Hamdi Salihi

Early years

Salihi begun his professional career at his boyhood club Vllaznia Shkodër, where he was promoted in the first team by coach Artan Bushati in the 2002–03 season; he made two appearances as the team finished runner-up to eventual champions Tirana. He had his breakthrough season in the 2003–04 season, netting his first Albanian Superliga goal in the opening week, a 4–1 away loss to Partizani Tirana. In cup, he notably scored four goals in a 9–0 away win versus Ada Velipojë in the second leg of second round. Salihi finished his first full-season by netting 14 goals in 33 league appearances, with Vllaznia finishing third. Salihi scored his first top-flight hat-trick on 23 October 2004 in Vllaznia's 7–0 hammering of Laçi. He was the most in-from striker during the first part of 2004–05 season in which he managed to score 16 goals in only 20 matches which ensured him a transfer to Greece. In January 2005, Salihi moved for the first time outside the country by joining Panionios in then Alpha Ethniki on a three-year contract. The young Albanian striker managed to play in 6 games, mostly coming on as a substitute in the last few minutes. He left the club following the end of the season and came back to Albania. Many years later he stated that the transfer was a mistake, adding that he was not ready to leave the country at such young age.

Tirana

Salihi moved back to Albania and played for Tirana starting from the 2005–06 season. In his first match since…

Salihi scored his first goal for the Albania national team in a 3–0 win over Malta on 23 August 2007. He was sent in the game on the 22nd minute replacing Erjon Bogdani. Only after 12 minutes played, The Bomber took advantage of a mistake made by the Maltese goalie and scored. Salihi also scored the advantage goal in the unofficial friendly against Milan for the Taçi Oil Cup; the match eventually ended 3–3 with Albania losing on penalty shootouts. The second international goal of Salihi came against Sweden, when he scored for Albania in the last match of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, where Albania lost 4–1 at Råsunda Stadium. Neither Sweden or Albania qualified for the 2010 World Cup. For the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, new coach Gianni De Biasi had introduced young forwards into the senior national team to create more competition for places in the first team. Young players forwards such as Edgar Çani, Armando Sadiku and Bekim Balaj provided competition for the established and mature internationals which were Salihi and Erjon Bogdani. In opening group game of the qualifiers, Albania took on Cyprus at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana, Salihi started the game upfront alongside 21-year-old Armando Sadiku who was making his competitive debut, having featured in three friendly games prior to the game against Cyprus. The pair combined well in the early stages and Salihi had a good chance to score in the first half, before Sadiku opened the scoring in the 36th minute. The game…

On 2 May 2019, Salihi was appointed assistant manager of SC Wiener Neustadt, where he at the time also was playing for. Ahead of the 2019–20 season, he was appointed assistant manager of Edoardo Reja at the Albania national team.

Club

International

Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Salihi goal.