Artim Šakiri (Macedonian: Артим Шаќири, Albanian: Artim Shaqiri; born 23 September 1973) is a Macedonian football manager and a former midfielder from North Macedonia.[1] He is considered to be one of the best players in the history of the Macedonian national team. While managing Kukësi in 2014, Šakiri was ranked as the best manager of the Kategoria Superiore and the second best manager of Albanian origin in the world.[2]

Artim Šakiri
Personal information
Date of birth (1973-09-23) 23 September 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth Livada, Struga, SR Macedonia,
SFR Yugoslavia (modern North Macedonia)
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Dinamo Livadа
Karaorman
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1994 Karaorman
1994–2000 Vardar 87 (21)
1997–1998Halmstad (loan) 43 (8)
2000TeBe Berlin (loan) 14 (0)
2000–2001 FC HIT 19 (3)
2000–2001 Korotan 2 (2)
2001–2002 Malatyaspor 23 (3)
2002–2003 CSKA Sofia 20 (5)
2003–2005 West Bromwich Albion 28 (1)
2005–2006 AaB Aalborg 12 (3)
2006 Inter Turku 5 (3)
2007 FC Vaduz 10 (0)
2007 Shkëndija 25 (7)
2008 Besa 8 (1)
2008–2009 Qarabağ 22 (7)
Total 318 (64)
International career
1996–2006 Macedonia 73 (15)
Managerial career
2012–2013 Shkëndija
2014–2015 Kukësi
2016–2019 Pembroke Athleta
2019–2020 Flamurtari
2021 Schaffhausen
2022 Shkëndija
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Biography

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Šakiri was born to an Albanian family in Livada (Macedonian: Ливада), a village near Struga.[3] In his youth, he played football for his village squad (FK Dinamo Livada).[4]

Club career

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In 1997, he moved from Vardar to Swedish side Halmstads BK, a team that won the Swedish premier league Allsvenskan the same year. He played alongside developing star Freddie Ljungberg.

In 2003, he moved from Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia to West Bromwich Albion in England. He made his debut in a 4–1 defeat away at local rivals Walsall. In his first home league match for Albion, Šakiri scored a spectacular long-range goal, helping his team to a 4–1 win over Burnley.[5] It was, however, his only goal for the club. He made 30 appearances during 2003–04, but the next season he only played three games and left the club. He was set to move to Burnley, but the move fell through as his work permit wasn't renewed.[6] Instead, Šakiri went to AaB in Denmark. He was released by AaB in 2006. In Autumn 2006, Šakiri signed for Finnish club FC Inter. He made five Veikkausliiga appearances and scored three times, but his contract was not renewed. In 2007, he signed for FC Vaduz. At the beginning of the season 2008 he has signed for Azerbaijani side Qarabağ FK.

Career statistics

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[7]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1992–93 FK Karaorman 2. MFL - -
1993–94 1. MFL - -
1994–95 FK Vardar 23 3 - 0 0
1995–96 26 10 - 4 0
1996–97 13 2 - 4 0
1997 Halmstad (loan) Allsvenskan 19 4 - 19 4
1998 24 4 - 2 1 26 5
1998–99 FK Vardar 1. MFL 7 2 - -
1999–2000 9 2 - 1 0 10 2
1999–2000 Tennis Borussia Berlin (loan) 2. Bundesliga 14 0 - - 14 0
2000–01 FK Vardar 1. MFL 8 2 - -
2000–01 Gorica 1. SNL 14 3 - 0 0 14 3
2001–02 5 0 - 2 0 7 0
Korotan Prevalje 2 2 - - 2 2
2001–02[8] Malatyaspor Süper Lig 23 3 - - 23 3
2002–03 CSKA Sofia A PFG 20 5 - 3 1 23 6
2003–04 West Bromwich Albion[9] Championship 25 1 1 0 4 0 - 30 1
2004–05 Premier League 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 0
2005–06 AaB Superligaen 12 3 - - 12 3
2006 Inter Turku Veikkausliiga 5 3 - 5 3
2006–07 FC Vaduz Challenge League 10 0 - 0 0 10 0
2007–08 Shkëndija 1. MFL - -
2007–08 Besa Kavajë Albanian Superliga 8 1 - 0 0 8 1
2008–09[10] Qarabağ APL 22 7 - - 22 7
Career total 223 40 1 0 4 0 16 2 245 42

International career

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Šakiri made his debut for Macedonia in a May 1996 friendly match against Bulgaria, coming on as a second-half substitute for Sašo Miloševski, and has been capped 73 times, scoring 15 goals.[11] He has been captain of the team for many of those years. In October 2002, during UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, he scored a goal directly from a corner kick against England.[12]

His final international was a November 2006 European Championship qualification match against Russia.[13]

International goals

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[14]

Coaching career

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He was hired as a manager of Swiss Challenge League club FC Schaffhausen on 1 September 2021.[15] He was not able to obtain the Swiss work permit in a prompt manner, and on 17 September the club hired a different manager.[16]

Honours

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FK Vardar[4]

Halmstad

CSKA Sofia[4]

Qarabağ[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Euro Qualifying Preview FYR Macedonia – Croatia". Goal.com. 17 November 2007. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  2. ^ "Hasi e Shaqiri trajnerët më të mirë shqiptar". alsat-m.tv (in Albanian). 22 December 2014. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Shaqiri: E ardhmja ime në Angli" (in Albanian). Portalb. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d "Artim Shakjiri". macedonianfootball.com. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  5. ^ "West Brom 4–1 Burnley". BBC Sport. 16 August 2003. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  6. ^ "Burnley fail in bid to net Sakiri". BBC Sport. 11 August 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  7. ^ Artim Šakiri at National-Football-Teams.com
  8. ^ "ARTIM ŞAKIRI". tff.org. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Games played by Artim Sakiri in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  10. ^ "2008/09 Stats" (PDF). pfl.az. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  11. ^ Artim Shakiri - International Appearances - RSSSF
  12. ^ "Macedonia hold ragged England". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 16 October 2002. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Artim Shakjiri". macedonianfootball.com. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Artim Sakiri Neuer FCS Trainer". FC Schaffhausen. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ "Martin Andermatt neuer FCS-Trainer" (in German). FC Schaffhausen. 17 September 2021. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Macedonia captain
2002–2005
Succeeded by