Erjon Bogdani

Erjon Bogdani

Personal information
Date of birth	14 April 1977 (1977-04-14)
Place of birth	Tirana., Albania
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Cesena
Number	70
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1997	Partizani	69	(21)
1998	Gençlerbirliği	11	(3)
1998–1999	Dinamo Zagreb	26	(10)
2000–2005	Reggina	68	(17)
2003–2004	→Salernitana (loan)	37	(9)
2004–2005	→Verona (loan)	37	(18)
2005–2007	Siena	46	(14)
2007–2010	Chievo	54	(11)
2007–2008	→Livorno (loan)	18	(2)
2010	Cesena
2012–	Siena
National team‡
1999–	Albania	63	(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2010

Erjon Bogdani (born 14 April 1977 in Tirana) is an Albanian football player who currently plays as a striker for Siena in the Italian Serie A and the Albanian national team.

Career

Early years

Bogdani was discovered by local side Partizani Tirana at the age of just 10 in a school team competition held in Tirana, where he scored 11 goals in just 4 games. The young Bogdani quickly joined Partizani Tirana's academy, where he played through the different age groups and eventually signing his first professional contract with the club in 1994.

Partizani Tirana

He made his professional debut with Partizani Tirana in the Albanian Superliga in the 1993-94 season, where he played 7 games in the second half of the season. The following season he scored his first goal in a campaign which saw him play 13 games and score 2 goals. The 1997-98 campaign would prove to be his most successful in Albanian football as he scored 13 goals in just 15 games before the winter break. This attracted the attention of several foreign clubs, but Bogdani decided to move to Turkey with Gençlerbirliği in the Süper Lig where he played for the second half of the 1997-98 season. Bogdani later moved to Zagreb and played there for 1. HNL club Zagreb scoring 10 goals in 26 matches.

Italy

In January 2000, he joined Reggina and made his Serie A debut on 6 February against Bologna. In Reggio Calabria, except for the 2001–02 season in the Serie B, he played 37 Serie A games, and scored 4 goals. In 2003–04 season, he was loaned at Salernitana in the Serie B.

Hellas Verona

In 2004–05 season, Bogdani was signed by Verona and was the team top-scorer of Verona in the Serie B with 17 goals, 3 goals behind top-scorer Gionatha Spinesi, 2 goals behind Diego Milito of Genoa and Francesco Tavano. The 2004-05 season was his personal best, he has never scored more goals in one season, than in the 2004-05 season.

Chievo Verona

In summer 2005, he made returned to Italy's top-flight, but now for A.C. Siena. He played for the club for a season and a half, before joining Chievo in January 2007. In Chievo, he made his club debut on 14 January 2007 against Catania. He scored 5 goals in 19 games, but failed to avoid relegation. He was loaned out to Livorno at the start of the 2007–08 Serie A season but since then has not had a season to remember after suffering relegation to Seria B with Livorno. In the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons he has been part of Chievo where he scored 11 goals in 58 games before moving to Cesena.

Cesena

In the 2010-11 season Bogdani joins A.C. Cesena and makes his debut on 28 August 2010 against A.S. Roma in a 0-0 draw. Bogdani scored his first goal for Cesena against Milan, he also assisted the second goal made by Giaccherini in a 2-0 win. Bogdani has been voted as the Man of the match against A.C. Milan and U.S. Lecce and has been selected in the Serie A, Team of the week . Bogdani has currently scored five goals for A.C. Cesena. He scored his first goal of 2011 in 19 January a game played In Milano against Internazionale but still lost 3-2. He scored the equalizer in a 1-1 match between Lecce in the 90+2' on 30 January.

Siena

He resigned for AC Siena on the final day of the winter transfer window, on a four and a half year contract.

International career

He has made 63 appearances for Albania and has scored 15 goals in the process, including goals against teams like Denmark, Portugal and France. Bogdani is the record holder for number of goals with the national team.

National team statistics

Season	Club	Country	Competition	Matches	Goals
1994–95	Partizani Tirana	Albania	Albanian Superliga	13	5
1995–96	Partizani Tirana	Albania	Albanian Superliga	20	5
1996–97	Partizani Tirana	Albania	Albanian Superliga	14	8
1997–98	Partizani Tirana	Albania	Albanian Superliga	15	15
1997–98	Genclerbirligi	Turkey	Turkcell Süper Lig	11	6
1998–99	Zagreb	Croatia	Prva HNL	14	9
1999–00	Zagreb	Croatia	Prva HNL	12	6
1999–00	Reggina Calcio	Italy	Serie A	10	8
2000–01	Reggina Calcio	Italy	Serie A	17	10
2001–02	Reggina Calcio	Italy	Serie B	31	12
2002–03	Reggina Calcio	Italy	Serie A	10	6
2003–04	Salernitana Sport	Italy	Serie B	38	17
2004–05	Hellas Verona	Italy	Serie B	38	20
2005–06	A.C. Siena	Italy	Serie A	34	16
2006–07	A.C. Siena	Italy	Serie A	15	7
2007	Chievo	Italy	Serie A	19	11
2007–08	Livorno	Italy	Serie A	22	10
2008–09	Chievo	Italy	Serie A	17	9
2009–10	Chievo	Italy	Serie A	18	10
2010–11	Cesena	Italy	Serie A	35	8
2011-12	Cesena	Italy	Serie A	8	0
			Total	393	176
Albania national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1996	100	0
1997	0	0
1998	1	0
1999	7	1
2000	3	2
2001	3	0
2002	1	0
2003	1	0
2004	0	0
2005	9	4
2006	6	0
2007	10	1
2008	4	1
2009	5	4
2010	5	0
2011	3	2	Total	63	15

Honours and awards

Partizani

• Albanian Cup (1): 1996-97

Reggina

• Serie A Promotion (1): 2001-02

Individual

• Serie A Man of the Match with Cesena (6)
• Serie A Team of the Week with Cesena (4): 2010
• Albanian Footballer of the Year (2): 2005,2007
• Albanian Fan's Footballer of the Year (3): 2002,2005,2007

External links

• (Italian) Profile at La Gazzetta
• http://www.tff.org/Default.aspx?pageId=526&kisiId=29429