Erjon Bogdani

Explore about the Famous Soccer Player Erjon Bogdani, who was born in Albania on April 14, 1977. Analyze Erjon Bogdani’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Erjon Bogdani dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Erjon Bogdani?

Erjon Bogdani Biography

Retired soccer forward best known for his time with teams like the Albanian Superliga club Partizani Tirana, with whom he won the Albanian Cup in 1996-97. He as a longtime representative of Alabania in international play, playing for the country from 1996 through 2013.

He began his youth career at the age of ten, when he was first discovered by Partizani Tirana.

He was voted by the Albanian fans as the Albanian Footballer of the Year in 2002, 2005 and 2007.

He married Rossella Ariodante in 2010. He has a son named Alexander.

He and Panagiotis Kone are both famous Albanian soccer players.

Erjon Bogdani (born 14 April 1977) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Albania under-19 team. He is nicknamed “Bogu” or “Er-Bomber”.

Bogdani made his professional debut with Partizani Tirana in the Albanian Superliga, playing seven games in the second half of the 1993–94 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.

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

Regarded as one of the most successful Albanian players of all time, Bogdani began his career at Partizani Tirana in 1994 where he debuted at the age of 16. He left the club in January 1998 to sign with Gençlerbirliği. That summer, Bogdani moved in Croatia to play for Zagreb, before traveling to Italy where he enjoyed the best years of his career.

Bogdani first became part of the Albania U21 team in 1996, where he scored on his official debut in a 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against Portugal on 9 October 1996. Following his goal however, he was sent off after receiving the first red card of his career just 4 minutes after scoring his first international goal and Albania went on to lose the game 4–2. Overall he made 7 official appearances and scored 1 goal as Albania finished Group 9 in 5th place.

Bogdani has 74 caps for Albania national team, making his debut in 1996 and scoring his first goal three years later. With 18 goals, he is Albania’s all-time top goalscorer, overtaking his former teammate Alban Bushi in 2011 by netting his 15th goal. He holds numerous Albanian records, including most goals as substitute and oldest goalscoring in history, and has been dubbed as the best striker to play for the Red and Black.

Bogdani was called up to Albania under-23 by coach Sulejman Mema to participate in the 1997 Mediterranean Games football tournament, which began on 8 June in Southern Italy. Albania U23 were shorted in Group B among Yugoslavia and Italy. Bogdani played as a half-time substitute for Mahir Halili against Yugoslavia U23 and scored in the 60th minute the only Albania U23’s goal in a 4–1 loss. In the second fixture against Italy U23 he was an unused substitute.

His performance at Partizani Tirana attracted the attention of several foreign clubs. Bogdani decided to move to Turkey at Gençlerbirliği in the Süper Lig playing for the second half of the 1997–98 season in 11 games and scoring 1 goal.

Bogdani was first introduced to the Albania senior squad by manager Neptun Bajko in April 1996 for the friendly match versus Bosnia and Herzegovina. He came at the last minutes as a substitute with the match ending in a goalless draw. Later that year, in December, Bogdani was called up again for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Northern Ireland in which Bogdani was an unused substitute. Albania lost 2–0 at Windsor Park. His second appearance came two years later in another friendly versus Cyprus on 19 August 1998 where he again came as a substitute.

Bogdani scored his first international goal on 10 February 1999 in the 2–0 friendly win over Macedonia. He continued to be part of the team under Astrit Hafizi management in the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying, where Albania was placed in Group 2. He made 6 appearances during the qualifying phase, including one as starter, as Albania finished the group in 5th place with 7 points.

Bogdani didn’t found more space in the next qualifying campaign, the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, in which he managed to play only four matches. He was not seen as starter by manager Medin Zhega before players such as Igli Tare, Alban Bushi and Altin Rraklli. He scored his next international goals in form of a brace in the 3–0 home win over Malta on 15 November 2000.

With the first half of the 1999–2000 Prva HNL season over, Bogdani was transferred to Italy at the winter break, joining Reggina on a three-year contract in January 2000. He made his Serie A debut on 6 February 2000 against Bologna. Overall in his first season at Reggina he played 10 Serie A games and scored 1 goal. In the 2000–01 season he played 19 matches scoring 1 goal and Reggina were relegated in the Serie B. In the 2001–02 Serie B season, Bogdani managed to score 7 goals in 31 games helping Reggina rank in the 3rd place to win promotion in the Serie A. He played overall 11 games and scored 1 goal in the 2002–03 Serie A. In the 2003–04 season, he was loaned to Salernitana in the Serie B.

Bogdani missed out almost the entire UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying due to injury suffered at club level, participating only one time on 7 June 2003 against Republic of Ireland where he was an unused substitute under coach Hans-Peter Briegel.

In the 2004–05 season, Bogdani was signed by Verona. Under coach Massimo Ficcadenti Bogdani played all 38 matches where he participated as a starter completing 33 full 90-minutes and was the team top-scorer in the Serie B with 17 goals scored. He was ranked 4th in the entire goalscorers classification with 3 goals behind top-scorer Gionatha Spinesi and 2 goals behind Diego Milito and Francesco Tavano. The 2004–05 season had the highest number of goals scored in a single season.

Having been out of the team for more than 18 months, Bogdani returned in February 2005 for the matchday 5 of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign against Ukraine in which he appeared as a second-half substitute for fellow striker Tare. Then he was put as starter in the next matches after a good run on club level, notably scoring in the loss to Denmark and win versus Kazakhstan. Then he scored a brace in the 2–2 draw versus Ukraine in the penultimate qualifying match which gave him four for the campaign, making him top goalscorer of the team, as Albania finished Group 2 at 5th place, leaving behind Georgia and Kazakhstan.

In the summer of 2005, Bogdani made his return to Italy’s top-flight, but for A.C. Siena. He made it his debut on 28 August 2005 against Cagliari playing a full 90-minute match, which finished in a 2–1 victory. Bogdani scored his first goal on 21 September 2005 against Ascoli, in a match finished in the 1–1 draw where his goal was the first of the match, scored in the 45th minute.

He started another season with Siena as he played in the first match against Chievo on 10 September 2006, where the match finished in a victory 1–2. He played until the end of the 2006–07 season’s first half, where he made 15 appearances and scored 2 goals.

On 28 January 2006 Bogdani scored a hat trick of 3 goals against Palermo where the match finished in the 1–3 away victory. In the 2005–06 season he registered in total 34 league appearances where he scored in total 11 goals.

Bogdani continued to lead Albania’s attacking force in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, playing 11 matches, all of them as starter, and was along with Altin Haxhi the most used player. He scored only once during the qualifiers, the temporary equalizer in an eventual 4–2 home defeat to Belarus on 17 November 2007 in the penultimate matchday of Group G. Albania failed once again to qualify at a major tournament as they finished Group G in 5th position with 11 points from 12 matches.

Bogdani remained in Serie A as he was loaned out to Livorno at the start of the 2007–08 Serie A season to replace the “goal machine” Cristiano Lucarelli. He made his debut with Livorno on 2 September 2007 against Palermo in a match finished in the 2–4 loss, where he came in as a substitute in the 36th minute in place of Francesco Tavano. Bogdani scored two goals during the second-half season, first against Juventus on 27 January 2008 in a 1–3 loss and against Reggina on 19 March 2008 in the match finished in the 1–1 draw. At the end of the season Livorno relegated to Serie B as they were ranked in the last place of the table. Bogdani registered 28 appearances and only two goals for the entire season.

With Chievo, he made his debut on 14 January 2007 against Catania playing as a starter. He scored twice on 24 February 2007 against Torino, in a match finished in a 3–0 victory. He established himself as a starter under coach Luigi Delneri playing in the starting lineup in 16 out 19 matches, scoring in total 5 goals but unable to avoid relegation to Serie B.

On 11 January 2007 the struggling A.C. ChievoVerona signed 29-year-old Albanian international striker Bogdani from Serie A rivals AC Siena for an undisclosed fee.

Bogdani played his first 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match by scoring the opener against Malta, his 9th international goal, in an eventual 3–0 win at Qemal Stafa Stadium in the second match of Group 1. Later on 6 June 2009, Bogdani scored his 10th international goal against Portugal, becoming only the fifth player to achieve the feat. His goal however was only the temporary equalizer the minute after Portugal’s opener, as Albania lost 1–2 at injury time. Bogdani made his 50th international appearance in the friendly versus Cyprus in August 2009, netting the third goal in a 6–1 home win which was Albania’s largest ever victory. With this goal he overtook Igli Tare and Sokol Kushta to become Albania’s 4th goalscorer of all time. Bogdani scored his next goal in the next qualifying match against Denmark to give Albania a 1–1 draw. It was the first time that Bogdani had scored in three consecutive matches. Albania finished Group 1 in 5th place with only 7 points and 6 goals scored, with Bogdani netting half of them.

Almost similar was also the next 2009–10 season. He participated in 32 matches playing 12 as a starter and 9 as a substitute where he scored 2 goals and provided 1 assist. On 20 September 2009 against Genoa Bogdani played as a starter and created an immediate impact in the first minutes winning a penalty in the 4th minute converted in goal by Michele Marcolini and scoring a goal himself 2 minutes later. Chievo won by 3–1. Due to a dispute with coach Domenico Di Carlo he was not included in the four penultimate matches of the season.

He returned to Chievo for the 2008–09 season. He had a bad season where he wasn’t even included in 9 matches and played 12 matches as a starter and 9 as a substitute. He scored only 1 goal for the entire season against Lazio on 15 March 2009 in a match finished in the 0–3 victory, where Bogdani came in as a substitute following an injury of Stephen Makinwa in the 20th minute and scored the opening goal in the 27th minute.

Bogdani later moved to Croatia with Josip Kuže’s (also future coach of Bogdani at the Albania national team in 2009) crucial help joining the Prva HNL club NK Zagreb. In his first season with NK Zagreb, the 1998–99, he played 14 games scoring 9 goals. In the next season 1999–2000 first-half, he scored 6 goals in 12 games.

Bogdani later moved to Croatia with Josip Kuže’s (also future coach of Bogdani at the Albania national team in 2009) crucial help joining the Prva HNL club NK Zagreb. In his first season with NK Zagreb, the 1998–99, he played 14 games scoring 9 goals. In the next season 1999–2000 first-half, he scored 6 goals in 12 games.

Bogdani scored his first goal in the qualifiers on 2 September 2011 against the FIFA World Cup-winners France. With this goal Bogdani leveled Alban Bushi to become joint all-time top goalscorer of Albania with 14 goals. He broke the record four days later in the next qualifying match, a 2–1 away loss versus Luxembourg. In the post-match interview, Bogdani stated that he was consider to retire from national team but reverted his consideration following a conversation with the Albanian Football Association president Armand Duka declaring that he will stay for another qualification campaign if Albania national team needs him and of course if he would be in a good running form. He also described 2011 as one of the best years of his career.

Bogdani began his UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying by playing as a starter in the opening Group D match versus Romania as Albania drew 1–1 at Stadionul Ceahlăul. It was also Albania’s first draw versus Tricolorii since 1949 after 9 consecutive defeats. On 9 February 2011, Bogdani played in the 1–2 friendly loss to Slovenia, entering in Albania’s top 10 appearance maker list. Later on 26 March 2011, Bogdani assisted Hamdi Salihi’s winner against Belarus with a header to give Albania the 1–0 win at Qemal Stafa Stadium, the first ever against them. It was also Bogdani’s 60 international appearance, overtaking Rudi Vata in the process.

Now a veteran, Bogdani continued to be a part of the national team even after the appointment of manager Gianni De Biasi, who was known for having a liking for youth players. He scored his first goal under De Biasi on 22 May 2012, his 16th with a penalty, in a 2–1 friendly win over Qatar at Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas.

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