Club career
Grasshoppers
Born in Switzerland to ethnic Albanian parents from Macedonia, with his father hailing from Tetovo and his mother from Gostivar. [1] [2] [3] Bajrami spent his entire youth career with Grasshoppers, one of the most historic clubs in Switzerland. In February 2017, he signed his first professional contract with the club, together with teammates Petar Pušić and Arijan Qollaku. [4] Only a few days later, on 5 February 2017, he made his professional debut in the Swiss Super League, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 defeat against FC Thun. [5]
Breakthrough and establishment (2017–2019)
In the 2017–18 season, at just 18 years of age, Bajrami established himself as a regular starter in Grasshoppers’ midfield, making 32 league appearances and scoring 3 goals. His technical ability, vision, and composure on the ball earned him praise from both coaches and media, with Swiss outlets highlighting his maturity beyond his years. [6] During this season, he contributed important goals and assists in crucial matches, helping Grasshoppers to remain competitive in the Swiss Super League despite a challenging campaign. Notably, he scored a decisive goal in the 2–1 victory over Zürich on 21 October 2017, which earned him recognition as one of the standout young talents in the league. [7]
In the 2018–19 season, Bajrami continued to feature consistently, making 33 league appearances and scoring 3 more goals. [8] [6] He developed further as a central figure in midfield, often playing a key role in building attacks and providing assists to teammates. His performances drew attention from scouts abroad, and he was considered one of the most promising young Swiss players of Albanian descent. [9]
By the end of the 2018–19 season, Bajrami had accumulated around 80 competitive appearances for Grasshoppers, scoring a total of 6 goals. His consistency and versatility made him a key asset for the team and laid the foundation for his subsequent move to Italy to join Empoli. [6]
Empoli
On 13 August 2019, Bajrami joined Italian Serie B club Empoli F.C. on loan from Grasshopper Zürich, with an option to buy. [10]
Bajrami became a regular starter during his first season in Serie B, making over 30 appearances and scoring several goals in the 2019–20 campaign. [6] His consistent performances led Empoli to exercise the purchase option and sign him permanently in the summer of 2020. [11]
In the 2020–21 Serie B season, Bajrami played a key role in Empoli’s successful campaign, contributing goals and assists that helped the team win the league and secure promotion to Serie A. On 4 May 2021, he scored in the 4–0 victory against Cosenza, a result that mathematically sealed Empoli’s promotion. [12] [13]
Bajrami made his Serie A debut for Empoli on 21 August 2021, in the opening match of the 2021–22 season against Lazio. [14] He went on to score 5 goals and provide 3 assists across that league campaign. [15]
In the following 2022–23 season, he featured regularly until January 2023, recording 2 goals and 3 assists in 18 Serie A appearances before transferring to Sassuolo. [16]
Overall, during his time with Empoli, Bajrami made more than 120 competitive appearances, scoring 18 goals and assisting over 20 times, and was widely regarded as one of the club’s most creative midfielders. [17]
Sassuolo
On 31 January 2023, Bajrami joined Sassuolo on loan from Empoli, with an obligation to buy set at around €7 million. [18] [19]
He made his debut shortly after and scored his first goal for the club on 6 February 2023, netting the winner in the 92nd minute of a 3–2 Serie A victory over Cremonese. [20] [21]
During the remainder of the 2022–23 Serie A season, Bajrami made 23 league appearances, contributing also with 2 assists. [6] The loan was followed by a mandatory purchase at the end of the season, confirming his permanent transfer to Sassuolo. [22]
In the 2023–24 Serie A campaign, Bajrami played 28 matches, scoring 2 goals and providing several assists. [6] One of his standout performances came against Salernitana in April 2024, when he registered both a goal and an assist within seven minutes in the first half, contributing to Sassuolo’s victory. [23]
Bajrami was primarily deployed as an attacking midfielder, occasionally being used in more central roles. Italian media highlighted his creativity, late-game impact, and ability to unlock defenses with key passes and assists. [24]
Following Sassuolo’s relegation to Serie B at the end of the 2023–24 season, transfer speculation surrounded Bajrami. Reports in August 2024 linked him with a move to Scottish club Rangers for a fee of around €4 million. [25] However, Italian outlets also suggested that Sassuolo were considering keeping him to play a key role in their bid to return to Serie A. [26]
Rangers
On 30 August 2024, Bajrami joined Rangers in Scotland. [27] Bajrami scored his first Rangers goal very early in his Europa League debut, less than a minute into a 2–0 away victory at Malmö on matchday 1 of the UEFA Europa League on 26 September 2024. [28] [29] On 3 November 2024, Bajrami scored the winning goal in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, a 2–1 victory over Motherwell at Hampden Park, sending Rangers into the final. [30] [31] On 15 December 2024, in the League Cup final, Bajrami opened the scoring for Rangers in a dramatic 3–3 draw against Celtic at Hampden Park. The match eventually was decided on penalties, with Rangers losing the shoot-out. [32] [33]
By the end of the 2024–25 season, Bajrami had made 47 appearances in all competitions for Rangers, scoring 5 goals and providing 5 assists. [34] [35]
During the 2025–26 season, Bajrami played a limited role in the Rangers squad, making only four appearances, all as a substitute, totaling 52 minutes on the pitch, without scoring or assisting. [36] In the UEFA Champions League, he featured in three matches, totaling 18 minutes, without recording any goals or assists. [37]
International career
Switzerland
"We tried to convince Bajrami to continue playing for Switzerland but he told us that his heart beats for Albania. For us in the national team, identification is one of the main values, so we had no choice but to let him leave."
—Mauro's explanation for Bajrami’s switch to Albania. [38] Bajrami represented Switzerland in various youth sides up to under-21 level. He played for the Switzerland U17 team in their unsuccessful European Under-17 Championship qualification bid in 2016, featuring in all their six games. [39] He scored a total of five goals for the under-17 side, including a brace against Montenegro in 2015. [40] On 9 March 2021, Switzerland's U-21 manager Mauro Lustrinelli confirmed that Bajrami chose to switch allegiances and represent his country of origin, Albania. [41]
Albania
On 17 March 2021, he received Albanian citizenship, thus needing only a permission by FIFA to become eligible to play for the Albania national team. [42] FIFA refused but the go-ahead was given from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 30 August 2021. [43] He debuted with Albania in a 1–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification victory against Hungary on 5 September 2021, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute for Qazim Laçi. [44]
Following his transfer to Sassuolo in winter 2023, Bajrami emerged as a key goalscoring contributor for Albania, netting three consecutive goals in the Euro 2024 qualifiers and adding two more later in the campaign, for a total of five international goals in the same season. The first goal was scored on 17 June 2023 in a 2–0 win over Moldova. [46] He played in all 8 qualifying matches and with his 3 goals and 1 assist, helped Albania finishing top of the group for the first time in its history, collecting 15 points—equal to the Czech Republic but ahead on head-to-head record—and qualified for the final tournament of a European Championship for the second time in history. [47]
In June 2024, Bajrami was called up to represent Albania at UEFA Euro 2024. [48] In their opening group stage match against defending champions Italy, he scored after just 23 seconds, setting the record for the fastest goal in European Championship history, though Albania eventually lost 2–1. [49] On 19 November 2024, he scored from the penalty spot against Ukraine in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League B, but Albania lost 2–1 and were relegated to League C. [50]
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