Haris Seferović

Haris Seferović (Bosnian pronunciation: [xǎːris sefěːroʋitɕ]; born 22 February 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays for Portuguese club Benfica and the Switzerland national team as a striker.

Haris Seferović
Seferović training with Switzerland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name Haris Seferović[1]
Date of birth (1992-02-22) 22 February 1992
Place of birth Sursee, Switzerland
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Benfica
Number 14
Youth career
1999–2004 Sursee
2004–2007 Luzern
2007–2009 Grasshopper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Grasshopper 3 (0)
2010–2013 Fiorentina 8 (0)
2011–2012 → Neuchâtel Xamax (loan) 10 (2)
2012 → Lecce (loan) 5 (0)
2013 → Novara (loan) 18 (10)
2013–2014 Real Sociedad 24 (2)
2014–2017 Eintracht Frankfurt 86 (16)
2017– Benfica 81 (35)
National team‡
2007–2010 Switzerland U17 11 (9)
2010–2011 Switzerland U19 12 (8)
2011–2012 Switzerland U21 11 (3)
2013– Switzerland 68 (19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 October 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 October 2020

Seferović made his professional debut at Grasshopper in April 2009; shortly after, in January 2010, he was signed by Italian side Fiorentina. Much of his time at the latter club was spent out on loan, with a successful spell at Novara in Serie B, followed by a transfer to Real Sociedad of Spain in 2013. A year later, he joined German club Eintracht Frankfurt, with whom he spent three seasons before a transfer to Benfica in Portugal.

A full international since 2013, Seferović represented Switzerland at the 2014 FIFA World Cup,[3] UEFA Euro 2016 and 2018 FIFA World Cup, earning over 60 caps.

Club career

Early career

Seferović began his career in 1999 on FC Sursee's youth side and after five years signed in the summer of 2004 for Luzern.[4] After three years in their youth teams, he was scouted by Grasshopper, and on 26 April 2009, he made his debut in the Swiss Super League against Neuchâtel Xamax.[5] In January 2010, he was named as the Youth Player of the Year in the canton Lucerne.[6]

Fiorentina

On 29 January 2010, Italian Serie A club Fiorentina signed Seferović from Grasshopper for a €2.1 million transfer fee.[7][8] One day later, La Viola announced the deal was completed.[9] The youngster was assigned to Fiorentina's primavera team.[10] On 4 August 2011, Seferović was loaned to Swiss Super League side Neuchâtel Xamax.[11]

On 27 January 2012, Seferović was loaned to Serie A club Lecce during the January transfer window.[12] He spent the second half of the 2012–13 season with Novara of Serie B, scoring 10 goals in 18 matches, all as a starter. He scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Livorno on 17 April as Novara eventually finished in the play-offs.[13]

Real Sociedad

On 11 July 2013, Seferović completed a move to Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad on a four-year deal for a €2 million transfer fee.[14][15] He made his La Liga debut on 16 August 2013, and scored with a chip against Getafe, securing a 2–0 home victory.[16] Four days later, he scored a volley as Real Sociedad beat Lyon 2–0 away from home in the play-off qualification round for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League.[17] He played in 24 league matches in his first season, only nine as a starter, and scored his only other league goal as a substitute for Carlos Vela, wrapping up a 5–0 win over Osasuna on 2 November.[18] On 18 December, he scored Sociedad's third goal as the club defeated third-tier Algeciras 4–0 in the Copa del Rey's round of 32.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 1 August 2014, Seferović completed a move to German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, signing a three-year contract. The club said, "We intentionally chose a young player who already has a relatively high degree of experience, but who still has plenty of room for improvement."[19] He made his debut on 16 August, scoring the opening goal in the ninth minute as Frankfurt defeated fourth-tier Viktoria Berlin 2–0 away in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.[20] One week later, he made his first Bundesliga debut and scored the only goal from Frankfurt's first attack of the game to defeat SC Freiburg at the Waldstadion.[21] In Frankfurt's 4–5 home defeat to VfB Stuttgart on 25 October, Seferović was sent off for a second yellow card.[22]

In the 2015–16 Bundesliga, Seferović scored only three times in 29 games as Frankfurt came 16th and were confined to a play-off against 1. FC Nürnberg to maintain their spot in the top flight. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg at home, he scored the only goal in the second to maintain his club's place.[23]

Seferović received a three-match ban in February 2017 for striking Hertha BSC's Niklas Stark during a 2–0 loss in Berlin. It was Frankfurt's sixth dismissal of the season and he was also fined an undisclosed amount which was donated to charity.[24] He played four matches in the team's runner-up DFB-Pokal campaign, and scored the winning goal at Hannover 96 in the round of 16.[25]

Benfica

On 2 June 2017, Seferović signed a five-year contract with Portuguese champions Benfica.[26] He debuted with the Lisbon side on 5 August in the 2017 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, starting alongside Jonas and scoring the second goal in a 3–1 win over Vitória de Guimarães.[27] Four days later, he made his Primeira Liga debut in a 3–1 home win over Braga.[28] In October that year, he was praised by former Benfica footballer Nuno Gomes as a valuable player for the team.[29] In his first season with Benfica, Seferović scored six times across all competitions, with every goal being scored in the first half of the campaign, after which he lost his role of supporting Jonas to Raúl Jiménez.[30][31]

Despite starting the 2018–19 season as the fourth attacking option of manager Rui Vitória, Seferović became the team's top scorer on 11 January 2019, under the guidance of Bruno Lage.[31][32] Most notably, in the league campaign, Seferović scored the winning goal in a 1–0 home victory over Porto,[33] netted the winner against Vitória de Guimarães away (0–1),[34] scored the first goal in a 4–2 away win over Sporting CP,[35] and netted a brace in a 10–0 thrashing of Nacional.[36] Internationally, he scored yet another winner, this time in a 2–1 win over Galatasaray in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 on 14 February, helping Benfica seal their first victory in Turkey.[32][37] With this goal, his 17th overall that season, he temporarily became the top scorer across all leagues in the world in 2019, with a 10 goals tally.[32] His 23 league goals earned him the Bola de Prata, making him the second Swiss player (after Alexander Frei) to be the top goalscorer in a foreign league.[38]

International career
Seferović (in white) guarding the ball against Austria's Christian Fuchs in a 2015 friendly

With the Swiss under-17 national team, Seferović won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria[39] and was the top scorer of the tournament.[40] He scored five goals at the tournament, including the winning goal in the final against hosts Nigeria.[41]

In 2013, ahead of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team's match against Slovenia, Seferović claimed he wanted to play for the country of his parents' birth.[42] However, he later accepted a call-up from Switzerland, and made his debut in a friendly against Greece on 6 February 2013, where he replaced Mario Gavranović for the last 20 minutes of the 0–0 away draw.[43] On his third cap, on 8 June 2013, he replaced Josip Drmić for the last 15 minutes, and in injury time, scored the only goal of a home 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cyprus.[44]

On 2 June 2014, Seferović was named in Switzerland's 2014 World Cup squad by head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.[45] In the team's first match, on 15 June in Brasília against Ecuador, he replaced Drmić for the last 15 minutes and scored the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.[46]

In qualification for UEFA Euro 2016, Seferović scored three goals, including two in the first half of a 4–0 win away to San Marino that was Swiss' first victory of the campaign.[47] Manager Vladimir Petković chose him in the 23-man squad for the finals in France.[48]

Seferović added four more goals as the Swiss qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with two in a 3–0 win over Andorra in St. Gallen on 31 August 2017.[49] Petković named him for the squad to compete in the finals in Russia.[50]

On 18 November 2018, Seferović scored a hat-trick as the Swiss came from 0–2 down to defeat Belgium 5–2 in the UEFA Nations League to top their group and qualify for the finals.[51]In May 2019, he played in 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, where his team finished 4th.[52]

Personal life

Seferović's family is from Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then in SFR Yugoslavia), who immigrated to Switzerland in the late 1980s.[53] He is of Bosniak origin.[54][55][56]

On 28 December 2020 he tested positive for COVID-19.[57]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 29 October 2020[58][59]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Grasshopper 2008–09 Swiss Challenge League 1000—00—10
2009–10 Swiss Challenge League 2000———20
Total 300000000030
Fiorentina 2010–11 Serie A 1020———30
2012–13 Serie A 7021———91
Total 8041000000121
Neuchâtel Xamax (loan) 2011–12 Swiss Super League 14200——00142
Lecce (loan) 2011–12 Serie A 5000———50
Novara (loan) 2012–13 Serie B 181000———1810
Real Sociedad 2013–14 La Liga 24281—81—404
Eintracht Frankfurt 2014–15 Bundesliga 321021———3411
2015–16 Bundesliga 29320——21334
2016–17 Bundesliga 25341———294
Total 8616820000219619
Benfica 2017–18 Primeira Liga 20420214111297
2018–19 Primeira Liga 29235042132—5127
2019–20 Primeira Liga 30552207210459
2020–21 Primeira Liga 440000200064
Total 8336122832652113147
Career total 24166326833464231983

International
Stephan Lichtsteiner, Seferović (center) and François Moubandje in November 2015
As of match played 13 October 2020[60]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Switzerland 201391
2014113
201573
2016111
201793
2018126
201951
202041
Total6819

International goals
Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 June 2013Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland Cyprus1–01–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.15 June 2014Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasília, Brazil Ecuador2–12–12014 FIFA World Cup
3.14 October 2014San Marino Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino San Marino1–04–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
4.2–0
5.27 March 2015Swissporarena, Lucern, Switzerland Estonia3–03–0
6.17 November 2015Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria Austria1–02–1Friendly
7.2–1
8.7 October 2016Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary Hungary1–03–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.31 August 2017AFG Arena, St.Gallen, Switzerland Andorra1–03–0
10.2–0
11.3 September 2017Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia Latvia1–03–0
12.8 June 2018Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano, Switzerland Japan2–02–0Friendly
13.8 September 2018Kybunpark, St. Gallen, Switzerland Iceland4–06–02018–19 UEFA Nations League A
14.15 October 2018Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland1–02–1
15.18 November 2018Swissporarena, Lucern, Switzerland Belgium2–25–2
16.3–2
17.5–2
18.15 October 2019Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland Republic of Ireland1–02–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
19.3 September 2020Arena Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine Ukraine1–11–22020–21 UEFA Nations League A

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt

Benfica

Switzerland

Individual

References
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