Granit Xhaka

Xhaka with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2012
Personal information
Full name Granit Xhaka
Date of birth 27 September 1992 (age 20)
Place of birth Prishtina, Kosovo
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Borussia Mönchengladbach
Number 34
Youth career
2000–2002 Concordia Basel
2002–2008 Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2008–2010 Basel U-21 37 (11)
2010–2012 Basel 44 (2)
2012– Borussia Mönchengladbach 38 (1)
National team‡
2008–2009 Switzerland U-17 14 (2)
2009–2010 Switzerland U-18 14 (3)
2010–2011 Switzerland U-19 10 (3)
2010–2012 Switzerland U-21 5 (0)
2011– Switzerland 19 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 April 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 6 September 2013
Granit Xhaka[a] (Albanian pronunciation: [ɡɾaˈnit ˈdʒaka]; born 27 September 1992) is a Swiss footballer who plays as a midfielder for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga.
Contents  [hide]
1 Early life
2 Club career
3 Basel
4 Borussia Mönchengladbach
5 International career
5.1 Switzerland youth squads
5.2 Switzerland under-21
5.3 Switzerland senior team
6 International goals
7 Titles and honours
8 References
9 External links
Early life[edit source]

Granit was born in Prishtina, Kosovo and is the younger brother of Taulant Xhaka, who is also a professional footballer in Grasshopper Club Zürich. Their family moved to Switzerland while the children were very young.
Club career[edit source]

The brothers started their youth football by Concordia Basel and both moved to Basel in 2002. Xhaka played for various Basel youth teams and since 2008 has been a member of the U-21 squad. Between 2008 and 2010 he played 37 games for the U-21 team, scoring eleven goals.[1]
Basel[edit source]

Former Basel coach Thorsten Fink once said. "Xherdan Shaqiri is the best talent in Switzerland...after Granit Xhaka."[2] Whilst the Swiss National Football Coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, has dubbed him the 'young Schweinsteiger.'[2]
Since the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Xhaka played for the Basel first team. He made is first team debut in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League in the away match against Debreceni VSC in the Szusza Ferenc Stadium. Towards the end of the game he scored the second goal in Basel’s 2–0 victory.[3] He scored his first Super League goal in the 5–1 home win against FC Thun on 15 May 2011.[4] At the end of the 2010–11 season, Xhaka won the Super League Championship title with Basel and at the end of the 2011–12 season he won the Double, the League Championship title[5] and the Swiss Cup[6] with the club.
Borussia Mönchengladbach[edit source]

On 18 May 2012, Basel announced on their homepage that Xhaka had agreed terms with Lucien Favre's Borussia Mönchengladbach. After medical checks were completed, the teenager signed a five-year with the club. The transfer fee was not disclosed by Mönchengladbach, but is estimated to be in the region of €8.5 million.[7]
International career[edit source]

Switzerland youth squads[edit source]


Xhaka playing for Switzerland at the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
Xhaka has played for Swiss youth squad at the U-17 level. He participated in the Under-17 World Cup in 2009 in Nigeria. The Swiss team won the World Cup.[8]
He played his first game for the Switzerland national under-19 football team on 25 May 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Austria national under-19 football team 3–2 in the Schwaz, Austria. He scored his first goal for the U-19 on 7 September 2010 as the team won 3–0 against the Czech Republic.
Switzerland under-21[edit source]
Xhaka played his first game for the Switzerland national under-21 football team on 3 September 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team 1–0 in the Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano.[9] This was the last game in the qualification Group 2 to the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Xhaka was member of the Swiss U-21 squad that competed in the final tournament, hosted by Denmark, between 11 and 25 June 2011. The Swiss team reached the final without conceding a goal, but lost to Spain U-21 2–0.
Switzerland senior team[edit source]
Before making his international debut for Switzerland Xhaka was still undecided whether to play for Albania or the Helvetic team, and he complained to the Albanian sports media that FSHF was ignoring him, whereas the Swiss Football Association had a much bigger interest.[10]
Xhaka debutted for Switzerland at Wembley Stadium against England, in a 2–2, draw on 4 June 2011.[11] On 15 November of the same year, during his sixth international appearance, he scored his first international goal in the 1–0 away win against Luxembourg in Stade Josy Barthel.[12]
Switzerland also tried to select him to participate in the 2012 Olympic Football tournament, but he opted to stay at his new club for pre-season training.[13]
International goals[edit source]



Xhaka (left) challenging Lionel Messi for the ball during an international friendly between Switzerland and Argentina on 29 February 2012.
Scores and results table. Switzerland's goal tally first:
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 15 November 2011 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Luxembourg 1–0 1–0 Friendly
2 15 August 2012 Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia Croatia 1–0 4–2 Friendly
3 7 September 2012 Stadion Stožice, Ljubljana, Slovenia Slovenia 1–0 2–0 2014 World Cup qualification
Titles and honours[edit source]

Basel
Swiss Super League Champion: 2011, 2012
Swiss Cup: 2012
Uhrencup Winner: 2011
International
FIFA U-17 World Cup World Champion: 2009
UEFA U-21 European Championship: 2011 Finalist
Individual Awards
Credit Suisse Youth Player of the Year: 2012[14]
References[edit source]

Jump up ^ Granit Xhaka at National-Football-Teams.com
^ Jump up to: a b "Better than Shaqiri – the teenage Basel star who Bayern Munich must stop tonight". Goal.com. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
Jump up ^ "Match report VSC Debrecen – FC Basel 1893" (in German). www.transfermarkt.ch. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
Jump up ^ Meister, Remo (15 May 2011). "Der FCB ist zurück an der Spitze" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
Jump up ^ Meister, Remo (29 April 2012). "Der 15. Meistertitel für den FCB – die Bilanz einer grandiosen Saison" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
Jump up ^ "Matchtelegram FC Basel 1893 5:3 FC Luzern" (in German). football.ch. 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.[dead link]
Jump up ^ "Granit Xhaka wechselt im Sommer vom FCB zu Borussia Mönchengladbach" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
Jump up ^ "Player statistics FIFA U17 World Cup". FIFA.com. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
Jump up ^ UEFA.com (2010). "Switzerland see off Ireland for play-off place". UEFA.com. Retrieved 3 September 2010.[dead link]
Jump up ^ Begu, Yll (13 April 2011). "Në fokus / Granit Xhaka: Dua të luaj për Shqipërinë, por mungon interesimi i FSHF-së!". ""Mesfushori i Bazelit, Granit Xhaka, së bashku me vëllanë e tij, Taulantin, kanë dëshirë për t’u bërë pjesë e kombëtares shqiptare, mirëpo deri më tash nuk kanë parë kurrfarë interesimi nga Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit që t’i afrojë ata në kombëtaren kuqezi.", further in the article Xhaka says: "“Në javët e fundit është bërë një presion i madh drejt nesh nga mediet lokale për të zgjedhur kombëtaren e Zvicrës dhe e kam të vështirë ta kuptoj përse askush nga FSHF-ja nuk ka reaguar për të shprehur interesim që ne të vishemi kuqezi”, ka theksuar Granit Xhaka."
Jump up ^ Collett, Mike (4 June 2011). "Below-par England salvage draw with Switzerland". Reuters. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
Jump up ^ "Matchtelegram Luxembourg-Schweiz" (in German). football.ch. 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2011.[dead link]
Jump up ^ "Olympics-Shaqiri, Xhaka excluded from Swiss soccer squad". reuters.com. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
Jump up ^ "FCB prägt Nacht des Schweizer Fussballs" (in German). tagesanzeiger.ch. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 38 July 2012.
a.   ^ Albanian spelling: Granit Xhaka, Serbo-Croatian spelling: Гранит Џака, Granit Džaka
External links[edit source]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Granit Xhaka
Profile at FC Basel (German)
Profile at Swiss Football League (German)
[hide] v t e
Borussia Mönchengladbach – current squad
1 ter Stegen 3 Daems (c) 4 Brouwers 7 Herrmann 8 Rupp 9 de Jong 10 Kruse 11 Raffael 14 Marx 15 Domínguez 16 Nordtveit 17 Wendt 18 Arango 20 Brandenburger 21 Blaswich 22 Mlapa 23 Kramer 24 Jantschke 25 Younes 27 Korb 28 Mero 31 Hrgota 33 Heimeroth 34 Xhaka 39 Stranzl Coach: Favre
Categories: 1992 birthsLiving peopleSwiss footballersSwiss expatriate footballersSwitzerland international footballersFC Basel playersBorussia Mönchengladbach playersSwiss Super League playersBundesliga playersExpatriate footballers in GermanyAssociation football midfieldersSwiss people of Kosovar descentKosovar footballers
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