Miralem Sulejmani

Partizan

His first club was local FK BSK Batajnica, before he moved to FK Partizan at the age of 11 to complete his formation. Sulejmani made his first appearance for the seniors in the 2005–06 season, aged 17, and quickly drew interest from Dutch clubs AZ Alkmaar, FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen; additionally, he also spent time at farm team FK Teleoptik.

Heerenveen

On 6 December 2006 Sulejmani signed for Heerenveen with the transfer being made effective in January of the following year. The move was controversial, with several arguments occurring between the Dutch side and his agent. Eventually Partizan, after a meeting with the Football Association of Serbia, suspended the player until 11 May 2007, keeping him out for the rest of the season; Heerenveen appealed to FIFA afterwards and, although the original verdict claimed that he should not be suspended, a second look at the case was made and he was banned again.

Sulejmani made his official debut with the Friesland team in the 2007–08 campaign, against Willem II on 17 August 2007 (0–0 draw). He scored his first Eredivisie goal the following match, but his team lost 1–4 at AFC Ajax; profiting from the departure of Afonso Alves to Middlesbrough in January 2008, he finished the campaign with 15 goals to rank joint-fifth in the scoring charts, helping his team to the fifth position and the subsequent qualification to the UEFA Cup.

Ajax

After weeks of speculation, AFC Ajax announced that it had…

Sulejmani was named in Zvonko Živković's 18-man squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. On 7 September 2008 he converted two penalties for the under-21s in their 8–0 demolition of Hungary in a qualifying match for the 2009 European Championships. Sulejmani made his debut for the senior team on 6 February 2008, in a friendly with Macedonia in Skopje. He netted his first international goal on 12 September 2012, against Wales for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers (6–1 win). He earned a total of 20 caps (1 goal), and his final international was a March 2016 friendly match away against Estonia.

Club

As of 22 May 2022

International

As of 29 March 2016

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

Sulejmani's father Miljaim is an ethnic Gorani whose family moved from Gora in southern Kosovo to Batajnica neighbourhood of Belgrade in 1948. His father Miljaim also played football, for OFK Beograd and GSP Polet. Miralem's mother Silvija is a Serb born in Zagreb, Croatia. Sulejmani is close friends with Danko Lazović, a fellow professional footballer who also spent much of his career in the Dutch top flight; Sulejmani notably played for AFC Ajax, whereas Lazović played for their rivals Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven. In 2010, he met his girlfriend Vesna Mušović. He became a father to a son in October 2011.