Ardian Gashi
Ardian Gashi (born 20 June 1981) is a Kosovar retired footballer who played as a midfielder for Norwegian club Ørn-Horten. Gashi has previously played for Molde, Vålerenga, Brann, Fredrikstad and Odd in the Norwegian top division, and Helsingborg in Allsvenskan.
 Gashi with Vålerenga in 2006 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 20 June 1981 | ||
| Place of birth |
Đakovica, Kosovo, SFR Yugoslavia (modern Gjakova, Kosovo) | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position(s) | Centre midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| KIL/Hemne | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001 | Molde | 4 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | Ørn-Horten | 39 | (9) |
| 2003 | Vålerenga (loan) | 14 | (1) |
| 2004–2006 | Vålerenga | 62 | (10) |
| 2006–2007 | Brann | 18 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Fredrikstad | 64 | (10) |
| 2010–2014 | Helsingborg | 124 | (8) |
| 2014–2017 | Odd | 29 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Ørn-Horten | 13 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2002–2003 | Norway U21 | 18 | (2) |
| 2004–2013 | Norway | 14 | (0) |
| 2014 | Kosovo | 2 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 October 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2016 | |||
Gashi is from Kosovo, but his family moved to Norway when he was eight years old. He became a Norwegian citizen, and has played for the Norwegian national team until 2014, when he started to play for Kosovo.
Club career
Gashi was born in Gjakova, SFR Yugoslavia but Gashi's family, who is of Albanian ethnicity, moved from Kosovo to Norway as refugees when he was eight years old.[1][2] Gashi's family moved to Kyrksæterøra in Norway and he started to play football at the local club KIL/Hemne before he moved transferred to Molde in 1998.[3] After a spell at Ørn Horten he went to Oslo to play for Vålerenga on loan in 2003, and later permanently.
Gashi was an important player in Vålerenga's good 2004 season, when the club finished as runners-up in the league.
In the 2005 season Gashi missed a number of games in August, due to having to serve a prison sentence for breaking the speed limits while driving. He was sentenced to 18 days in prison, but was released after 14, for good behavior, and thus managed to play in Vålerenga's 1–0 loss.[4] He was later to play in the penalty shootout loss against Club Brugge in the last round of UEFA Champions League qualification.
On 30 August 2006, Gashi signed for Brann in a transfer worth about NOK 7.000.000. His stay in Bergen was of the short kind; On 25 July 2007 he signed with Fredrikstad FK. It was announced in December 2009 that he would join Swedish club Helsingborgs IF for the 2010 season.
In Helsingborg he became somewhat of and icon to the club and in the 2011 season he formed a very successful central midfield partnership with May Mahlangu which was a key to Helsingborg won both the cup and the league. [citation needed]
On 5 August 2014, he joined Odd, signing a contract until the summer of 2017.[5]
International career
Gashi played 18 matches for the Norwegian under-21 team between 2002 and 2003, scoring two goals.[6] He was later capped seven times for the senior team between 2004 and 2005, his last cap was the 2006 World Cup qualifying match against Belarus on 12 October 2005. In October 2012, Gashi was again called up for the national team squad, following Håvard Nordtveit's suspension ahead of the 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Cyprus[7][8] Gashi started the match on the bench, but came on as a substitute for Magnus Wolff Eikrem after 89 minutes.[9]
Even though Gashi has been capped for Norway, he has stated several times that his biggest dream is to represent Kosovo as a footballer.[10] He has also stated that, although he is ethnically Albanian, he would like to score against Albania in the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2014, if he will be selected for the upcoming 2013 matches and won't follow the example of Granit Xhaka, another ethnic Albanian, playing for Switzerland, who graced Albania in their match against the Swiss.[2]
Ahead of the friendly match against South Africa in January 2013, Gashi persuaded Egil "Drillo" Olsen to play with him as the holding midfielder, and Drillo praised Gashi's performance after the match.[11]
Gashi switched to the Kosovar FA, and made an appearance for them in their first ever game against Haiti national football team in a 1-1 tie.
Career statistics
- As of 25 August 2018[12]
| Season | Club | Division | League | Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 2001 | Molde | Tippeligaen | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 2002 | Ørn-Horten | Adeccoligaen | 26 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 9 |
| 2003 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | ||
| 2003 | Vålerenga | Tippeligaen | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2004 | 25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 5 | ||
| 2005 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 8 | ||
| 2006 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 2 | ||
| 2006 | Brann | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2007 | Fredrikstad | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5 | |
| 2008 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 4 | ||
| 2009 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 3 | ||
| 2010 | Helsingborg | Allsvenskan | 27 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 5 |
| 2011 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 1 | ||
| 2012 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2013 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | ||
| 2014 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||
| 2014 | Odd | Tippeligaen | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 2015 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 1 | ||
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | Eliteserien | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017 | Ørn-Horten | 3. divisjon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Career Total | 367 | 38 | 44 | 10 | 411 | 48 | ||
Honors
Club
- Vålerenga
- Tippeligaen (1): 2005
- Brann
- Tippeligaen (1): 2007
- Helsingborg
- Allsvenskan (1): 2011
- Svenska Cupen (2): 2010, 2011
- Supercupen (2): 2011, 2012
Individual
- Kniksen award: midfielder of the year in 2004[13]
References
- Langerød, Dag (23 March 2008). "Bryr seg ikke om gullrekord" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- Gazeta Tema (18 October 2012). "Lojtari shqiptar i Norvegjisë, Ardian Gashi: Do t'i shënoj Shqipërisë". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- Løfaldli, Reidar (15 October 2012). "- Han var like aggressiv da som han er nå". 100% Fotball (in Norwegian). Adresseavisa. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- "Valerenga's Gashi gets out of jail to play in UEFA Champions League". Internet Soccer Fans Association. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
- "Ny spiller inn i troppen". odd.no/ (in Norwegian). Odds BK. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- "Ardian Gashi's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- Heltne, Lars (14 October 2012). "Ardian Gashi kalt inn i landslagstroppen". 100% Fotball (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- Evensen, Marius (14 October 2012). "Gashi inn i landslagstroppen" (in Norwegian). TV2. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- Burheim, Mads Gudim (16 October 2012). "- Håper dette var starten på mange flere mål på landslaget" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
- "Gashi blør for Kosovo" (in Norwegian). ibergen.no. 3 December 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- Natvig, Sjur (9 January 2013). "Gashi overtalte Drillo" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Norwegian News Agency. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- "Ardian Gashi on altomfotball.no". TV2 (Norway). Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- Kniksen-prisene 2004 – Eliteserien – NRK Sport
External links
- Ardian Gashi at the Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian)
- "Ardian Gashi at the Norwegian Football Federation" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- "Guardian Football". Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2009.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)