 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Valmir Nafiu | ||
| Date of birth | 23 April 1994 | ||
| Place of birth | Tetovo, North Macedonia | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Winger / Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Shkëndija | |||
| 2012 | Basel | ||
| 2012–2013 | Hamburger SV | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010–2011 | Shkëndija | 19 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Basel | 0 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Hamburger SV II | 12 | (4) |
| 2013–2015 | Hamburger SV | 9 | (0) |
| 2015 | APOEL | 10 | (1) |
| 2016 | Skënderbeu | 1 | (0) |
| 2016–2018 | Renova | 62 | (11) |
| 2018–2023 | Shkëndija | 108 | (12) |
| 2023 | → FC Košice (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| Macedonia U17 | 16 | (11) | |
| Macedonia U19 | 5 | (1) | |
| 2013–2015 | Macedonia U21 | 6 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 August 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 June 2015 | |||
Valmir Nafiu (born 23 April 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays mainly as a winger or striker
Nafiu was born in Tetovo. Growing up in Tetovo, Nafiu joined the Shkëndija youth team. Nafiu was labelled as a gifted and talented player due to him possessing great agility and technical skill, which allowed him to debut for the senior team at the age of sixteen.
Nafiu debuted for the senior team of Shkëndija in the 2010–11 season of the Prva Liga and helped the club win its first ever league title. He also played in the away leg of the Champions league qualifier against FK Partizan.[1]
At the end of his debuting season, Nafiu garnered interest from FC Basel and FC Barcelona. Nafiu at seventeen was invited to go on trial to Barcelona. Nafiu, as a member of the Macedonian U17 national team at the time played alongside David Babunski, who was already a member of the Barcelona youth system.[2] Barcelona scouts were watching Babunski but noticed Nafiu, who impressed the scouts and invited him to come on trial at Barcelona. He went on trial at Barcelona and every indication was that it went well.[2] Swiss champions Basel became very interested in Nafiu and have been tracking him for months. Nafiu was also invited to join the Basel training camp earlier this year and he played several friendly games.
He went on trial where he impressed the Swiss club and Basel and Shkëndija reached a deal for Nafiu to remain in Switzerland before officially completing the transfer once he turned eighteen.
Nafiu officially joined on 23 April 2012, on his eighteenth birthday. He mainly played for the youth teams at Basel and was not capped at senior level. At Basel, Nafiu trained under Thorsten Fink, who highly regarded Nafiu as a very talented player who can play every position in the attack.[3]
When Fink left Basel and took the managerial position at Hamburger SV, Nafiu followed suit. In 2012, Nafiu made his debut for Hamburg's reserve team. He made his Bundesliga debut at 25 October 2014 against Hertha BSC replacing Pierre-Michel Lasogga after 74 minutes in a 3–0 away defeat.[4] He added a further Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 November 2014,[5] before he mutually terminate his contract with Hamburger SV in January 2015.
On 27 January 2015, Nafiu signed a four-and-a-half year contract with contract with Cypriot club APOEL FC.[6] He made his official debut on 31 January 2015, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in APOEL's 0–1 away victory against Nea Salamina for the Cypriot First Division.[7] He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 21 March 2015, in his team's 2–2 home draw against Apollon Limassol for the play-offs of the Cypriot First Division.[8] In his first season at APOEL, he appeared in twelve matches in all competitions and helped his team to win both the Cypriot championship and the cup.[9]
On 18 December 2015, APOEL announced that Nafiu's contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent.[10]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | Continental[a] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| FK Shkëndija | 2010–11 | Macedonian First League | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 19 | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | Macedonian First League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| FC Basel | 2011–12 | Swiss Super League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamburger SV II | 2012–13 | Regionalliga Nord | 12 | 1 | — | — | 12 | 1 | ||
| Hamburger SV | 2013–14 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| 2014–15 | Bundesliga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| APOEL | 2014–15 | Cypriot First Division | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 12 | 1 | |
| 2015–16 | Cypriot First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 12 | 1 | |||
| Career total | 43 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 3 | ||
FK Shkëndija
APOEL
