Ezgjan Alioski

Ezgjan Alioski (Macedonian: Езѓан Алиоски; born 12 February 1992) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a winger or wing-back for Premier League club Leeds United and the North Macedonia national team. He is commonly known as 'Gjanni'.[3]

Ezgjan Alioski
Alioski playing for Macedonia in 2014
Personal information
Full name Ezgjan Alioski[1]
Езѓан Алиоски
Date of birth (1992-02-12) 12 February 1992
Place of birth Prilep, Macedonia
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s)
Club information
Current team
 Leeds United
Number 10
Youth career
2003–2010 Young Boys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2013 Young Boys U23 57 (4)
2013–2016 Schaffhausen 77 (4)
2015–2016 → Lugano (loan) 16 (3)
2016–2017 Lugano 34 (16)
2017– Leeds United 144 (21)
National team‡
2010–2011 Macedonia U19 6 (0)
2013–2014 Macedonia U21 10 (0)
2013– North Macedonia 39 (7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:31, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2020

A versatile left-footed player, he predominantly plays on the left wing, and can also play as striker, attacking midfielder, right wing, left wing-back or as a left-back.

Club career

Early career

Having joined their youth academy in 2003,[4] Alioski began his career as a left-back in the second team of Young Boys from 2010 to 2013, where he scored four goals in 57 matches. In January 2013, he went to Schaffhausen on loan, before joining on a permanent transfer in October 2013,[4] scoring four goals in 77 matches.

Lugano

He joined Lugano on loan in January 2016,[5] and made his debut on 13 February in a 2–1 loss against Thun. Despite signing him as a left back, then Lugano manager Zdeněk Zeman converted Alioski into an attacking right winger and striker towards the end of the 2015–16 season.[6] He scored his first goal for the club on 11 May 2016 in a 4–0 win to Zürich.[7]

In June 2016, his move was made permanent. New manager Andrea Manzo continued to play Alioski in the attacking roles once the season started. He scored his first goal of the campaign in his second game on 30 July 2016, in a 2–1 win over Young Boys. He scored seven goals in his first ten games at the club. On 19 April 2017, Alioski scored a hat-trick for Lugano in a 4–2 victory against Sion.

He continued to impress during his first season and helped guide Lugano to a third-place finish in the Swiss Super League. He scored 16 goals in 34 games for Lugano and was the third top goalscorer in the league in the 2016–17 season, behind Seydou Doumbia (20) and Guillaume Hoarau (18).[8] He was also the third highest in the division in terms of his assists, after making 14 in his 34 games, behind Yoric Ravet (17) and Matteo Tosetti (15).[9]

Leeds United

Alioski has been a part of Leeds United's return to the Premier League in 2019–20 after a sixteen year wait, notwithstanding two seasons played in the third tier of English football. He scored important goals in the 2019–20 season. His playing style has been compared to that of Billy Bremner.

2017–18 season

Alioski joined English club Leeds United on 13 July 2017.[10] On 6 August 2017, he made his debut in a 3–2 victory against Bolton Wanderers and created the assist for teammate Chris Wood's goal.[11] After gaining another assist, he received the man of the match award over Sunderland in a 2–0 win on 19 August.[12] On 26 August, Alioski received the man of the match award and scored his first goal for Leeds in a 2–0 victory to Nottingham Forest.[13] On 15 September, Alioski won the Championship Goal of the Month Award for August for his goal against Nottingham.[14] In November 2017, Alioski scored in all of Leeds United's four games, and was awarded with the club's award for Player of the Month.[15]

On 16 April 2018, Alioski was nominated as one of four players for Leeds United's Player of The Year award.[16] On 21 April, Alioski scored the winner with his seventh goal of the season in a 2–1 victory for Leeds in the Yorkshire derby against Barnsley.[17] He ended the season with seven goals and five assists.[18]

On 5 May, Alioski won the Goal of the Season award for his strike over Nottingham Forest at Leeds' annual award ceremony.[19]

2018–19 season

He scored his first goal of the 2018–19 season with a goal on 11 August in a 4–1 victory of Derby County.[20][21]

Alioski started the season for Leeds as a winger playing on the right or left side, but after an injury to regular left-back Barry Douglas in 2019, Alioski was praised for his form playing at left-back, with his form keeping a returning Douglas out of the side.[22] He continued to thrive in this wing-back position throughout 2019, producing marauding runs up the left flank and scoring against Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion to bring his Championship tally for 2018–19 to seven, until, on 22 April, in Leeds' 2–0 defeat at Brentford, Alioski was substituted after twelve minutes with a torn meniscus and missed the remainder of the season, including play-offs.[23]

During the 2018–19 season, Alioski played 47 games in all competitions, netting seven goals, after Leeds finished the regular season in third place after dropping out of the automatic promotion places with three games left following a loss to Wigan Athletic on 19 April.[24] Leeds United qualified for the play-offs versus sixth-placed Derby County, with Alioski's season already ended by injury. Leeds won the first leg of the play-offs in a 1–0 win at Pride Park to bring into a 1–0 aggregate lead into the home leg at Elland Road. However, they lost the second leg 2–4, with Gaetano Berardi being sent off.[25] This setback resulted in Leeds losing 4–3 on aggregate.[25]

2019–20 season

On 24 August, Alioski scored his first goal of the 2019–20 season in a 3–0 win over Stoke City.[26] After the English professional football season was paused in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was resumed during June, where Alioski earned promotion with Leeds to the Premier League and also become the EFL Championship winners for the 2019–20 season in July following a successful resumption of the season.[27] Alioski played an important part in the promotion, scoring important goals and changing games.

2020–21 season

Alioski played his first Premier League game on 19 September 2020, when he came on as a 70th minute substitute for Patrick Bamford in the team's 4–3 home win over Fulham.[28] Three days earlier, Alioski had been in the starting line-up, scoring the only goal — in added time — in Leeds's 1–1 League Cup second round tie with Hull City (Hull went on to win 9–8 on penalties with Alioski missing his spot kick).[29] He made his first Premier League start on 5 October 2020 against Manchester City,[30] coming into the first eleven in place of Jack Harrison, who was ineligible to play over his parent club. On 16 December 2020, He scored his first premier league goal in the 5-2 home win against Newcastle United.[31]

International career

Eligible to represent North Macedonia (previously known as the Republic of Macedonia) and Albania due to his Albanian heritage, Alioski decided to represent the country of his birth, North Macedonia.[32] After representing North Macedonia at various youth levels, he made his debut for the senior side in 2013.

He scored his first international goal against Albania on 5 September 2016 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match. He mainly played for his national side in a left wing-back position, before being converted to a more attacking midfield position.

On 6 September 2018, Alioski scored in a 2–0 win over Gibraltar in the UEFA Nations League.[33] He scored in the consecutive game on 9 September in a 2–0 UEFA Nations League win to Armenia.[34]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 3 October 2020[2][35]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Schaffhausen 2013–14[2] Swiss Challenge League 26210———272
2014–15[2] Swiss Challenge League 35210———362
2015–16[2] Swiss Challenge League 16010———170
Total 77430———804
Lugano 2015–16[36] Swiss Super League 16320———183
2016–17[37] Swiss Super League 341610———3516
Total 501930———5319
Leeds United 2017–18[38] Championship 4270030——457
2018–19[39] Championship 4471020——477
2019–20[40] Championship 3951010——415
2020–21[41] Premier League 1420011——153
Total 139192071——13720
Career total 255428071——27043

    International
    As of match played 14 October 2020[42][35]
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    North Macedonia
    201320
    201440
    201500
    201641
    201780
    201873
    201981
    202052
    Total387
    As of match played 14 October 2020. North Macedonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Alioski goal.[42][35]
    List of international goals scored by Ezgjan Alioski
    No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
    15 September 2016Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania7 Albania1–11–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
    26 September 2018Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar21 Gibraltar2–02–02018–19 UEFA Nations League D
    39 September 2018Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia22 Armenia1–02–0
    413 October 201823 Liechtenstein4–14–1
    521 March 201926 Latvia1–03–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
    65 September 2020Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, Macedonia34 Armenia1–02–12020–21 UEFA Nations League C
    714 October 202038 Georgia1–11–1

    Honours

    Leeds United

    Individual

    References
    1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19 May 2018: Leeds United" (PDF). English Football League. p. 21. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
    2. Ezgjan Alioski at Soccerway. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
    3. "Alioski non ha dimenticato Lugano". RSI Sport (in Italian). 27 March 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
    4. "Ezgjan Alioski – Der Phönix aus Schaffhausen". Swiss Football League. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
    5. "Schaffhausen loans Ezgjan Alioski to Lugano". Macedonian Football. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
    6. Brütsch, Markus (8 May 2017). "Ezgjan Alioski: Vom Challenge-League-Verteidiger zum Super-League-Goalgetter". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 15 October 2020.
    7. "Der FC Lugano stürzt den FCZ ins Elend". Der Bund (in German). 11 May 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
    8. "Classement des buteurs – 2016/17". Swiss Football League (in French). Retrieved 22 March 2020.
    9. "Classement des passeurs – 2016/17". Swiss Football League (in French). Retrieved 22 March 2020.
    10. "Alioski becomes number nine". Leeds United. 13 July 2017.
    11. "Report: Bolton Wanderers 2–3 Leeds United". Leeds United Official Site. 6 August 2017.
    12. "Sunderland 0–2 Leeds recap". Sky Sports. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
    13. "Nottingham Forest 0–2 Leeds: Kemar Roofe and Ezgjan Alioski seal win". Sky Sports. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
    14. "Winger Alioski nets August Goal of the Month award". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
    15. "Louis Erard: Ezgjan Alioski named Player of the Month". www.leedsunited.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
    16. "Cast your vote for the Player of the Year awards". www.leedsunited.com. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
    17. "Leeds United 2 Barnsley 1: Tom Pearce lights up Elland Road derby". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
    18. "Leeds United top scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
    19. "Player of the Year 2018 winners". Leeds United F.C. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
    20. "Derby 1–4 Leeds – Bielsa's side thrash Rams with brilliant attacking display". BBC Sport. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
    21. "Report: Derby County 1–4 Leeds United". Leeds United. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
    22. "Gjanni Alioski relishing familiar full-back role under Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United". Yorkshire Evening Post. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
    23. "Ezgjan Alioski: Leeds United winger to miss rest of the season". BBC Sport. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
    24. "Leeds 1 Wigan 2". BBC Sport. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
    25. "Leeds United 2–4 Derby County (Derby win 4–3 on agg)". BBC Sport. 15 May 2019.
    26. "Stoke City 0 Leeds 3". BBC Sport. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
    27. "Championship: Leeds United promoted to Premier League after 16-year absence". BBC Sport. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
    28. "Leeds 4–3 Fulham". BBC Sport. 19 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
    29. "Leeds United 1–1 Hull City (Hull City win 9–8 on penalties)". BBC Sport. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
    30. "Leeds United 1–1 Manchester City". BBC Sport. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
    31. "Leeds v Newcastle, 2020/21 | Premier League". www.premierleague.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
    32. Alioski, Ezgjan (6 September 2016). "Alioski – Intervista pas ndeshjes – shenuesin e golit per maqedonasin" (Interview). Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Retrieved 21 October 2019 – via Youtube.
    33. "Gibraltar 0 Macedonia 2". Retrieved 6 September 2018.
    34. "Macedonia 2 Armenia 0". Retrieved 15 September 2018.
    35. "Alioski, Ezgjan". National Football Teams. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
    36. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
    37. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
    38. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
    39. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
    40. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
    41. "Games played by Ezgjan Alioski in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
    42. "Ezgjan Alioski". European Football. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
    43. "Leeds United are champions!". Leeds United F.C. 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
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