Njazi Kuqi

Youth career

Kuqi was born in Vučitrn, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Vushtrri, Kosovo), and moved to Finland with his family as a child. In Finland, Kuqi played for youth sectors of Finnairin Palloilijat, MP Mikkeli and Kangasniemen Palloilijat. Also HJK (Helsingin jalkapallo klubi)

FC Lahti

He began his senior career with FC Lahti in 2002, aged 19, and he was named Finland's Under-21 Player of the Year in 2004. Kuqi spent three seasons with the club, scoring a total of 20 goals in 57 appearances in all competitions.

Birmingham

In January 2005, Kuqi signed for Birmingham City for a fee of £400,000, but failed to make any first–team appearances for the club during the latter stages of the 2004–05 season, although he was an unused substitute in Birmingham's 2–0 away defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup. Kuqi featured regularly for Birmingham's reserve side, but had a number of more experienced strikers in front of him, including Emile Heskey and Mikael Forssell, which made it difficult for him to break into the starting eleven. During the second half of the 2005–06 season, Kuqi was sent out on loan to Blackpool on a month's loan deal. A day after joining the club, he made his debut in the club's 4–2 win against Doncaster Rovers, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute. Kuqi subsequently started in the club's 3–0 loss away to MK Dons, and played a total of four times for Blackpool before returning to his parent club. In March 2006, Kuqi was loaned out once…

In March 2005, Kuqi was called up to the Finland squad for a friendly against Kuwait. He started the match, and scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win. Six days later, he came off the substitute's bench to score twice within the space of five minutes in Finland's 4–1 win against Saudi Arabia. In 2005, he got a six-month ban to the national team after leaving the team, after a U21-match against Czech Republic was played, for a birthday night out in Prague with a fellow international Toni Koskela. After that, Kuqi was out of the picture and it was thought that he was keen to play for Kosovo, but in August 2008 he was called up to the squad once more when Stuart Baxter selected him for a friendly against Israel, although he was an unused substitute. In September 2008, Kuqi gained his third cap as a 75th-minute substitute in Finland's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Germany, with the game ending 3–3.

As of 19 January 2018

Club

International

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

He is the younger brother of footballer Shefki Kuqi and older brother of footballer Albert Kuqi. They are of Kosovo Albanian descent.