Miralem Sulejmani

Miralem Sulejmani
Миралем Сулејмани

Personal information
Full name	Miralem Sulejmani
Date of birth	5 December 1988 (1988-12-05) (age 22)
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Winger / Striker
Club information
Current club	Ajax
Number	7
Youth career
	BSK Batajnica
2000–2005	Partizan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–2006	Partizan	1	(0)
2006–2008	Heerenveen	34	(15)
2008–	Ajax	87	(25)
National team‡
2007–2010	Serbia U21	19	(6)
2008–	Serbia	7	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:37, 20 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:54, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Miralem Sulejmani (Serbian Cyrillic: Миралем Сулејмани, born 5 December 1988 in Belgrade, Serbia) is a Serbian football player of Gorani origin who plays for Ajax.

Early career

His father played at OFK Beograd and GSP Polet. Sulejmani's first club was local club FK BSK Batajnica before he moved to the youth squads of FK Partizan. He made his first appearance for the Serbian club in the 2005–06 season. Quickly, Sulejmani was branded as the next great talent from Serbia, and interest quickly followed from Dutch clubs like AZ Alkmaar, FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen. In 2006 Sulejmani spent time at farmclub FK Teleoptik.^[1] On 6 December 2006 it was announced that Heerenveen had signed the Serbian striker, who would move to the Eredivisie side in January.

Controversial move

His decision to move to Heerenveen was controversial, several arguments occurred between Heerenveen and his agent. Eventually, Partizan after a meeting with the Football Association of Serbia suspended Sulejmani until 11 May 2007 keeping him out for the rest of the season. Heerenveen appealed to the FIFA and although the original verdict claimed that Sulejmani should not be suspended, a second look at the case was made and Sulejmani was suspended again. He made his debut for the youth squad at 13 May 2007 in a 3–0 win against Heracles Almelo, in which he gave 1 assist.

Heerenveen

Finally, in the 2007–08 season, Sulejmani was able to make his debut on 17 August 2007 against Willem II. The match ended in a goalless draw.

His second appearance came against Ajax. Sulejmani went on to score his first goal for Heerenveen as the Serbian put Heerenveen 1–0 ahead at the Amsterdam ArenA. However, they went on to lose the game 4–1, ending a streak of three away wins against Ajax. Heerenveen's poor start to the season continued, but one of the few limelights of the team was Sulejmani, showing some outstanding displays on the wing. In the first half of the season, Sulejmani proved himself to be a worthy replacement during Afonso Alves' absence and scored 4 goals and produced 5 assists, including the assist for the winning goal against reigning champions PSV Eindhoven.

After Alves' departure to Middlesbrough, it was up to Sulejmani to lead Heerenveen's attack, in which he succeeded. His fine play even led to the (temporary) departure of 13-time Polish international, Radosław Matusiak. At the end of the season, Sulejmani became the club's equal topscorer with 15 goals in 34 appearances, playing in all Eredivisie matches and provided 10 assists for his team-mates. He also won the prize of the Talent of the Year-award, as a prize, he decided to donate an artificial turf-football field in his hometown.^[2]

Heerenveen finished fifth in the Eredivisie, earning them a spot in the playoffs for the qualifying round for the Champions League against second ranked club Ajax. Usually, the number 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Eredivisie are ensured of at least UEFA Cup-football, but thanks to the fact that Feyenoord, who finished 6th in the league, won the KNVB-Beker, the loser of the playoffs will wind up playing the Intertoto Cup. Sulejmani will not participate in the playoffs, because of an injury to the meniscus, which will sideline him for the rest of the season. Heerenveen lost the first round to Ajax 5–2 on aggregate and went on to face NAC Breda, who finished 3rd in the league, in the losers-round for the final ticket for the UEFA Cup.

Ajax

Sulejmani taking a free kick for Ajax

After weeks of speculation, the transfer-soap of Sulejmani finally ended on 4 July 2008 when AFC Ajax announced on the official website that Heerenveen and Ajax had reached an agreement of the transfer of Sulejmani. Ajax paid €16.25 million to Heerenveen, breaking the Dutch transfer-record, with the previous record also having been between the two Eredivisie clubs for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in 2005.^[3]

In Amsterdam, Sulejmani signed a five-year contract with Ajax, keeping him there until 30 June 2013. Sulejmani claimed in an interview that he himself didn't even know that Ajax paid over €16 million for his services.^[4] Miralem said, I am a footballer and I only want to think about football. He made his debut for Ajax in the test match against Sunderland on 3 August 2008.

From his first start for Ajax in the Eredivisie Sulejmani an immediate impact player, scoring in his debut against Willem II which Ajax eventually lost 2–1. In February 2010, he scored a solo goal against Juventus in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 tie. He ran nearly the entire length of the pitch, outrunning the Juventus defenders to score the opening goal of the match but Ajax were eliminated from the competition, losing 2–1 on aggregate.

On 11 August 2010, West Ham United confirmed that they had agreed terms with Ajax and with Sulejmani to take him on a year long loan subject to the granting of a work permit,^[5][6] however the work permit application was denied the next day.^[7]

Then after a winter coach change, he got more chances in the first-team and became a regular.^{[citation needed]} He says he has gained more self-confidence, certainly due to new coach Frank de Boer.^{[citation needed]}

International career

Sulejmani was named in Zvonko Živković's 18-man squad for the 2007 UEFA European U-19 Championship and was given the number 10 shirt.

On 7 September 2008 Sulejmani converted 2 penalties for Serbia in their 8–0 demolition of Hungary's under-21 side in a qualifying match for the European Under-21 Championship.^[8]

Sulejmani made his international debut for the senior national team on 6 February 2008 in a friendly match in Skopje against Macedonia.

Career statistics

Miralem Sulejmani, Serbian footballer in Ajax

As of 19 November 2011^[9][10]

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Serbia			League		Serbian Cup		Europe		Total
2005–06	Partizan	SuperLiga	1	0	-	-	-	-	1	0
Netherlands			League		KNVB Cup		Europe		Total
2006–07	Heerenveen	Eredivisie	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007–08			34	15	2	1	2	0	38	16
2008–09	AFC Ajax		27	8	-	-	7	2	34	10
2009–10			17	2	4	0	10	1	31	3
2010–11			32	8	6	3	14	2	52	13
2011–12			11	7	0	0	4	1	15	8
			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Total	Serbia		1	0	-	-	-	-	1	0
	Netherlands		121	40	12	4	37	6	170	50
Career total			122	40	12	4	37	6	171	50

Honours

Club

Ajax

• Eredivisie (1): 2010–11
• KNVB Cup (1): 2009–10

Individual

• Young Player in The Netherlands: 2008

References

1. ^ Срце одлучило, Politika
2. ^ Sulejmani volgt Afellay op als Grootste Talent van het Seizoen
3. ^ Ajax.nl | Football | Eredivisie | AFC Ajax | Ajax en sc Heerenveen akkoord over Sulejmani
4. ^ Sulejmani gaat voor landstitel
5. ^ "Update on Sulejmani". www.whufc.com. 11 August 2010. http://www.whufc.com/articles/20100811/club-update-on-sulejmani_2236884_2118806. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
6. ^ "West Ham agree loan terms for striker Miralem Sulejmani". BBC Sport. 11 August 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/8906378.stm. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
7. ^ "West Ham move for Sulejmani hit by red tape as Fulham denied chance to sign Chelsea starlet". Daily Mail (UK). 12 August 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1302598/West-Ham-Sulejmani-hit-red-tape-Fulham-denied-chance-sign-Chelsea-starlet.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
8. ^ UEFA (7 September 2008). "Kačar stars in Serbian rout". Archived from the original on 19 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080519190109/http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=15084/match=300233/index.html. Retrieved 8 September 2008. 
9. ^ "Miralem Sulejmani". ESPN Soccernet. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=94818&cc=5739. Retrieved 29 July 2010. 
10. ^ "Miralem Sulejmani Statistics". Voetbal International. http://www.vi.nl/Spelers/Speler/Miralem-Sulejmani.htm. Retrieved 29 July 2010. 

http://www.nusport.nl/eredivisie/2500388/sulejmani-blijft-ajax-trouw.html

External links

• National Football Teams
• Miralem Sulejmani at reprezentacija.rs

Persondata
Name	Sulejmani, Miralem
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	5 December 1988
Place of birth	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Date of death
Place of death