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He hadn't played football for almost a year and it looked like his career was coming to an end. However, he returned in April 2025. And in style. We're talking about 36-year-old Albanian goalkeeper Etrit Berisha, who recently joined Swedish side BK Haken and immediately became a fan. He confirmed that he is still one of the quality goalkeepers in circulation.
On Thursday, he kept a clean sheet against Spartak Trnava. There was not much he could do, as Spartak did not register a single shot on target. Haken won 1-0 in the opening match of the first round of the Europa League qualifiers. Trnava still has a chance to turn the score around. However, when it comes to penalties, goalkeeper Berisha is a specialist in penalty kicks, writes "Panorama Sport".
Best goalkeeper in the league
Berisha began his footballing career in his native Kosovo with club 2 Korriku, but moved to Sweden. In 2008, he signed a contract with Kalmar, where he first joined the U-19 team. He made his first-team debut in April 2010 against Örebro and quickly became a regular.
Interestingly, he was already known as a goalkeeper who could take penalties, scoring several goals during his time at Kalmar IF. In 2012, he scored in the Europa League and in the domestic competition. He played his last match for Kalmar on 1 September 2013 and again scored the winning goal from the penalty spot. He also received the award for the best goalkeeper in the Swedish league.
Worked in Italy for a long time
Initially, he was supposed to move to Italian club Kievo, but the transfer was fraught with problems. Although Kievo announced that they had signed a preliminary contract with the goalkeeper, the player's agent claimed that Berisha had been manipulated and that the contract was invalid. The player faced the threat of a six-month ban, but in the end the case was closed without sanctions. Berisha finally moved to Lazio in September 2013, where he left his mark in Serie A and the Europa League.
During his time at Lazio, he played more than 50 games and also played in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus. Later, he moved to clubs such as Atalanta, SPAL and Torino, where he was first a substitute, then a regular starter. In 2023, he moved to Empoli, where he initially played in Serie A, but ended up on the bench again after the injured goalkeeper returned. After the end of his contract, he was without a club for several months.
The glow after the comeback
In April of this year, he signed a contract with Haken, which had several injured goalkeepers at the time. At first, he sat on the bench, but after just a few matches he reached the first team. And he confirmed once again that he still has what it takes. At the end of May, he played in the Swedish Cup final against Malmo FF. A goalless match was followed by a penalty shootout. Berisha saved two of them and converted a penalty himself, which secured Haken a 4-2 victory and a historic fourth cup triumph.
It wasn't the first time.
In 2011, as a Kalmar player, he did exactly the same thing. In the final against Malmö, he took two penalties and converted one himself. After 14 years, he repeated an almost identical story. Berisha is originally from Kosovo, but has Albanian nationality and has played 80 matches for the Albanian national team. He also participated in “EURO 2016”, where Albania played its first ever major tournament.
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