Taulant Xhaka

The family moved from Yugoslavia to Switzerland in 1990, where both brothers were born.

Taulant Ragip Xhaka (born 28 March 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Swiss Super League club Basel.

Born in Switzerland, he represented the Albania national team.

Xhaka was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Albanian parents originally from Kosovo.

He is the elder brother of Granit Xhaka, who is a professional footballer who plays for Bayer Leverkusen and the Switzerland national team.

Taulant Xhaka started playing football at the age of 6 and entered at FC Concordia Basel in 2000 before moving along with his brother to FC Basel two years later.

He played for various FC Basel youth teams and from 2008 became a regular member of the under-21 team for two years in the Swiss 1. Liga playing overall 37 games, scoring six goals.

At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, he and his brother Granit moved up into the first team squad where he began playing as a defender.

He made his first team debut on 19 September 2010 in the 5–0 Swiss Cup win against FC Mendrisio-Stabio.

He made his Super League debut on 27 February 2011 in the 1–0 away win against Luzern.

At the end of the season, the team won the Super League title, Xhaka's first silverware with the club.

In the next season, Xhaka scored his first Basel goal on 10 September during the 4–0 away league win against Servette, where he came on as a substitute.

On 27 September, he made his UEFA Champions League debut as a substitute in the 3–3 away draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

He made his Grasshoppers debut on 12 February during the 2–0 away defeat to Zürich, and until the end of the season he established himself in the starting lineup, making 13 appearances during the second part of 2011–12 season.

On 18 January 2012, it was announced Xhaka was sent on loan to Grasshoppers to gain first-team playing experience.

He also spent the 2012–13 season on loan to the Grasshoppers.

But for the following season Basel recalled him into their squad.

Basel coach Murat Yakin recalled Xhaka to the Basel squad as defensive midfielder.

They also won the Swiss Cup for the 12th time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in club history.

During the 2013–14 season, he established himself in the starting lineup, making 23 league appearances and scoring two goals en route to winning his second league championship with Basel.

He also made four cup appearances as the team reached in the final but was beaten 2–0 by Zürich after extra time.

He was also an important instrument in team's European campaign, playing ten matches in the Champions League and five in the UEFA Europa League.

During the 2014–15 season, Xhaka further secured his place in the starting lineup, playing 29 matches in league, as Basel were crowned champions for the sixth time in a row.

He scored his first goal of the season on 27 September in the 1–1 home draw against Thun.

On 13 December, during the cup fixture against Sion, Xhaka suffered an injury which kept him sidelined until the January 2015.

On 9 January 2015, Xhaka extended his contract for a further three years, up until 30 June 2018.

In February 2015, he was included in the 2014 Team of the Year by Swiss Football Association and was placed as right-defender.

He became one of the three Albania international footballers who participated in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in history, alongside Basel teammates Shkëlzen Gashi and Arlind Ajeti.

Under trainer Urs Fischer, Xhaka won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 season and at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season for the sixth time.

For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total.

Following the retirement of Matías Emilio Delgado at the start of the 2017–18 season, on 5 August 2017, Xhaka became vice-captain of the Basel team.

On 18 October 2017, Xhaka scored his first UEFA Champions League goal during the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage matchday 3 against CSKA Moscow in the VEB Arena helping Basel to take their second win.

Under trainer Marcel Koller, Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season.

In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0.

In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich were defeated 3–1.

All these games were played away from home.

The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun.

Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel.

Xhaka played in four of the cup games.

In the UEFA Europa League quarter-final match against Shakhtar Donetsk on 11 August 2020 Xhaka was injured and substituted out in the 60th minute.