Mërgim Mavraj

Mërgim Mavraj was born on the 9th June 1986 in Hanau. He is a Germna born Albanian football player. He is presently playing for SpVgg Greuther Fürth in the Bundesliga. He is a member of the Albanian national team. 

source of picture: www.kicker.de

Club Career

Mavraj joined his first club Sportfreunde Seligenstadt in the year 1996 before he made a move to Kickers Offenbach in the year 1997. It was there that he spent 6 years until the year 2003. He made a move to SG Rosenhöhe Offenbach in the 2003/04 season before making a move to SV Darmstadt 98, and it was there that he played for the Under-19 team of the club for 2004/05 season. He became a crucial member of the team, beginning 23 matches for the club and scoring 3 goals for the club in the process, though his club finished at the bottom table with four wins in 26 matches. 

He was promoted to the senior team of the club, SV Darmstadt 98 in the 2005/06 season. He played his first match for the club on the 18th March 2006 in a match that was played against SC Pfullendorf in Fußball-Regionalliga Süd. He began the game in defense line of the team, but was sent off in the 51st minute of the game after getting a secon yellownin the match. The match finished 3-1 in favor of the opponent. In total of that season, he played 13 matches for the club and scored two goals,assisting his club to finish 5th in the league. The next season would be his first as professional player in the club as he played 25 games for the club, but didn’t score any goal for the club in the campaign. His performance in the first half of the season was noticed and he was called up by the U-21 coach of Germany, Dieter Eilts, to participate in the friendly match that was played against Italy in the year 2007. 

On the 7th August 2012, Mivraj took over from the central defensive partner Thomas Kleine as the captain of the team for the 2012/13 season in the Bundesliga. He was elected to be the captain of the team in a secret ballot, and he finished ahead of the following players in the club, Gerald Asamoah, Stephan Fürstner and Milorad Peković.

International Career

Mavraj was eligible to represent Albania in the international football because his parents are from Albania. He got the citizenship of Albania in September 2006 together with Besart Berisha, with the recommendations of Hans-Peter Briegel before he resigned from being the national coach of the country. The new coach of the national team, Otto Baric then called him up, but just for the U-21 national team of the country and not for the senior national team of the country and that made him angry. In February 2007, he said that never wanted to play for Albania internationally, as he felt undervalued by the FSHF.

With his disagreement to play for the national team of Albania in February 2007, he got German citizenship later in that month and he quickly joined the Under-21 national team of German. He played his first international game for Germany on the 21st February 2007 in a match that was played against Italy, coming into the match in the 67th minute of the game. he had trouble breaking into the team and did not play for the team again for two good years. His nerxt and final game for Germany was played on the 31st March 2012, in a match that was played against Belarus, and the match ended 1-1, with Mivraj playing full time at the centre back.

FSHF gave him an opportunity to play for the senior team of the country, Albania by allowing the coach of the national team of that period, Josip Kuze to give him an invitation for a friendly match that was played against Northern Ireland in Tirana on the 3rd March 2010. This was the first senior international game call up he ever got, and he accepted it. Meanwhile, just one day before the meeting of the team to start preparations for the match, Mavraj backed down and never showed up for the match and this got the FSHF angry, as well as the citizens of the country and the teammates. The played claimed to have requested for more time to decide on his international career, FSHF admitted that he will never be called up to play any match for the country again. 

The abrupt change of mind about the calling up of Mavraj for international football by the national team of Albania was because of the conversation that he had on the phone with Mathias Sammer, the technical director of the German Football Association at the period. Sammer told him that he may have future with the German national team and that he may be called up for the senior side of the country after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, with the difficulties, which he had in the club level at that time in the Vfl Bochum and the relegation of his team to 2. Bundesliga at end of the season, his dream of being a part of the German national team was very slim.

With his good performance with the new club, Greuther Furth, he got the attention of the FSHF for the 3rd time, this time, it was not so serious as Albania needed more of defenders in the national team of the country. Though it was made clear that he would never play for the Albanian national team again, the FSHF opened an opportunity for the player. He announced publicly that he would be there if invited by the Albanian national team, and that was done by the national coach of the country, Gianni De Biasi in a friendly match that was played against Qatar and Iran. 

He played his first international match for the senior team of aAlbania in a friendly match that was played against Qatar on the 22nd May 2012. The game was played at Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas, Madrid, Spain, and it finished 2-1 in favor of Albania.