Blerim Rrustemi
Albanian footballer (born 1983)

Blerim Rrustemi
Personal information
Full name Blerim Nexhmi Rrustemi
Date of birth (1983-02-04) 4 February 1983 (age 42)
Place of birth Vushtrri, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position Defender[1]
Team information
Current team
 Union Nettetal (assistant)
Youth career
–1999 2 Korriku
1999 Weston Collegiate Institute
1999–2000 Azzurri Toronto
2000–2001 Toronto Supra
2001–2002 Portuguesa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Defensor Sporting 45 (5)
2004–2007 Borussia Mönchengladbach II 51 (2)
2007–2008 AC Horsens 2 (0)
2008 Rot-Weiss Erfurt 7 (1)
2008–2009 Alki Larnaca 12 (2)
2009 Vllaznia 9 (0)
2010–2011 FC Wegberg-Beeck 27 (4)
2011–2013 Goslarer SC 54 (4)
2013 SSVg Velbert 13 (2)
2014 Germania Ratingen 04/19 18 (2)
2014–2015 Rheydter SV 22 (9)
2015–2019 Union Nettetal 104 (10)
2019–2022 1. FC Viersen 30 (1)
Total 394 (42)
International career
2007 Albania 3 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Blerim Nexhmi Rrustemi (Albanian pronunciation: [blɛˈɾim rruˈstɛmi]; born 4 February 1983) is an Albanian football manager and former player who is the assistant manager of Oberliga Niederrhein club Union Nettetal.[2][3][4][5]

Over the course of his career he played in Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, Denmark, Cyprus and Albania, appearing at both professional and semi-professional levels.[6][7] He represented the Albania national team in 2007, earning three caps.[8][9]

Club career

Rrustemi began his football career with 2 Korriku,[10] and due to the Kosovo War, he emigrated to Canada,[6] where he initially played for Weston Collegiate Institute in 1999 and then continued with Azzurri Toronto in 1999–2000,[11] and Toronto Supra in 2000–2001, both competing in the Canadian Professional League. He also appeared for local Albanian community teams in the Toronto area.[12]

At the age of 17, he moved to South America, joining Portuguesa in Brazil for the 2001–02 season,[10][13] where he was offered a three-year contract, but because of his young age he did not remain away from his family for more than six months,[10] before signing for Defensor Sporting in Uruguay in 2002.[8] With Defensor, he played in the Uruguayan Primera División until 2004, gaining top-flight experience in South America.[7]

Rrustemi returned to Europe in 2004 when he was signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach II after a trial period, joining the club’s reserve side in the German Regionalliga.[6] He spent three seasons with Mönchengladbach’s second team, making more than 50 league appearances.[7] After the reserves were relegated, he left on a free transfer in 2007 to join Danish 1st Division club AC Horsens, where he played in two league matches during the 2007–08 season.[7]

In January 2008, he moved back to Germany with Rot-Weiss Erfurt, then playing in the Regionalliga Nord and later in the newly created 3. Liga.[7] With Erfurt he won the Thuringian Cup in 2007–08.[14] For the 2008–09 season Rrustemi joined Alki Larnaca in the Cypriot First Division, where he scored twice in 12 league matches.[7] After financial problems at the Cypriot club, he left as a free agent and, in October 2009, signed a one-year contract with Vllaznia Shkodër in the Kategoria Superiore of Albania, with an option for extension.[15]

After leaving Albania, Rrustemi returned once more to Germany, where he spent the remainder of his playing career in the regional leagues. In 2010, he joined FC Wegberg-Beeck in the NRW-Liga, making 27 league appearances and scoring four goals in the 2010–11 season.[7] In 2011, he moved to Goslarer SC, helping the club to win the Oberliga Niedersachsen title in 2011–12 and achieve promotion to the Regionalliga Nord.[7][16]

Rrustemi subsequently played for SSVg Velbert in the Regionalliga West in 2013, Germania Ratingen 04/19 in the Oberliga Niederrhein in 2014, and Rheydter SV in the German regional leagues in 2014–15, where he posted a notable scoring record for a defender.[7][2] From 2015 to 2019, he was a regular for Union Nettetal, with whom he achieved promotion to the Oberliga Niederrhein in 2018.[2][17][5]

In the summer of 2019, having established himself in the Niederrhein amateur scene, he joined 1. FC Viersen from Union Nettetal.[18][7] He helped Viersen win promotion from the Bezirksliga to the Landesliga Niederrhein and remained with the club into the early 2020s.[2][5]

Coaching career

After ending his long playing career in the German amateur leagues, Rrustemi remained involved in football. In 2025, he joined the coaching staff of his former club Union Nettetal as an assistant coach, forming part of a three-man staff in the Oberliga Niederrhein.[3][19][5][4]

International career

"They asked me if I wanted to take a Brazilian passport, but I immediately said no because I felt as if I would lose myself. From that moment I could not wait to wear the national team shirt of my own country."

—Rrustemi explaining his decision to turn down Brazil's offer.[10]

He was eligible to represent three countries on international level, either Kosovo (then not a FIFA member, but it did play occasional friendlies), Albania or Canada.[6] During his time at Portuguesa, he played in an unofficial friendly against the Brazil U17 and provided an assist in a 1–1 draw; following the match he was offered the opportunity to take Brazilian citizenship and represent Brazil, but he declined.[10]

He later opted to represent the Albania national team instead and was granted Albanian citizenship on 23 March 2007.[20] His debut for Albania came on 22 August 2007 in a 3–0 home friendly win against the Malta at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana.[8][21] He went on to appear in two UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying matches: a goalless draw away to the Slovenia in October 2007 and a 4–2 home defeat against the Belarus in November 2007, which proved to be his final international match.[8][9][22][23]

Personal life

Born in Kosovo to an ethnic Albanian family, Rrustemi was raised in Canada after his family left Kosovo at the beginning of the Kosovo War, and he later obtained Canadian citizenship.[6]

Rrustemi has long-standing ties with fellow footballer Granit Xhaka, with whom he has a close friendship. In 2024 he attended Bayer Leverkusen's Bundesliga title celebrations as a guest of Xhaka.[24]

Honours

Rot-Weiss Erfurt
Goslarer SC

References

  1. ^ "Blerim Rrustemi Stats, Goals, Records, Assists, Cups and more". FBref.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "Blerim Rrustemi – Spielerprofil". FuPa (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Blerim Rrustemi wechselt die Rolle". FuPa (in German). 17 January 2025. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b "1. Mannschaft – SC Union Nettetal 1996 e.V." SC Union Nettetal (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d "Oberliga: Ein Aufstiegsheld kommt zurück und wird Co-Trainer". Amafuma (in German). 13 April 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Albaner Rrustemi: Zurück ins Nationalteam". Bild (in German). 28 January 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Blerim Rrustemi". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d "Blerim Rrustemi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Blerim Rrustemi – Player Profile". ESPN. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Blerim Rrustemi, fubollisti vushtrrias që ka bërë karrierë të shkëlqyer në Evropë, Kanada dhe Amerikën Latine". VushtrriaOnline.net (in Albanian). 2 January 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  11. ^ "CS Azzurri Toronto (2000)". National-Football-Teams.com (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  12. ^ "Canucks in Germany – September 2006". BigSoccer. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Rrustemi is playing regularly for "Gladbacher" Am". CanadianSoccerNews.com (in English and German). 26 October 2005. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  14. ^ "Landespokal Thüringen – Pokalsieger". Fussballclips (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Mbrojtësi Rrustemi firmos me Vllazninë". Top Channel (in Albanian). 13 October 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  16. ^ "Vorbereitungsprogramm 1. FC Wunstorf steht!". 1. FC Wunstorf (in German). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  17. ^ "Geisterspiel gegen Union Nettetal am 05.04.2020". Sportfreunde Niederwenigern (in German). 28 March 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  18. ^ "1. FC Viersen verpflichtet Blerim Rrustemi". RP Online (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  19. ^ "Die Erkenntnisse aus Union Nettetals Testspielauftakt". FuPa (in German). 15 July 2025. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  20. ^ "PËR DHËNIE TË SHTETËSISË SHQIPTARE" [On granting Albanian citizenship] (in Albanian). Qendra e Botimeve Zyrtare. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  21. ^ "Albania 3–0 Malta". Malta Football Association. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  22. ^ Blerim Rrustemi at EU-Football.info
  23. ^ "Albania 2–4 Belarus". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  24. ^ "Blerim Rrustemi: Granit Xhaka ka hyrë në histori të përjetshme – e kam si vëlla" (in Albanian). Gazeta Blic. 15 April 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  25. ^ "Landespokal Thüringen – Pokalsieger". Fussballclips (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  26. ^ "Vorbereitungsprogramm 1. FC Wunstorf steht!". 1. FC Wunstorf (in German). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  • Blerim Rrustemi at WorldFootball.net
  • Blerim Rrustemi at National-Football-Teams.com
  • Blerim Rrustemi at FBref.com
  • Blerim Rrustemi at kicker (in German)
  • Blerim Rrustemi at EU-Football.info
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