Liridon Latifi

Liridon Latifi (born 6 February 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a right midfielder for Albanian club Tirana.

Born in Kosovo, he represents the Albania national team.

Latifi starter his youth career at Flamurtari in 2005, where he remained until 2011.

Next year, he joined his hometown club Prishtina where he also made his professional debut.

Latifi joined local side Flamurtari Prishtina at the age of 11 in 2005, initially joining the youth club and eventually working his way up the ranks to the first team which he joined in 2011.

The second leg match was his 100th Skënderbeu match in all competitions.

In the first leg of second round tie versus Kairat, his shot was turned into a rebound for Bakary Nimaga, who scored the team's only goal for a 1–1 draw.

In the second leg, however, Skënderbeu outclassed Kairat by winning 2–0 to advance to the third round.

Latifi was called up for the first time in Albania U-19 side in 2012 where he made his competitive debut.

Soon after joining the first team he left Flamurtari and joined Kosovo's most successful club Prishtina in January 2012.

He first played for the club's youth team before progressing through to the first team the following season.

While at Prishtina, Latifi along with his teammates Enis Gavazaj and Lorik Aliu went on trial with German giants Borussia Dortmund which initially lasted a week, but was then extended so they players could feature in the Blue Stars FIFA Youth Cup and the RUHR-Cup International youth tournament.

Three players were not offered contracts at the end of their trials and subsequently returned to FC Prishtina.

On 28 December 2014, Latifi joined Albanian Superliga side Skënderbeu Korçë by signing a three-year deal, taking the vacant number 27 for the second part of 2014–15 season.

During his presentation, Latifi said: "My goals are the same as those of the club."

Latifi ended his first season with the club by winning the Albanian Superliga title, playing 18 matches in all competitions and scoring 5 league goals.

Following the end of the season, Latifi agreed a contract extension with Skënderbeu Korçë, keeping him at Korçë for one more year.

In January 2015, Latifi signed with Albanian champions of Skënderbeu Korçë and later aided the club to win its fifth-consecutive league title.

In March 2015, he was called up to play with Albania U-21 side in their bid to qualify in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

On 19 November 2015, Latifi received his first-ever career red-card during the 2–1 away lose to Kukësi; he was sent off for his violent behavior after he attacked the opposite player Gledi Mici.

After that, he was suspended for 5 matches for his behaviour by the Disciplinary Committee of AFA.

At the end of the season, he was named Albanian Superliga Talent of the Season by association "Sporti na bashkon".

Due to Skënderbeu's ban from European football over match-fixing allegations, on 8 July, Latifi was sent on loan at Kukësi for their European campaign along with teammates Sabjen Lilaj and Masato Fukui.

Four days later, he played full-90 minutes in the first leg of UEFA Europa League second qualifying round against Austria Wien which ended in a 1–0 defeat.

He also featured in the entire second leg at Elbasan Arena as the match finished in a 1–4 defeat, which confirmed Kukësi elimination from the competition with the aggregate 1–5.

Following the elimination, Latifi returned to Skënderbeu with Lilaj and Fukui.

Latifi was the main instrument in Skënderbeu's historic run in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds, as the team achieved group stage for the second time ever and also become the first Albanian club to pass four rounds.

He scored three goals in the first qualifying round against Sant Julià as Skënderbeu progressed 6–0 on aggregate.

In the first leg of third round against Mladá Boleslav on 27 July 2017, Latifi's shot from outside the area was touched by Pavel Čmovš and finished in the net.

The goal was credited to the defender, and the match was lost 2–1.

In the returning leg at Elbasan Arena, Skënderbeu won 2–1 at regular time.

After the extra time ended with the same result, the match went to extra time and later penalty shootout where Latifi successfully converted his penalty shootout attempt, as Skënderbeu won 4–2 to progress to the play-off round for the second time in history.

In the play-off round, Skënderbeu was placed against Dinamo Zagreb; in the first leg away, Latifi scored his team's only goal as Skënderbeu lost the win in the last seconds.

In the second leg, Latifi produced a Man of the Match performance by helping the team to earn a goalless draw with a man down in the last minutes, meaning that Skënderbeu has qualified to the group stage on away goal rule for the second time in their history.

A day after the qualification in group stages, Latifi was sold to Puskás Akadémia.

He finished his Skënderbeu career by playing 106 matches in all competitions, including 76 in league, 11 in cup and 19 in European competitions.

He also scored 26 goals, including 21 in league.

During his spell in Korçë he won 2 Albanian championships.

On 25 August 2017, Latifi completed a transfer to Nemzeti Bajnokság I side Puskás Akadémia for a reported fee of €1 million.

The player signed a four-year contract worth €30,000 a season.