Egzon Bejtullai (Macedonian: Егзон Бејтулаи; born 7 January 1994) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Drita and North Macedonia national team.
Club career
He started his career at FK Teteks, a local club. He made his professional debut in a match against FK Metalurg Skopje on July 30, 2011.[1]
In the summer of 2013, he transferred to KF Shkëndija. He scored his first professional goal against FK Skopje on November 19, 2017.[2]
He transferred to Helsingborgs IF in January 2020, but failed to get a chance to play, so he returned to his old home KF Shkëndija in June of the same year.
International career
Bejtullai is of Albanian Macedonian descent. Bejtullai was a regular in the Macedonia U21 team and performed at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland, where he served as first right back choice.[3]
In May 2016 and March 2017 he also received call-ups for Macedonia in friendlies against Azerbaijan,[4] Iran and Belarus, but he did not make his debut until 6 September 2018 during the first round of the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D competition, when he entered the game against Gibraltar in the 85th minute.[5][6]
During North Macedonia's opening fixture of the tournament against Austria, immediatedly after striker Marko Arnautović (who is half-Serbian) scored, Arnautović angrily shouted towards Bejtullai and teammate Ezgjan Alioski –both of Albanian descent–what were believed to be anti-Albanian slurs. Football Federation of Macedonia released a statement calling for action by UEFA.[7][8]
In 2021, he was selected by the coach Igor Angelovski to compete in the UEFA Euro 2020.
References
- ^ "Metallurg vs. Teteks 2–0". soccerway. 31 July 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ "Shkendija vs. Skopje 4–0". soccerway. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ "UEFA Euro 2017 match report against Spain". UEFA.com.
- ^ "Match report against Azerbaijan". MacedonianFootball.com.
- ^ "Match report against Gibraltar". UEFA.com.
Egzon Bejtulai
- ^ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ "North Macedonia call on Uefa to investigate Marko Arnautović remarks". the Guardian. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ "I'm not a racist, says Arnautović". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
External links
- Egzon Bejtullai at National-Football-Teams.com
- Egzon Bejtulai – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Egzon Bejtulai at Soccerway
- Egzon Bejtulai at WorldFootball.net
|  | |