Naser Aliji

Early career

Aliji was born in Kumanovo and is of Albanian ethnicity. He lived there until he was four years old, at which time his mother moved to Baden, Switzerland together with her two other siblings, a sister and a brother, to join their father, who had been working there for many years. Aliji started his youth football aged 4 when he was sent by his brother to play with FC Baden. Aged 9, he moved to FC Aarau for one year and then he joined FC Basel in 2008. Later he played in their U-18 team and in their U21 team where he received various individual prizes as the youngster of the year.

Basel

Aliji signed his first professional contract with FC Basel on 20 June 2013 and joined their first team. Aliji made his first team debut on 17 August as he was substituted in during the Swiss Cup first round match against BSC Old Boys. He played his first match in the starting eleven in the Swiss Cup quarter-final against Le Mont on 5 February 2014 as Basel won 6–1. One minute before half time he gave the final pass to Marco Streller for him to score the third goal of the game. On 16 March 2014, Aliji made his Swiss Super League debut and played the full 90 minutes at St. Jakob-Park in the 5–0 home win, against Aarau. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Aliji won the league championship with Basel. They also reached the final of the 2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by Zürich after extra time. During the 2013–14 Champions League season Basel reached…

Despite playing for Switzerland youth national teams and Switzerland youth national teams, Aliji did not exclude the option of representing Albania at international level. On 17 December 2014, the FSHF representative for talents in Switzerland, Sokol Dauti, confirmed that Aliji had decided to represent Albania and begun the procedure to get an Albanian passport. Three of his former teammates at Basel Taulant Xhaka, Shkëlzen Gashi and Arlind Ajeti play for Albania, despite having represented Swiss youth national teams. On 5 March 2015, Aliji received Albanian citizenship alongside his teammate Ajeti, and became the first player ever from Macedonia to wear the Albania national team shirt. Aliji received his first call-up to the Albania national team by the coach Gianni De Biasi for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Armenia on 29 March 2015. Despite the invitation he wasn't eligible yet to play for Albania in competitive matches as he hadn't yet received the go ahead from FIFA. Then Aliji was called up again in the next match of Albania, the friendly one against France on 13 June 2015. He debuted for Albania at international level against France playing the full 90-minutes match which finished in a 1–0 crucial victory against the UEFA Euro 2016 hosts with a free-kick scored by Ergys Kaçe in the 43rd minute. On 21 May 2016, Aliji was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, and in Albania's final 23-man UEFA Euro 2016 squad on 31 May. Aliji…

Club

As of match played 12 May 2024

International

As of 16 November 2025

Following Albania's historic participation at UEFA Euro 2016, Aliji was among the members of the national team who were issued diplomatic passports by the Albanian government in recognition of their achievement. In the summer of 2018 Aliji returned to Switzerland to be with his father who had a cancer diagnosis.