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Arton Din Zekaj (Serbian Cyrillic: Артон Дин Зекај; born 16 April 2000) is a professional footballer who last played as a defensive midfielder for Serbian League Vojvodina club Tisa Adorjan. Born in Serbia, he represents Kosovo at under-21 international level.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arton Din Zekaj | ||
| Date of birth | 16 April 2000 | ||
| Place of birth | Subotica, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2015 | Spartak Subotica | ||
| 2015–2018 | Partizan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016 | Partizan | 0 | (0) |
| 2016 | → OFK Bačka (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2018 | Sopot | ||
| 2018 | Lille | 1 | (0) |
| 2018–2021 | Lille II | 16 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Tisa Adorjan | ||
| International career‡ | |||
| 2014–2016 | Serbia U15 | ||
| 2016 | Serbia U16 | ||
| 2017 | Serbia U17 | ||
| 2019–2020 | Kosovo U21 | 5 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 October 2019 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 2020 | |||
Early career
Zekaj started playing football with Spartak Subotica. In 2015, he joined the youth system of Partizan.[1] During the 2016–17 season, he was loaned to OFK Bačka, and although placed on the senior team, he failed to make a debut in the Serbian SuperLiga. On 14 February 2018, Zekaj joined Serbian League Belgrade side Sopot.[2]
Lille
On 4 July 2018, Zekaj signed a three-year contract with Ligue 1 club Lille.[3] On 11 August 2018, he made his debut as professional footballer in a 3–1 home win against Rennes after coming on as a substitute at last minutes in place of Lebo Mothiba.[4] Seven day later, Zekaj made another debut with Lille, but with second team in a Championnat National 2 match against Épinal after being named in the starting line-up.[5]
Tisa Adorjan
During the summer transfer window, Zekaj joined Serbian League Vojvodina side Tisa Adorjan. On 5 November 2022, he made his debut in a 3–0 away win against Radnički Zrenjanin after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Dragan Svitić.[6]
Serbia
Zekaj was a member of Serbia U15 from 2014 until 2016, when he was promoted to Serbia U16. In 2017, he became part of Serbia U17 and in some matches played with the Serbia national youth teams was squad captain.[7]
Kosovo
"Zekaj expected be invited to one of the upcoming gatherings of Kosovo U21 and guessed this is very big talent due to an Albanian would had it impossible to play for Partizan or Serbia national teams."
—Kosovo U15 coach Isa Sadriu shares his first impression for Zekaj.
On 3 April 2017, Zekaj visited Pristina together with his father, a consultant and a representative of Partizan and met with the leaders of the Football Federation of Kosovo. The meeting was held to clarify procedures to enable him to play for Kosovo national team.[8][9]
Under-21
"For me, it is great pride that I have chosen Kosovo and that I will wear this jersey, as in this way I will make them proud as my parents, my family and all the people of Kosovo and also a great man who is no longer among us – the legend, Fadil Vokrri."
—Zekaj shares his first impression after the permitting to play for Kosovo.[10]
On 27 April 2019, The Football Federation of Kosovo confirmed through a communiqué that Zekaj is obtained with the Kosovan passport and is ready to play for Kosovo national under-21 team in the next 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches in September 2019.[11]
Zekaj was planned to be called up from Kosovo U21 in June 2019 for 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Andorra U21 and Turkey U21,[11] but due to injury, could not be part of the national team.[12]
On 2 September 2019, he received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against England U21[13] and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.[14]
Zekaj was born in Subotica, Serbia to Kosovo Albanian parents from Has of Prizren.[15]
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