Emir Bajrami

IF Elfsborg

Growing up in Sweden, Bajrami began playing football when he was about eight or nine years old. This resulted in Bajrami joining Köping FF and progressed his career at the club, he made twelve appearances and scoring five times professionally. It was announced that the player would be moving to Elfsborg at the end of the 2005 season. He made his debut for the club, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute, in a 3–0 win against GAIS on 30 July 2006. Despite making his only appearance of the 2006 season, the season saw IF Elfsborg win the league for the first time since 1961. The 2007 season proved to be a breakthrough season for Bajrami. He made his first appearance of the season against Helsingborg in the Svenska Supercupen, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute, in a 1–0 win, marking Bajrami's first achievement in his football career. He scored on his first Allsvenskan start for IF Elfsborg, as the club drew 1–1 against Örebro SK on 17 April 2007. Following this, Bajrami found his playing time, mostly coming from the substitute bench throughout the 2007 season. He then made his UEFA Champions League debut, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute, in a 1–0 win against Debreceni. Although Bajrami appeared as an unused substitute in the return leg, IF Elfsborg went through to the next round after a 0–0 draw, resulting in the club going through to the next round following a 1–0 win on aggregate. It was announced on 20 August 2007 that he signed a contract with…

Early career

Bajrami started out his Sweden career when he played for Sweden U15, Sweden U16 and Sweden U17 for three years between 2003 and 2006. In November 2005, Bajrami was called up for his debut in the Sweden U18 team. He made his debut for the U18 national team against USA U18 on 8 June 2006, starting a match and played 75 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–2 draw. It wasn't until on 7 September 2006 when Bajrami scored his first Sweden U18 goal, in a 1–1 draw against Czech Republic U18. He went on to make six appearances and scoring once for the U18 national team. In October 2006, Bajrami was called up for his debut in the Sweden U19 team. He made his U19 national team debut, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute, in a 4–1 win against Faroe Islands U19 on 6 October 2006. Bajrami continued to make six more appearances for the U19 national team.

Sweden U21

In October 2007, Bajrami was called up for his debut on the Sweden U21 team. He made his debut for the U21 national team against Republic of Ireland U21 on 12 October 2007, coming on as a 64th-minute substitute, in a 3–2 loss. In a follow–up match against Belgium U21, Bajrami scored his first goal for Sweden U21, in a 5–1 win. The next two years saw the player become a regular for the U21 national team, playing in the midfield position. During which, he scored two goals against Finland U21 and Netherlands U21. In May 2009, Bajrami was included in Sweden for the UEFA European Under-21…

Club

International

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

Born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia, (which is now Kosovo), Bajrami's family moved to Sweden and grew up in Köping, along with his older brother, Ramush. As a result, Bajrami was granted Swedish citizenship, which meant that he was eligible to play for the national team in the future. In addition to playing football, Bajrami played ice hockey and even played bandy as a teenager, where he was, at one point, selected for the national youth team, but rejected the offer in favour of playing football instead. Bajrami has tattoos, including an Albanian flag on the underside of his upper arm, saying: "Mostly so that people know that I do not forget my roots. I am and will always be Kosovo Albanian. I was born there." In September 2010, he signed a sponsorship with Adidas. Bajrami is married.