Artim Å akiri


Artim Šakiri is a retired football midfielder from North Macedonia, who last played for Qarabağ FK in Azerbaijan in 2009. While managing FK Kukësi in 2014, Šakiri was ranked as the best manager of the Albanian Superliga and the second best manager of Albanian origin in the world.

Biography

Å akiri was born to an Albanian family in Livada, a village near Struga. In his youth, he played football for his village squad.

Club career

In 1997, he moved from Vardar to Swedish side Halmstads BK, a team that won the Swedish premier league Allsvenskan the same year. He played alongside developing star Freddie Ljungberg.
In 2003, he moved from Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia to West Bromwich Albion in England. He made his debut in a 4–1 defeat away at local rivals Walsall. In his first home league match for Albion, Šakiri scored a spectacular long-range goal, helping his team to a 4–1 win over Burnley. It was, however, his only goal for the club. He made 30 appearances during 2003–04, but the next season he only played three games and left the club. He was set to move to Burnley, but the move fell through as his work permit wasn't renewed. Instead, Šakiri went to AaB in Denmark. He was released by AaB in 2006. In Autumn 2006, Šakiri signed for Finnish club FC Inter. He made five Veikkausliiga appearances and scored three times, but his contract was not renewed. In 2007, he signed for FC Vaduz. At the beginning of the season 2008 he has signed for Azerbaijani side Qarabağ FK.

Career statistics

International career

Šakiri made his debut for Macedonia in a May 1996 friendly match against Bulgaria, coming on as a second half substitute for Sašo Miloševski, and has been capped 73 times, scoring 15 goals. He has been captain of the team for many of those years. In 2002, during UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, he scored a goal directly from a corner kick against England.
His final international was a November 2006 European Championship qualification match against Russia.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
111 October 1997Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia1–01–21998 FIFA World Cup qualification
26 September 1998Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia3–04–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
36 September 1998Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia4–04–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
48 September 1998Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia1–42–4UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
57 June 2000Azadi Stadium, Teheran, Iran1–21–2Friendly
62 June 2001Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia1–12–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
76 June 2001Bursa Atatürk Stadium, Bursa, Turkey0–13–32002 FIFA World Cup qualification
827 March 2002Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina3–14–4Friendly
927 March 2002Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina4–34–4Friendly
1027 March 2002Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina4–44–4Friendly
1121 August 2002Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia2–05–0Friendly
1221 August 2002Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia4–05–0Friendly
1316 October 2002St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, England0–12–2UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
1411 June 2003BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey0–23–2UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
1518 August 2004Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia2–03–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

; FK Vardar
; Halmstad
; CSKA Sofia
; QarabaÄŸ