Visar Bekaj

Visar Bekaj (born 24 May 1997) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Turkish club Hatayspor and the Kosovo national team.

Visar Bekaj

Personal information
Full name	Visar Bekaj
Date of birth	(1997-05-24) 24 May 1997 (age 28)
Place of birth	Pristina, FR Yugoslavia
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Hatayspor
Number	12
Youth career
2003–2013	Ramiz Sadiku
2013–2015	Prishtina
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014–2020	Prishtina	159	(0)
2020–2023	Tirana	103	(0)
2023–	Hatayspor	18	(0)
International career‡
2013	Albania U17	3	(0)
2017–2018	Kosovo U21	8	(0)
2015–	Kosovo	8	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 14 May 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 8 June 2024

Club career

Prishtina

2019–20 season

On 27 June 2019, Bekaj commenced his fifth season with a draw in 2019–20 UEFA Europa League preliminary round match against Gibraltarian side St Joseph's after being named in the starting line-up.^[1]

Failure to join with 1899 Hoffenheim

On 4 July 2019, Prishtina through a communiqué stated that Bekaj, most likely in Gibraltar against St Joseph's has played his last official match with Prishtina and is soon expected to move to 1899 Hoffenheim.^[2][3] On 4 September 2019, Bota Sot confirms that Bekaj's transfer to 1899 Hoffenheim has failed after the German club request in TMS system to Prishtina was missing.^[4]

Return to Prishtina

Bekaj returned to Football Superleague of Kosovo side Prishtina,^[4] On 13 September 2019, he played the first game after the return against Llapi after being named in the starting line-up.^[5][6]

Tirana

On 29 August 2020, Bekaj signed a three-year contract with Kategoria Superiore club Tirana.^[7] His debut with Tirana came on 1 October in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League play-off round against Young Boys after being named in the starting line-up.^[8]

International career

Youth career and first senior call-up

In December 2012, Bekaj received a call-up from Albania U17 for a selection camp in Pristina, Kosovo from 3–4 December 2012.^[9] On 7 October 2015, he received a call-up from Kosovo for the friendly match against Equatorial Guinea.^[10] His debut with Kosovo came on 13 November in a friendly match against Albania after coming on as a substitute at 89th minute in place of captain Samir Ujkani.^[11]

Return to youth team

On 21 March 2017, Bekaj received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Republic of Ireland U21,^[12] and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.^[13]

Honours

Tirana

• Kategoria Superiore: 2021–22; runner-up: 2022–23
• Kupa e Shqipërisë runner-up: 2022–23
• Albanian Supercup: 2022