Gentian Selmani

Gentian Selmani
Personal information
Full name Gentian Selmani
Date of birth (1998-03-09) 9 March 1998
Place of birth Krujë, Albania
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Laçi
Number 1
Youth career
2002–2014 Partizani
2011–2013 → Olimpic (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014 Partizani 0 (0)
2015 Kastrioti 14 (0)
2015– Laçi 26 (0)
National team‡
2014 Albania U17 1 (0)
2014– Albania U19 1 (0)
2015– Albania U21 0 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 February 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20 February 2016

Gentian Selmani (born 9 March 1998) is an Albanian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Albanian Superliga club Laçi.

Career

Early career

Selmani began playing football as a young child and was coached by former Albania national team goalkeeper Perlat Musta at Partizani Tirana from the age of just 5. He joined the Olimpic CF youth setup in 2011, where he remained for two years before returning to Partizani Tirana in 2013 where he joined the under-17 side as a 15 year old. After impressive performances for the under-17s he was invited by the head coach Shpëtim Duro to train with the first team during the 2014–15 season and he was an unused substitute in the Albanian Superliga for a home game against FK Kukësi on 23 November 2014.[1] This, however, proved to be the closest Selmani got to first team action for the club as he left only months later.

Kastrioti Krujë

He joined Albanian First Division side Kastrioti Krujë in January 2015 and immediately established himself as the club's first choice goalkeeper, making his professional debut on 7 February 2015 in an away game against Iliria Fushë-Krujë that his side lost 1–0.[2] In total he made 14 league appearances during the second half of the season, as his side finished 5th and safely avoided relegation. After establishing himself as a first choice keeper at the age of 16, he attracted the interest of Albanian Superliga sides and left Kastrioti Krujë at the end of the 2014–15 season in order to search for a new club in the top flight.

KF Laçi

During the summer of 2015 Selmani had travelled to Germany where he had been training with the goalkeeping team at Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, before returning to Albania ahead of the 2015–16 season, where he joined Albanian Superliga side KF Laçi.[3] He made his debut for the club in the Albanian Supercup against Albanian champions Skënderbeu Korçë on 12 August 2015 and Laçi won this match after Penalty shoot-out by winning also this Cup.[4]

International career

Selmani was called up by Albania national under-17 football team coach Džemal Mustedanagić to participate in the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round on match-dates 8–13 October 2014.[5] He debutted in international level for Albania U17 in the closing group match against San Marino U17 by playing the full 80-minutes match which finished in a 5–1 victory but anyway were not enough as Albania U17 were eliminated since the second match as they lost both first group matches.[6] For two other matches, Selmani was an unused substitute as a second choice behind the PAOK FC academy goalkeeper Jorgo Muça.[7]

He advanced higherly at international level as he was called up in Albania national under-19 football team by coach Altin Lala for the double Friendly matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 on 21 & 23 April 2015.[8] Selmani was called up by a new appointed coach of Albania U19 Arjan Bellaj for two last friendly matches before the competitive tournament start against Kosovo U19 on 13 & 15 October 2015.[9] His impressive form shown in friendly matches convinced the coach Arjan Bellaj to include him in the squad to participate in the 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification from 12–17 November 2015.[10] In the opening match against Austria U19, Albania U19 played with Elhan Kastrati as a first choice in a 2–1 lost.[11] Selmani played the full 90-minutes match in the second match-day against Georgia U19 but lost against 1–0.[12] For the closing match against Wales U19 Selmani was an unused substitute in a 3–2 win which resulted an elimination from the tournament as they were ranked in the 3rd out 4 place collecting 1 win, 2 loses and a total of 4-5 goals collected.[13]

Following his arrival at KF Laçi and his games there as a starter, Selmani was called up in Albania national under-21 football team by coach Redi Jupi for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Israel & Portugal on 3 & 8 September 2015 as an alternative 3rd choice, after two regular national members Thomas Strakosha & Aldo Teqja.[14] He wasn't included in the 18-man squad who participated in both qualifying matches.[7]

Career statistics

Club

As of 20 February 2016 [15][16][17]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Partizani Tirana 2014–15 Albanian Superliga 00———00
Total 00———00
Kastrioti Krujë 2014–15 Albanian First Division 140———140
Total 140———140
KF Laçi 2015–16 Albanian Superliga 5040—10100
Total 50400010100
Career total 190400010240

Honours

Club

Laçi

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.