Armando Sadiku

Armando Sadiku was born on the 27^th May 1991 in Elbasan. He is a footballer from Albania. He plays the role of a striker for his team, FC Zurich in the Swiss Super League. He is a member of the Albanian national team.

source of picture: www.suedostschweiz.ch

Career

Sadiku played for the KS Turbina Cerrik in the first division football of Albania before he made a move to the newly promoted club KS Gramozi Erseke. He played his first match for the club in the superliga of the country on the first day of the 2009/10 season. The match was played against KS Shkumbini Peqin and it finished goalless draw. He was brought into the match on the 66^th minute of the game. His first goal for the club came on the fourth match of the season that they lost 4-1 to KS Skënderbeu Korçë, he started the match and played for full time with his gaol coming in the 18^th minute of the game and made the score of the game 1-1.

Sadiku made a move to Swiss Challenge league club FC Locarno on the 13^th March 2011. He arrived to the club in the morning and travelled with them to play an away match with FC Schaffhausen. He played his first match for the club on the very day he signed, he started the game and was replaced in the 82^nd minute of the game and the match finished 2-1 in favor of the opponent. He scored his first goal for the club in his third played match for the club; the match was played against FC Chiasso on the 1^st of April. He scored the winning goal of the match in the 64^th minute of the game in a 2-1 away win before he was replaced in the 75^th minute of the game. He scored a brace in the next match that he played for the club against SC Kriens. In the second half of the season, Sadiku scored 9 goals in 12 matches for the club and that helped his club to avoid relegation.

He started the next season with the club with the exact form with which he ended the previous season, he scored twice in the opening match of the season in the match that was played against FC Wohlen and they lost the match 5-2. His next goal for the club was four games after the first, in a match that was played against Étoile Carouge FC on the 20^th August, and he scored twice in the first half of the match and they won 3-0he finished the 2011/12 season of the Swiss Challenge league with the total of 19 goals for the club and that made him the top scorer.

After much talk about the future of the youngster, the club, Locarno announced that he has been sold on the 23^rd July 2012 to another Swiss club, FC Lugano on a three years contract with the club. He finished the first season with the new club by scoring 20 goals for them and that made him the top scorer of the Challenge league of the country. He repeated this in the second season with the team and his team came up to the 7^th position in the league table.

On the 13^th of November 2013, he officially was signed by FC Zurich and he was to finish his business with his current club, Lugano on the December of the year 2013 and move to his new club on the transfer window, 1^st January 2014. He was given the number 11 shirt in Zurich and he made his presentation on the 18^th November 2013. His contract with the club is meant to keep him with the club until the summer of the year 2018. It was in the club that he met another player from his country, Burim Kukeli. He scored his first goal for the club in the first match that he played with them in the friendly match that was played against MSV Duirsburg. He played his first superleague match for the club on the 1^st February 2014, the match was played against Sion, he was brought into the match a replacement for Franck Etoundi on the 82^nd minute of the game.

International Career

He was included in the Under-19 squad that played UEFA U-19 Championship 2010 qualification. He only played a match during the campaign.

He became a member of the Under-21 national team of the country. In the Qualifiers for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, he bagged twice as he was brought into the match that was played against Moldova on the 7^th September 2011 and that got his country the first points in the campaign. He scored another two goals for the national team of the country in the next match that was played against Poland, though they lost the match 4-3. He scored another two goals for the country in the 2-2 draw match that was played against Portugal and that made it his 6^th goal for the Under-21 national team of his country.

The new coach of the senior team of the country, Gianni De Biasi called him to be a part of the team that will play in the friendly match against Georgia on the 29^th February 2012 that was held at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi. He played his first match for the senior team of the country, coming into the match in the 82^nd minute of the game for the goal scorer of the match Edgar Cani, though his team lost 2-1 to Georgia. He was called to take part in the next two games that were played against Qatar and Iran, it was there that he came off the bench and his team won the both games. He scored his first match for the national team of the country in the match that was played against Cyprus for the 2014 World Cup qualification match that was played on the 7^th September 2012, Albania won 3-1.