Granit Xhaka

He was substituted on in the 88th minute and four minutes later he scored the team's second goal to secure the victory.

He played his domestic league debut for the club.

playing the full 90 minutes, in the away game on 21 August as Basel played a 1–1 draw with Thun.

The family moved from Podujevo to Basel, Switzerland in 1990.

Granit Xhaka (born 27 September 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and captains the Switzerland national team.

Xhaka began his career at hometown club FC Basel, winning the Swiss Super League in each of his first two seasons.

Granit Xhaka was born on 27 September 1992 in the city of Basel, Switzerland, into an ethnic Albanian family from Podujevo, Kosovo, then part of the FR Yugoslavia.

Xhaka started his youth football with Concordia Basel and, together with his brother Taulant, moved to the youth department of FC Basel at the end of 2002.

He played for various Basel youth teams regularly advancing through the ranks.

In the 2006–07 season he was member of the U-15 team that won the Swiss championship, creating a record for eternity.

They managed to win all championship games in that season to win the Swiss championship at that level.

This was achieved with a goal difference of 104:13.

Since competitive football began in Switzerland, no team had achieved this before.

In the 2007–08 season he was member of the U-16 team that won the Swiss championship at that level, remaining undefeated throughout the entire season.

During the 2008–09 season Xhaka advanced to the U-18 team, but was nevertheless called up to Basel's U-21 team, who played in the third tier of Swiss football, by their coach Patrick Rahmen and on 15 November 2008 Xhaka was substituted on in the 83rd minute as Basel won 2–1 against SC Cham.

During the second half of the season Xhaka played nine further games for the U-21, scoring one goal and at the end of the season became division champions and won the championship at U-21 level.

Xhaka was part of the Swiss team that won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

To the beginning of the 2009–10 season Xhaka advanced to become member of the U-21 squad, however was still eligible to play for the U-18 team, who at the end of the season became Swiss champions at their level.

To the beginning of their 2010–11 season, Xhaka advanced to Basel's first team under head coach Thorsten Fink.

On 28 July 2010 Xhaka played his first team debut in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League in the away match against Debrecen.

At the end of the 2010–11 league season, Xhaka won the championship title with the team.

He had 20 league appearances, scoring once.

He made his senior debut in 2011 is currently the nation's record appearance holder, with over 120 caps.

He scored his first Super League goal for his new team on 15 May 2011, in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park as Basel won 5–1 against FC Thun.

At the end of the 2011–12 season Xhaka won the Double with the team.

They won the League Championship title with 20 points advantage over second placed Luzern.

He then moved to Bundesliga team Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2012, developing a reputation as a technically gifted player and natural leader alongside criticism for his temperament.

The final of the 2011–12 Swiss Cup was played in the Stade de Suisse on 16 May 2012.

The game ended with a one-all draw after extra time and winning the penalty shoot-out Vasel lifted the trophy.

At the end of the season he left the club, during his time with Basel's first team Xhaka played a total of 67 competitive games for them scoring a three goals.

44 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, nine in the Swiss Cup, 14 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League).

He scored two goals in the domestic league and one in the Champions League.

On 18 May 2012, Basel announced on their homepage that Xhaka had agreed terms with Lucien Favre's Borussia Mönchengladbach.

After medical checks were completed, Xhaka signed a five-year deal with the club.

The transfer fee was not disclosed by Mönchengladbach, but is estimated to be in the region of €8.5 million.

He represented Switzerland at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2022 and the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and 2020.

He was made captain of Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2015, leading the team to UEFA Champions League qualification for a second successive season.

He signed for Premier League club Arsenal in 2016 for a fee in the region of £30 million.

He later became captain of the club, but was stripped of the captaincy less than six weeks later due to an incident after being substituted.

In 2023, he signed for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen after seven years at Arsenal.