Edgar Çani

Early career

Çani was born in Tirana, Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve in the Perugia central Italy, after his family emigrated to Italy in the famous exodus of the Vlora ship on 8 August 1991. He was first spotted by a Pescara scout in 2004 and started his youth career at the time. He signed his first professional contract with the biancazzurri in 2007. He played for Pescara in Serie C1 in the first half of the 2007–08 season overall 11 matches, 7 as a starter and 4 as a substitute, scoring 3 goals.

Palermo

On 31 January 2008 Serie A side Palermo confirmed to have signed Cani, along with Luca Di Matteo, for a reported €600,000 and €500,000 fee respectively. In their June 2008 accounts Palermo showed the signings as being for €450,000 each. Çani made his Serie A debut on 27 April 2008 in a 0–0 home tie against Atalanta coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute in place of Edinson Cavani.

Loan at Ascoli

In July 2008, Ascoli confirmed they had signed Çani on loan for the 2008–09 Serie B season. He scored 4 goals in 24 appearances, most of them as a starter. Ascoli finished the season in 16th.

Loan at Padova

On 20 August 2009 Çani was signed with fellow Serie B team Padova on loan. He made his competitive debut one day later in the opening league matchday against Modena by playing the last 17 minutes of a 1–0 home win. His first score-sheet contributions came in his second ever appearance for the club one week later, scoring…

In February 2011 Çani told the Albanian media that it was his dream to be part of the Albania national football team. He was called up at Albania by new appointed coach Gianni De Biasi for the match against Georgia on 29 February 2012. He debuted for Albania in this match as a starter and scored his first international goal as well, only two minutes after the kick-off and the match finished as a 2–1 loss.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

In the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus, Çani came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Hamdi Salihi and scored in the 84th minute after a cross from Jahmir Hyka to put Albania ahead 2–1 in a game which eventually ended in a 3–1 win for Albania. In the 3rd match of the qualifiers, against Iceland, he scored after an assist by Alban Meha, but his goal wasn't enough as Iceland went on to win 2–1. On 26 March 2013 he scored in a 4–1 win against Lithuania in a friendly match. Çani was left out of the squads for the final two qualifying matches, against Switzerland and Cyprus on 11 and 15 October 2013.

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Following the absence of fellow strikers Armando Sadiku & Rey Manaj which were injured and unable to recover in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Liechtenstein on 6 October 2016 and against Spain on 9 October 2016, coach Gianni De Biasi decided to return Çani to the national team after 3 years as a replacement. He was an unused…

Due to his height, Çani is renowned as a target man centre forward, with his strengths being his heading ability and ability to hold the ball up to bring his teammates into the game.

Club

As of match played 14 December 2025

International

As of match played 12 November 2016

International goals

As of 26 March 2013. Albania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Çani's goal.