives. He scored his first Serie A goal on 28 October against Parma, which finished in a 1–3 loss. He concluded the 2012–13 season with 21 appearances and 1 goal.

2013–14 season

Basha began 2013–14 season against Sassuolo on 25 August 2013, which finished in the victory 2–0, with Basha assisting the second goal scored by Alessio Cerci in the 63rd minute. He also played in next match one week later, but during Torino's next six matches, he would make just one appearance due to poor relations with head coach Gian Piero Ventura. He was returned to play in ninth matchday against Napoli on 27 October, entering as a substitute for Alessandro Gazzi at half-time. However, in the 87th minute, he received a red card conceded a 1-on-1 near area which negated Napoli's almost-scored goal.

Basha's season was prematurely ended five weeks early due to an injury to his left foot incurred on 13 April 2014 in the match against Genoa in the 57th minute; surgical intervention for an achilles tendon injury was required. He finished the season with 24 league appearances as Torino finished in seventh place with 57 points, only one point behind of Parma for the final qualification spot for the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. Torino failed to secure sixth place in the final matchday of the season, where they played a 2–2 draw against Fiorentina; Parma won its final match 2–0 over Livorno. However, on 29 May 2014, Torino took Parma's place in the 2014–15 Europa League after Parma was banned by UEFA for not receiving a UEFA licence. Parma would appeal the decision, however the court refused to overturn the decision because Parma was found to have withheld just under €300,000 in income tax.

During the summer transfer period, it was speculated Basha would leave Torino due to uncertainty of his place in the starting line-up, as Torino was looking to acquire Milan midfielder Antonio Nocerino.

2014–15 season

Following poor treatment to his injury by Torino medical staff, after nine months unrecovered, Basha was treated by Bayern Munich medical staff Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. On 5 January 2015, Basha returned to the pitch after a nine-month injury spell against Chievo on 6 January. After a long period off the field, Basha had already recovered, but admitted he was not yet fully fit to play. He returned to the first team on 22 February in the match against Fiorentina, but he remained on the substitutes' bench. On 1 March, he managed to return to the pitch in stoppage time against Napoli, won 1–0 by Torino, and as a starter on 16 March against Lazio, where he held the captain's amband for the first time.

Basha concluded the season with total of six matches and one goal as Torino finished in ninth place.

On 30 June 2015, Basha's contract with Torino ended. He left the club after four years of service, and Torino – along with its fans – were thankful to him, describing as a "Real Warrior".

Luzern

After spending nine years in Italy, Basha returned to Switzerland on a free transfer to FC Luzern on 10 August 2015.

Loan to Como

On 15 January 2016, Basha was loaned to Serie B club Como until the end of the 2015–16 season. He scored his first goal on 7 May 2016 against Avellino in the 5th minute with a header to help his team get a draw.

Bari

On 12 August 2016, Basha signed a two-year contract with Bari in Serie B.

Albania

Although capped for Switzerland at youth levels, in July 2010 Basha declared that he wanted to play for Albania instead. He said also that would apply for an Albanian passport in order to be eligible to play for the "Red and Blacks", but the Swiss Football Association did not agree Basha be able to play for another nation. After Basha publicly declared that he will never play for Switzerland, only Albania, on 30 July 2012 it was reported Basha would apply to receive an Albanian passport. On 21 August, it was reported Basha had acquired Albanian citizenship. However, FIFA had not yet authorized him to play for Albania. FIFA once ruled out the switch of nationality by outside his country of birth (or parent and grandparent's country of birth), however had opened the door for Irish from Northern Ireland to represent Republic of Ireland, which may apply to ethnic minority outside the boundary of modern political border.

Basha was called-up to the Albania squad Gianni De Biasi on 15 March 2013 ahead of a match against Norway. On 19 March 2013, Basha and the Albanian Football Association (FSHF) received approval from FIFA allowing Basha to play for Albania

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

On 22 March 2013, Basha debuted with Albania coincided in a 0–1 victory against Norway in Oslo, as part of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. Four days later, Basha scored his first goal for Albania in a friendly against Lithuania. Only two matches were enough and Albanian football opinion saw Basha as a replacement for the retired Altin Lala, according to his playing position and his abilities.

Basha's second goal for Albania came on 5 March 2014 in a 2–0 friendly win against Malta; Basha scored match's opening goal in the 26th minute.

UEFA Euro 2016 qualification

Exactly one year after his second goal and last call-up, following his return to Torino in an impressive form also playing as a starter and holding the Captain amband against Lazio, Basha returned to the national team as he received the call up by the coach Gianni De Biasi for the fourth match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I match against Armenia on 29 March 2015. On 18 March, De Biasi published a pre-list of 17 called up players and right after Basha became the 18th man to include in the pre-list squad.

Basha was called up again for the next international match on 13 June 2015 France in a Group I centralised friendly match. Being a friendly match, the coach Gianni De Biasi left out all starting trio consisted by Burim Kukeli–Taulant Xhaka–Amir Abrashi and Basha gained the chance to play it as a starter among Ergys Kaçe and Andi Lila to consist the central-midfielders trio in a historical successful 1–0 win against hosts of the UEFA Euro 2016 with a free-kick goal scored by Ergys Kaçe at the end of the first half in the 43rd minute.

Euro 2016

On 21 May 2016, Basha was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, and in Albania's final 23-man UEFA Euro 2016 squad on 31 May.

Basha was an unused substitute in two first matches against Switzerland in a 0–1 loss and hosts France where they lost 2–0, then played as a starter in the next match against Romania in an Albania's historical 1–0 win. Albania finished the group in third place with three points gained and a goal difference of –2. However, Albania was ranked last in the third-placed teams, which meant it was eliminated.

Club

International

International goals

Club