Përparim Hetemaj

Përparim Hetemaj (born 12 December 1986) is a Finnish assistant football coach of Klubi 04, and a former professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for Veikkausliiga club HJK.

Of Kosovo Albanian ethnicity, Hetemaj was born in Skenderaj, Yugoslavia, and moved to Finland with his family as refugees in 1992.

His family first arrived at Oulu but they moved to Helsinki due to his father Miftar suffering from asthma.

He has a younger brother, the footballer Mehmet, and two sisters, Fatlume and Fatbardhe.

Born in Kosovo, Hetemaj arrived in Finland when he was six years old and played for HJK's youth teams; signing a professional contract in 2004 at age 17.

In 2004, he acquired Finnish citizenship.

Hetemaj started his career at the youth academy of HJK Helsinki, and in 2004 played for its second team, Klubi-04, in 26 Ykkönen—the second tier of Finnish football—matches, in which he scored six goals.

He played 26 matches and scored a goal in the 2005–06 season of Veikkausliiga—the premier division of Finnish football.

He joined Greek side AEK Athens in 2006, and moved to Twente in 2009.

After playing seven matches for HJK during the 2006–07, he was sold to AEK Athens for a fee of €450.000.

Hetemaj made his AEK Athens debut on 26 September 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League.

After seven matches, Hetemaj's 2006–07 season ended on 8 February 2007, when he suffered a fractured leg after a tackle by Kevin Thomson during a friendly match between the Finnish and Scottish national teams.

He was again on playing condition in October 2007, but he did not play for AEK and in January 2008 he was loaned to Apollon Kalamarias until the end of the season to gain more playing experience.

He played a total of eight matches for Apollon Kalamarias in the 2007–08, and for the following season Hetemaj played nine league matches with AEK.

Unsatisfied, Hetemaj asks to be transferred,

He scored his first goal in the Superleague Greece on 23 February 2008 against Asteras Tripoli.

Hetemaj made his international debut for Finland in February 2009, at the age of 22, and made 50 appearances, including appearing in 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications, before his retirement from international football in 2018.

On 25 November 2023, it was announced by HJK, that Hetemaj will end his professional playing career after the season, and will start working as an assistant coach of their reserve team Klubi 04 in 2024.

Hetemaj is regarded as a club legend of HJK Helsinki.

On 31 August 2009, Hetemaj signed a 1+1 year contract with Dutch club FC Twente as part of an exchange deal for Youssouf Hersi.

Hetemaj started the season 2009–10 in the reserve team but was unable to break through to the first team that won the Eredivisie.

Hetemaj only played four matches in 2009–10 Serie B; Brescia was promoted to Serie A and he signed a three-year contract.

Subsequently, in 2010, he was signed by Brescia and was transferred to Chievo in 2011.

Hetemaj played a total of 300 matches in the Serie A, before returning to Finland in 2022 after a season with Reggina in the Serie B.

Even before having played a match for Twente, On 1 February 2010, Hetemaj was signed by Italian club Brescia on a free transfer.

He made his Serie A debut on 12 September 2010, playing the full minutes in a 3–2 home victory over Palermo.

He scored his first Serie A goal on 22 September 2010 against Roma, becoming the first Finnish footballer to score in Serie A and arousing Roma's interest in him.

Hetemaj went on to score again in a 3–1 victory against Bologna.

On 30 June 2011, Hetemaj signed for Serie A side Chievo in a co-ownership deal for €1.4 million.

As a result, he chose the number 56 shirt number at the club.

He made his debut for Chievo on 11 September 2011 against Novara, when he provided an assist to Cyril Théréau score the second goal of Chievo in the drawn.

At the end of the season and after 32 league matches, Chievo bought Hetemaj's full rights on 18 June 2012 for an additional €800,000.

In the 2012–13 season and the 2013–2014, Hetemaj played 30 and 32 league matches respectively and did not score in any competition.

Hetemaj marked his 100th appearance for Chievo on 22 August 2014 in a 1–0 defeat against Pescara in the Coppa Italia.

After four years at Chievo and 130 Serie A matches, he scored his first goal for the club on 12 September 2015 in a 1–1 draw against Juventus.

On 2 September 2019, Hetemaj signed a two-year contract with the Serie B club Benevento.

On 28 July 2021, Hetemaj joined Serie B side Reggina on a one-year deal.

On 21 April 2022, Hetemaj returned to HJK and signed a two-year contract with an option for a third.

During the 2022 season, Hetemaj played in 29 games in all competitions combined and recorded four goals, including both of HJK’s goals in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

On 14th December 2023, he scored a penalty in his last official match as a professional footballer, as HJK lost to PAOK FC away in the UEFA Conference League.