Bruno Kepi

Bruno Kepi
Personal information
Full name Bruno Kepi
Date of birth (1988-10-04) 4 October 1988
Place of birth Shkodër, Albania
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Defender/Left-back
Club information
Current team
KF Tërbuni
Number 6
Youth career
Vllaznia Shkodër
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Vllaznia Shkodër 0 (0)
2008Skënderbeu (loan) 14 (0)
2008–2009KF Tërbuni (loan) 13 (1)
2009KF Ada (loan) 6 (0)
2010–2011 Bylis Ballsh 23+ (1)
2011–2012 Besëlidhja Lezhë 52 (2)
2013–2015 Tërbuni Pukë 39 (4)
2015–2016 KS Kastrioti 22 (2)
National team
Albania U12
Albania U17
Albania U21 0 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Bruno Kepi (born 4 October 1988 in Shkodër) is an Albanian professional footballer who currently plays for Tërbuni Pukë in the Albanian First Division.[1][2]

Club career

Vllaznia Shkodër

Salihi started his footballing career at his home town club Vllaznia Shkodër. In the 2002–03 season Salihi featured for the club only two times in his first professional year. In 2003–04 season, Salihi was given a chance to show his qualities as a young player which he managed to score 14 goals in 33 games. In his third season with the club he played just half of the season of 2004–05 which he managed to score 16 goals in only 20 matches and then after an impressive season in Albania's top division he moved to Greece.

KF Skënderbeu

In 2004, Kepi moved to Panionios in the top division of Greece. The young Albanian striker only managed to play in 6 games, mostly coming on as a substitute in the last few minutes. After the season was over he decided to go back to his country to play for KF Tirana.

KF Tërbuni

Bruno Kepi scores the winning goal

Kepi moved back to Albania and played for KF Terbuni starting from the 2005–06 season. He had a very successful season winning the National Cup and the golden boot as the highest scorer of the Albanian Superliga.[3] He continued with KS Tirana for another half season, again being the highest scorer in the league before he left to play in the Austrian Bundesliga. In his time with KF Tirana Salihi became known all over the world for his goalscoring abilities. He finished 8th in The IFFHS World's best Top Division Goal Scorer 2006. In one season with KF Tirana he managed to score 35 goals in 39 games altogether. Also Salihi played half of the season in 2006–07 right before getting sold to SV Ried from KF Tirana which he managed to score 16 goals in 20 games.

KF Ada

In the 2007 January transfer window, Salihi joined SV Ried of the Austrian Bundesliga. He completed his first half season at SV Ried with 6 goals, helping his club to become vice-champions of the Austrian Football Bundesliga. Salihi also scored 2 goals on the first round Uefa Cup qualifiers against Neftchi, one of which was scored on the second leg match in the 85th minute. Until the 85th minute the score was 2–0 for Neftchi and if the score was kept they were going to qualify for the second round on the away goals rule 3–3 as SV Ried had won 3–1 at home. Thanks to Salihi's goal the overall score was 4–3 and SV Ried safely went through to the next round.[4][5]

In the 2007–08 season, Salihi enjoyed a decent season at the club, becoming the league's joint 4th top scorer along with Carsten Jancker of SV Mattersburg with 12 league goals. Despite this, SV Ried only finished 7th out of 10 in the league. In the 2008–09 season Salihi improved himself to 14 league goals at Ried, scoring one fourth of his team's goals.[6] Ried placed fifth at the end of the season. On the 2009–10 season Salihi played 6 games which he score twist for his club but couple weeks later he was sold to Rapid Wien.

KF Bylis

Bruno Kepi defending for KF Terbuni

On 31 August 2009 Salihi signed with Austrian giants SK Rapid Wien on a 3 years contract. On his first match with Rapid Salihi entered into the match in second half as a substitute and scored on the 83rd minute his first goal with Rapid. The goal drew the score with Salzburg, 2–2, and saved Rapid from a loss.[7]

At the end of the season Salihi scored 17 goals, 2 of which were from the previous club SV Ried making him the 5th leading goalscorer behind two of his team mates Steffen Hofmann, who was in first, and Nikica Jelavić who was tied in third. At the end of the season Rapid Wien was in third place three points behind champions Red Bull Salzburg and two points behind Austria Wien. Rapid Wien qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round.

Salihi scored his first goal of 2010–11 season on 22 August 2010 against SV Mattersburg in a 2–0 win. On 25 September 2010 he scored 2 goals and helped his team to win 3–2 against Kapfenberger SV. Salihi scored one goal for Rapid Vienna on November 4, 2010 against CSKA Sofia in UEFA Europa League. On 11 November 2010, Salihi found the net 2 times against TSV Hartberg in Austrian Cup. The Bomber on 20 November 2010 against LASK Linz scored four goals in a 5 – 0 victory. One week later Salihi added one more goal against the previous champions Austria Vienna in a 1–0 win. His 9th and 10th goals of the season came against Innsbruck on 11 December 2010. Another double came against his former club SV Ried on March 6, 2011, which ended 2–0 for Rapid. These were his first goals of 2011. One week later on March 13, 2011, he scored in the 72nd minute the only goal of the derby against Austria Vienna in a 1–0 win.

KF Besëlidhja

On 2 February 2012, Salihi signed with Major League Soccer side D.C. United as a designated player.[8] On 25 February 2012, he scored his first goal with DC United in a preseason match.

KF Tërbuni

On 3 February 2013, Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Sainty official announced that they had signed Hamdi Salihi from D.C. United to replace injured Cristian Dănălache.[9] On 26 February, he scored his first goal in his debut for Jiangsu, in a 5–1 away defeat against K League champions FC Seoul in the first round of 2013 AFC Champions League group stage match.[10] On 3 March, Salihi won his first title in China in the 2013 Chinese FA Super Cup which Jiangsu Sainty beat Super League and FA Cup winners Guangzhou Evergrande 2–1. He forced Guangzhou's Zhang Linpeng to score an own goal in the 18th minute. He then squeezed in his first goal in the league in another 2-1 win against the newly promoted Wuhan Zall with a low-fly header. He scored twice (a penalty kick and a last-minute equalizer) in the following home fixture, who witnessed a tough 2-2 tie of his team against Shanghai Shenxin. Hamdi Salihi scored again in 2013 AFC Champions League group stage against Japan team Vegalta Sendai in last match in Group E.

KF Kastrioti

Bruno Kepi signing his contract with KF Kastrioti

In January 2014 Salihi became part of Hapoel Ironi Acre.[11] He made his first debut on 10 February 2014, by getting included in the starting line-up in the match against Hapoel Tel Aviv, finished in the 2–1 win and he substituted off in the 77th minute.[12] He scored twice on 15 February 2014 against Ironi Ramat Hasharon finished in the victory 4–3 coming from behind of 1–3 in the first half, where Salihi scored goal of 2-3 in the 53rd minute and an equalizing goal to make it 3–3 in 57th minute.[13] Salihi scored a wondergoal on 1 March 2014 against Maccabi Haifa, finished in the 1–1 draw.[14] After being criticized by Israel's media for his 6 matches scoreless routine,[15] on 26 April 2014 Salihi scored a goal against Hapoel Haifa giving his team the 1–0 victory.[16] Salihi scored a penalty goal on 3 May 2014 against Beitar Jerusalem finished in an away victory 0–2, where he scored the opening goal.[17] Salihi scored another penalty goal for the second consecutive match on 10 May 2014 in the home loss 1–2 against Ironi Ramat Hasharon.[18]

Salihi ended the season with 13 matches played on where scored in total 6 goals.

National Team

Skënderbeu Korçë

[File:Mixed pic .jpg|frame|Bruno during his soccer career ]

Bruno Kepi continues to be one of Albania's top defenders in the pitch! He began his career in Shkodër Albania playing for KF Vllaznia.

References

  1. Soccerway profile
  2. Footballdatabase profile
  3. "ALBANIAN FOOTBALL SEASON 2005-06". Giovanni Armillotta. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  4. "Ried 3–1 Neftçi". UEFA.com. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  5. "Neftçi 2–1 Ried". UEFA.com. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  6. "Summary - Bundesliga - Austria - Results, fixtures, tables and news". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. "Rapid Wien vs. Salzburg". Soccerway. 13 September 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. "Hamdi Salihi firmos në Amerikë me DC United". Shkodra Sport. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. 舜天官方宣布国脚级外援加盟 顶替达10出战亚冠 (Chinese)
  10. FC Seoul 5-1 Jiangsu Sainty
  11. Panorama-sport (1 February 2014). "Salihi ne Izrael, Cani huazohet te Bari". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  12. "Hapoel Acre vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv - 10 February 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
  13. "Hapoel Acre vs. Ironi Ramat HaSharon - 15 February 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
  14. "Hapoel Acre vs. Maccabi Haifa - 1 March 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
  15. Israel media "crucify" Izrael, mediat “kryqëzojnë” Salihin: 540 minuta pa gol – Panorama Sport — Gazeta Panorama Sport
  16. "Hapoel Acre vs. Hapoel Haifa - 26 April 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
  17. "Beitar Jerusalem vs. Hapoel Acre - 3 May 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
  18. "Hapoel Acre vs. Ironi Ramat HaSharon - 10 May 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com.
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