Flamur Kastrati

Flamur Kastrati (born 14 November 1991) is a Kosovar[1] footballer who plays as a forward for Eliteserien club Kristiansund. Kastrati is of Kosovar-Albanian descent and grew up in Norway. He has represented Norway at youth international level from under-15 to under-21 level, but has stated that he wants to represent Kosovo at international level.

Flamur Kastrati
Kastrati with MSV Duisburg in 2012.
Personal information
Full name Flamur Kastrati
Date of birth (1991-11-14) 14 November 1991
Place of birth Oslo, Norway
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Kristiansund
Number 11
Youth career
0000–2006 Grei
2006–2007 Skeid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008 Skeid 20 (6)
2009–2011 FC Twente 0 (0)
2011 → VfL Osnabrück (loan) 16 (4)
2011–2012 MSV Duisburg 21 (0)
2011–2012 MSV Duisburg II 3 (2)
2013 Erzgebirge Aue 10 (0)
2013–2016 Strømsgodset 61 (7)
2016 Aalesund 3 (1)
2016–2018 Sandefjord 42 (14)
2018– Kristiansund 32 (8)
National team‡
2009 Norway U-18 5 (1)
2010 Norway U-19 5 (3)
2011–2013 Norway U-21 10 (2)
2014– Kosovo 5 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 July 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 January 2020

Hailing from Oslo, Kastrati started his senior career in Skeid at the age of 16, before he moved to Dutch side FC Twente. After two seasons at the club's reserve team, he spent time on loan with German side VfL Osnabrück, before he joined MSV Duisburg permanently in 2011. After a brief spell at Erzgebirge Aue in 2013, Kastrati joined Strømsgodset in August 2013.

Club career

Kastrati, who is of Kosovo-Albanian descent,[2] was born in Oslo where he grew up in Groruddalen and played for Grei during his youth.[3] He transferred to Skeid in 2006, and was at the age of 15 invited on a trial with English club Chelsea together with fellow Albanian-Norwegian youngsters Valon Berisha and Mërgim Hereqi.[4] Kastrati made his debut for Skeid's first-team in the 2. Divisjon at the age of 16, and scored six goals in the 2008 season[5] when the team won promotion to Adeccoligaen.

Kastrati after winning the 2008 2. Divisjon with Skeid.

The former FC Twente and Norway international player Hallvar Thoresen, Twente's head-scout in Scandinavia was impressed by Kastrati's talent in 2008, and invited the player for a trial with Twente in November 2008.[6] Kastrati was sold to Twente in January 2009, and signed a two-year contract with the club.[7] He was playing for the reserves team, but was one of four players that were training regularly with the first team.[6] After Twente won the 2009–10 Eredivisie, Kastrati was played several matches with the first team in the pre-season,[8] and was included in the squad for the Champions League match against Werder Bremen in November 2011[9]

Kastrati was loaned out to German 2. Bundesliga side VfL Osnabrück on loan for the second half of the 2011–12 season. He scored in his debut in the 1–4 loss against MSV Duisburg on 16 January 2011.[10] In a match against Energie Cottbus on 13 March 2011, Kastrati fell to the ground unconscious after an apparently harmless clash with Markus Brzenska. The match was stopped while Kastrati received treatment on the pitch, before he was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. After the match was restarted, both teams stopped playing, simply passing the ball from side to side during the 12 minutes of stoppage time.[11][12][13] The doctors feared that Kastrati's neck was broken, and that his footballing career was over. He did however only injure a nerve, and was expected to return to the pitch within two weeks.[14] He scored a goal in his first match after the injury, against Karlsruher SC on 1 April 2011.

VfL Osnabrück was relegated from the 2011–12 2. Bundesliga and Kastrati joined MSV Duisburg in June 2011 on a free transfer, where he signed a three-year contract.[10][15] Kastrati joined Erzgebirge Aue on a free transfer in January 2013 and signed a contract lasting till June 2015 and was given shirt number 9.[16] Kastrati struggled to become a regular in Erzgebirge Aue's first team,[17] and in August 2013 he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Tippeligaen side Strømsgodset.[18] Kastrati stated that he was wanted by other Norwegian clubs, but that he wanted to join Godset because he considered Ronny Deila the best head coach in Norway.[17] Kastrati made his debut for Strømsgodset in the Tippeligaen match against title contenders Rosenborg on 11 August 2013. He played 11 minutes in the 2–2 draw, and could have become match-winner two minutes into stoppage time, but his goal was disallowed for offside.[19]

In August 2016 Kastrati joined Aalesunds FK, a few months before his contract with Strømsgodset would have expired.[20]

In August 2018 Kastrati joined Kristiansund.[21]

International career

Kastrati first represented Norway in 2007 when he played three matches for the under-16 team. He played five matches and scored for the under-17 team in 2008, before he the next year scored one goal in five matches for the under-18.[22] He became a regular for the under-19 team in 2010[23] and scored three goals in five matches for the team.[22]

Kastrati made his debut for Norwegian under-21 team in the match against Greece U-21 on 17 November 2010[22] In the first match of the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification, Kastrati assisted Joshua King's goal when Norway U-21 won 2–0 against Iceland U-21.[24] He made a total of three appearances for the under-21 team in the qualification campaign, when they qualified for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.[25] Kastrati scored his first goal for the under-21 in a friendly match against Spain U-21 on 21 March 2013,[2] and scored another goal against Netherlands U-21 four days later.[26] Kastrati was a part of the Norwegian squad that won bronze at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, where he made one appearance as a substitute.[27]

In April 2013, Kastrati told the Albanian media that he would welcome a call from Albania to play for them.[28][29] In February 2014, Kastrati announced that he would play for Kosovo.[30]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 2 July 2020[31]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Osnabrück (loan) 2010–11 2. Bundesliga 16400--164
Total 16400----164
Duisburg 2011–12 2. Bundesliga 18020--200
2012–13 3010--40
Total 21030----240
Erzgebirge Aue 2012–13 2. Bundesliga 10000--100
Total 10000----100
Strømsgodset 2013 Tippeligaen 11100--111
2014 1821020-212
2015 2122060-292
2016 1123020-162
Total 61780100--797
Aalesund 2016 Tippeligaen 3100--31
Total 3100----31
Sandefjord 2017 Eliteserien 261010--2710
2018 16422--186
Total 421432----4516
Kristiansund 2018 Eliteserien 8400--84
2019 19421--215
2020 5000--50
Total 32821----349
Career total 18534163100--21137

    Honours

    Club
    gollark: Yes. Finally my computer is free of the electrobloat.
    gollark: Also, can we ban Electron?
    gollark: Well, we wanted an election.
    gollark: Project INTERNALIZED OCULISTS.
    gollark: We'll elect one MP per channel.

    References
    1. http://www.vg.no/sport/fotball/stroemsgodset/kastrati-vraker-norge-debuterer-for-kosovo-i-mars/a/10145330/
    2. Bernhus, Ola (21 March 2013). "Norges stolthet ble rundspilt i Spania" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    3. Thorsen, Kay Grue (4 June 2009). "Tilbake på Greibanen". groruddalen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    4. Baade, Gunnhild (2 August 2007). "Fra Norway Cup til Chelsea" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    5. Vindegg, Anders (22 December 2009). "– Takker Skeid for den jeg er" (in Norwegian). Skeid. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    6. Johnsen, Lars (22 December 2009). "I Hallvar Thoresens fotspor". Josimar (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    7. Hove, Lasse Bjarte (28 January 2009). "Skeid-talent til Twente" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    8. Rake, Jamel (2 May 2010). "- Har aldri sett en by gjøre så mye for klubben sin" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    9. Vindegg, Anders (2 November 2010). "Kastrati i Champions League-troppen" (in Norwegian). Skeid. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    10. "MSV verpflichtet Stürmer Flamur Kastrati" (in German). MSV Duisburg. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    11. "Bundesliga footballer collapses at pitch in Germany". eurosport.yahoo.com. Reuters. 13 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
    12. Pettersen, Per Møller (13 March 2011). "Norsk spiller kollapset i Tyskland" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    13. Eid, Anders (14 March 2011). "Begge lagene sluttet å spille fotball etter Kastrati-skaden" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    14. Berntsen, Anders Rove; Traaen, Olav (17 March 2011). "– Jeg visste verken hva som skjedde eller hvor jeg var" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    15. Wederwang, Mats (16 June 2011). "Flamur Kastrati til Duisburg" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
    16. "Kastrati-Wechsel perfekt" (in German). FC Erzgebirge Aue. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    17. Holth, Eivind Brennhovd (27 July 2013). "Ny SIF-spiller snart klar" (in Norwegian). Drammens Tidende. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
    18. Svegaarden, Knut Espen; Skjellum, Hanne (2 August 2013). "Kastrati klar for Godset" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
    19. Hagen, Simen Næss (11 August 2013). "Kunne blitt kampens store helt". Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 September 2013.
    20. Hagen, Simen Næss (19 August 2016). "Kastrati til Aalesund". Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). p. 34.
    21. "Bamba ut, Kastrati inn". kristiansundbk.no (in Norwegian). 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
    22. "Flamur Kastrati's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    23. Vindegg, Anders (12 March 2010). "– Det blir veldig moro" (in Norwegian). Skeid. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    24. "God kvalik-åpning av U21-laget" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Norwegian News Agency. 6 September 2011. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
    25. Flamur Kastrati at Soccerway. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
    26. Kalajdzic, Pedja; Håby, Mads (25 March 2013). "U21-gutta raknet mot Nederland: – Det ble en rar kamp" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    27. "U21-landslagsspiller klar for Godset" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Norwegian News Agency. 2 August 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
    28. "De Biasi kërkon Amir Abrashin në kombëtare". Sport Net (in Albanian). Sportnet. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
    29. "Tjetër afrim në Kombëtare, Kastrati: Dua Shqipërinë" (in Albanian). Gazeta Start. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
    30. Kastrati vraker Norge - debuterer for Kosovo i mars (in Norwegian) VG. Retrieved 21 February 2014
    31. "Flamur Kastrati". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
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