![]() Arifi with Ilves in 2024 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 11 April 2002 | ||
Place of birth | Riihimäki, Finland | ||
Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | KuPS | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2018–2020 | Honka | 0 | (0) |
2018–2020 | Honka II | 31 | (0) |
2020–2024 | Ilves | 89 | (3) |
2020 | → Ilves II | 1 | (0) |
2025– | KuPS | 0 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2018 | Finland U17 | 5 | (0) |
2019 | Finland U18 | 2 | (0) |
2021 | Finland U20 | 2 | (0) |
2023 | Kosovo U21 | 2 | (0) |
2024– | Finland U21 | 4 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 October 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2024 |
Doni Arifi (born 11 April 2002) is a Finnish professional footballer, who plays as a midfielder for KuPS in Veikkausliiga, Finnish premier division. [1] [2]
Arifi started to play football in FC Honka organisation, debuting in senior level with the club's reserve team in the third-tier Kakkonen in 2018.
In the early 2020, Arifi moved to Tampere and joined a fellow Veikkausliiga side Ilves. On 7 August 2021, he extended his contract with Ilves, on a deal until the end of 2024. [3] [4] [5] He missed most of the 2023 season due to injury, but contributed in four cup matches as Ilves won the 2023 Finnish Cup title.
Born and raised in Finland, Arifi is a former youth international for the country, before switching his allegiance to Kosovo at under-21 level in 2023. [7] In August 2024, Arifi stated in an interview that he is still open to represent the country from which he receives the first full international call-up. He respects Finland where he was born and raised and educated as a player, and Kosovo as his parents' home country. [8]
On 28 August 2024, Arifi was called-up to the Finland U21 squad by the head coach Mika Lehkosuo, for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Armenia and Romania. [9] He made his under-21 debut for Finland on 6 September against Armenia. Eventually Arifi made four appearances in the qualifiers, in which Finland advanced to the final competition by defeating Norway in the play-offs.
Club | Season | League | Cup [a] | League cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Honka | 2018 | Veikkausliiga | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||
2019 | Veikkausliiga | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||
Total | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
Honka Akatemia | 2018 | Kakkonen | 14 | 0 | – | – | – | 14 | 0 | |||
2019 | Kakkonen | 16 | 0 | – | – | – | 16 | 0 | ||||
2020 | Kakkonen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 | 1 | |||
Total | 31 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | ||
Ilves II | 2020 | Kakkonen | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
Ilves | 2020 | Veikkausliiga | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 [b] | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
2021 | Veikkausliiga | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 0 | |||
2022 | Veikkausliiga | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 32 | 0 | ||
2023 | Veikkausliiga | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 17 | 0 | ||
2024 | Veikkausliiga | 23 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 [c] | 0 | 34 | 3 | |
Total | 89 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 119 | 3 | ||
KuPS | 2025 | Veikkausliiga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Career total | 121 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 157 | 4 |
Ilves