Artim Šakiri

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)
1997–1998	→ Halmstad (loan)	43	(8)
2000	→ TeBe 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

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

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

^[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

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

^[14]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 1997	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Lithuania	1–0	1–2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	6 September 1998	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Malta	3–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
3				4–0
4	8 September 1998	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	FR Yugoslavia	1–4	2–4	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5	7 June 2000	Azadi Stadium, Teheran, Iran	South Korea	1–2	1–2	Friendly
6	2 June 2001	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Moldova	1–1	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	6 June 2001	Bursa Atatürk Stadium, Bursa, Turkey	Turkey	0–1	3–3	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	27 March 2002	Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–1	4–4	Friendly
9				4–3
10				4–4
11	21 August 2002	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Malta	2–0	5–0	Friendly
12				4–0
13	16 October 2002	St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, England	England	0–1	2–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
14	11 June 2003	BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	0–2	3–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
15	18 August 2004	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	Armenia	2–0	3–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

Coaching career

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

FK Vardar^[4]

• First League: 1994–95
• Macedonian Cup: 1994–95, 1998–99

Halmstad

• Allsvenskan: 1997

CSKA Sofia^[4]

• A Group: 2002–03

Qarabağ^[4]

• Azerbaijan Cup: 2008–09

References

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. "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. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
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.

External links

• Artim Šakiri at National-Football-Teams.com
• Artim Šakiri at MacedonianFootball.com
• Artim Šakiri at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Toni Micevski	Macedonia captain 2002–2005	Succeeded by Goce Sedloski