Fatos Bećiraj

Fatos Bećiraj (Montenegrin: Фатос Бећирај, Albanian: Fatos Besim Beqiraj; born 5 May 1988) is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays For Ekstraklasa club Wisła Kraków as a striker and for the Montenegro national team.

Fatos Bećiraj

Bećiraj with Dynamo Moscow in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth	(1988-05-05) 5 May 1988
Place of birth	Peć, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	Wisła Kraków
Number	TBA
Youth career
2005–2007	Shqiponja
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007	Besa Pejë
2008–2010	Budućnost	81	(39)
2010–2014	Dinamo Zagreb	90	(30)
2014	Changchun Yatai	28	(7)
2015	Dinamo Minsk	23	(9)
2016–2017	Dynamo Moscow	60	(13)
2018	Mechelen	4	(0)
2018–2020	Maccabi Netanya	54	(20)
2020–	Wisła Kraków	0	(0)
National team^‡
2009–2010	Montenegro U21	5	(0)
2009–	Montenegro	69	(9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 August 2019 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2019

Club career

Early career and Budućnost

Bećiraj began his career in his hometown of Peć with the local club Shqiponja at 17 years of age, before joining their city rivals Besa Pejë in July 2007. After spending the first half of the 2007–08 season with Besa Pejë, his good performances in the Kosovar Superliga attracted attention from several clubs in the region, and in January 2008, Bećiraj moved to the Montenegrin First League side Budućnost Podgorica.

He immediately established himself as a first team regular at Budućnost, scoring 9 goals in 15 appearances in the second half of the 2007–08 season,[1] helping the club win the Montenegrin championship title and finish runners-up in the 2007–08 Montenegrin Cup. In the following two seasons, Bećiraj scored 28 league goals in 62 matches for the club,[1] becoming league top scorer in the 2008–09 season with 18 goals scored.

Dinamo Zagreb

Bećiraj with Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.

It was announced on 30 August 2010 that Bećiraj signed for Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb.[2] He played very well in his debut season with Dinamo and became regularly called up to the Montenegro national team. He played in 22 league matches and scored 8 goals, most notably a beautiful goal against Rijeka and a fine header against Hajduk Split.

Bećiraj struggled to find his goalscoring form at the beginning of the 2011–12 season, finally scoring after eight matches without a goal, netting the fifth goal in a 5–0 win against Karlovac. He then scored the last goal in a 4–1 win against Malmö in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League Play-off. Bećiraj then continued his goalscoring form in domestic competition, scoring against Varaždin, Istra 1961, Zadar, Šibenik and Split.

On 22 November 2011, Bećiraj scored Dinamo's first goal in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, netting a header in the club's 6–2 away loss to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.[3]

Bećiraj was the first choice striker throughout the 2011–12 season and became top scorer of the Prva HNL with 15 goals in 28 appearances, becoming the first foreign player to accomplish that feat.

Changchun Yatai

In February 2014, Bećiraj transferred to Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai.[4]

Dinamo Minsk

In January 2015, Bećiraj transferred to Belarusian Premier League side Dinamo Minsk. On 6 August 2015, he scored a 118th-minute winner in a 1–1 extra-time (2–1 aggregate) win over Swiss side Zürich in the second leg of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.[5]

Dynamo Moscow

Bećiraj with Dynamo Moscow in 2016.

On 18 February 2016, Bećiraj signed a 3.5-year contract with Russian side Dynamo Moscow.[6] He scored his first goal for Dynamo Moscow on 19 March 2016, giving his club a 1–0 win against Ufa.[7] On 11 January 2018, Bećiraj's Dynamo contract was dissolved by mutual consent, making him a free agent.[8]

Mechelen

The day after leaving Dynamo Moscow, on 12 January 2018, Bećiraj signed a contract with the Belgian First Division A club Mechelen.[9][10]

Maccabi Netanya

On 5 September 2018, Bećiraj signed with Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Netanya. He was the top goalscorer for the club in his debut season scoring 15 goals in all club competitions. His second season with Netanya wasn't as successful, scoring only 7 times in the league and once in the Toto Cup. On 7 June 2020, Bećiraj requested to be released from the club.[11] In the two seasons with the club, he scored a total of 23 goals in 63 appearances for the club.

Wisła Kraków

On July 25 2020 Bećiraj signed with Polish side Wisła Kraków on a two-year contract after leaving Maccabi Netanya by contract termination.

International career

Bećiraj playing for Montenegro in 2015.

Bećiraj was first called up for the Montenegro U21 national team by head coach Dušan Vlaisavljević in 2009, winning his first cap in a 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Kazakhstan on 7 June 2009.[12] He went on to earn five caps for the U21 team before receiving his first call-up for the senior team in March 2009, for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Italy.[13] Bećiraj made his international debut in that match, coming on as a substitute for Radomir Đalović in the 70th minute of the game.[14] He scored his first goal for Montenegro on 17 November 2010 in a friendly match against Azerbaijan.[15] On 7 June 2019, Bećiraj captained Montenegro in a 1–1 draw against his country of birth of Kosovo.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 June 2020.[1][17]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Budućnost Podgorica	2007–08	Montenegrin First League	15	9	–		–		15	9
	2008–09	Montenegrin First League	32	18	–		2[lower-alpha 1]	2	34	20
	2009–10	Montenegrin First League	30	10	–		2[lower-alpha 2]	0	32	10
	2010–11	Montenegrin First League	4	2	–		4[lower-alpha 2]	2	8	4
	Total		81	39	–		8	4	89	43
Dinamo Zagreb	2010–11	1. HNL	22	8	6	6	6[lower-alpha 2]	0	34	14
	2011–12	1. HNL	28	15	5	1	12[lower-alpha 1]	2	45	18
	2012–13	1. HNL	27	4	1	1	10[lower-alpha 1]	2	38	7
	2013–14	1. HNL	13	3	3	2	4[lower-alpha 3]	2	20	7
	Total		90	30	15	10	32	6	137	46
Changchun Yatai	2014	Chinese Super League	28	7	–		–		28	7
Dinamo Minsk	2015	Belarusian Premier League	23	9	7	6	12[lower-alpha 2]	4	42	19
Dynamo Moscow	2015–16	Russian Premier League	12	2	1	0	–		17	2
	2016–17	Russian Football National League	30	9	3	1	–		33	10
	2017–18	Russian Premier League	18	2	0	0	–		18	2
	Total		60	13	4	1	–		64	14
Mechelen	2017–18	Belgian First Division A	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Maccabi Netanya	2018–19	Israeli Premier League	30	13	3	2	0	0	33	15
	2019–20	Israeli Premier League	24	7	6	1	0	0	30	8
	Total		54	20	9	3	0	0	63	23
Career total			340	118	35	20	52	14	427	151

1. Appearances in the Champions League
2. Appearances in the Europa League
3. One appearance and a goal in the Champions League, three appearances and a goal in the Europa League

International

As of match played 19 November 2019.[1]

National Team	Year	Apps	Goals
Montenegro
	2009	3	0
	2010	7	1
	2011	4	0
	2012	5	2
	2013	6	0
	2014	5	0
	2015	7	2
	2016	7	2
	2017	6	2
	2018	9	0
	2019	10	0
Total		69	9

International goals

Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first.[18]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 November 2010	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	10	Azerbaijan	2–0	2–0	Friendly
2	11 September 2012	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	18	San Marino		6–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3					3–0
4	5 September 2015	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	33	Liechtenstein	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
5	9 October 2015		35	Austria	2–1	2–3
6	8 October 2016		42	Kazakhstan	4–0	5–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	11 October 2016	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	43	Denmark	1–0	1–0
8	10 June 2017	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	47	Armenia		4–1
9	1 September 2017	Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan	48	Kazakhstan	2–0	3–0

Honours

Budućnost Podgorica[17]

• Montenegrin First League: 2007–08

Dinamo Zagreb[17]

• 1. HNL: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
• Croatian Cup: 2010–11, 2011–12
• Croatian Super Cup: 2013

Dynamo Moscow[17]

• Russian Football National League: 2016–17

Individual

Performance

• Montenegrin First League Top Goalscorer: 2008–09 (18 goals)
• 1. HNL Top Goalscorer: 2011–12 (15 goals)

References

1. "Fatos Bećiraj". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
2. "Modre redove pojačao i Bećiraj!" (in Croatian). NK Dinamo Zagreb. 30 August 2010. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
3. http://www.vecernji.hr/sport/nogomet/beqiraj-tomecak-zabili-realu-dinamo-ublazio-poraz-madridu-clanak-34908
4. 亚泰已敲定签约贝奇拉耶 黑山国脚将成进攻核心 at sports.sohu.com 2014-03-01 Retrieved 2014-03-02
5. "Match Report". UEFA. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
6. Бечирай и Хольмен - в «Динамо» (in Russian). FC Dynamo Moscow. 18 February 2016.
7. "Ufa-Dynamo game report" (in Russian). Russian Football Premier League. 19 March 2016.
8. Фатос Бечирай покидает «Динамо» (in Russian). FC Dynamo Moscow. 11 January 2018.
9. "KV Mechelen rond (sic) transfer af en haalt met Montenegrijnse international broodnodige spits" (in Dutch). De Standaard. 13 January 2018.
10. "NIEUWE SPITS BIJ KVM: FATOS BECIRAJ TEKENT" (in Dutch). KV Mechelen. 12 January 2018.
11. https://www.one.co.il/Article/19-20/1,1,8,44812/360490.html
12. "About Fatos Bećiraj" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
13. "Filipović pozvao Bašu i Bećiraja" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
14. "Montenegro – Italy Match Report". FIFA. 28 March 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
15. "Pobjeda za kraj uspješne godine" (in Serbian). fscg.co.me. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
16. "Bondscoach Montenegro weigert te werken tegen Kosovo" (in Dutch). Goal. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
17. "F. Bećiraj: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
18. "Fatos Bećiraj". European Football. Retrieved 19 November 2019.

External links

• Fatos Bećiraj profile at FC Dynamo Moscow
• Fatos Bećiraj profile at the Football Association of Montenegro