Ardian Kozniku

Ardian Kozniku (born 27 October 1967) is a Kosovan-Croatian former professional footballer who played as a striker and recently coached Shkëndija. He is an ethnic Kosovo Albanian.

Ardian Kozniku

Personal information
Date of birth	(1967-10-27) 27 October 1967
Place of birth	Đakovica, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Vëllaznimi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1988–1990	Prishtina	58	(17)
1990–1994	Hajduk Split	98	(44)
1994–1996	Cannes	55	(20)
1996–1997	Le Havre	30	(6)
1997	APOEL	11	(12)
1998	Bastia	12	(5)
1998–2000	Croatia Zagreb	28	(5)
2000–2001	Kärnten	7	(0)
2001–2002	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	11	(2)
Total		310	(111)
National team
1993–2002	Kosovo	2	(0)
1994–1998	Croatia	7	(2)
Teams managed
2014–2015	Shkëndija
Honours Representing  Croatia FIFA World Cup 1998
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He started his career at Vëllaznimi from Gjakova and was later picked up by Prishtina. He later moved to Croatian side Hajduk Split in 1990 and played there until 1994. He then went on to play for French clubs Cannes, Le Havre and Bastia, as well as Cypriot side APOEL, before making his comeback to Croatia in the summer of 1998, signing with Croatia Zagreb. After two and a half seasons at the club, he made a move to Austrian side Kärnten in the winter break of the 2000–01 season and left the club after only six months for Croatian side Hrvatski Dragovoljac, where he finished his career in 2002.

With Hajduk Split, he was the top goalscorer of the opening season of the Prva HNL in 1992, scoring 12 goals. He scored a total of 45 goals in the league.

He was an occasional member of the Croatian national team in the 1990s, making seven international caps and scoring two goals. He made his international debut in a friendly match against Slovakia in April 1994 and also made three appearances in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the UEFA Euro 1996, scoring one goal. He was a member of Croatia's bronze medal-winning squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but was left an unused substitute in all of the team's seven matches at the tournament. His last match for Croatia was a friendly against Australia in early June 1998, during the team's preparations for the upcoming World Cup, where he also netted one goal in his team's 7–0 victory. He also played for Kosovo in friendly matches against Albania on 14 February 1993 and again on 7 September 2002 against Albania.[1][2]

Kozniku has served two years as the president of the Croatian Diving Federation.[3] His daughter Diana (born 1995[4]), a diver, placed 11th in 1 m springboard at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships.[3]

In September 2014 Kozniku became a coach of Shkëndija.[5]