Valon Behrami

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Infobox Football biography
playername = Valon Behrami


fullname = Valon Behrami
height = height|m=1.86
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1985|4|19
cityofbirth = Mitrovica
countryofbirth = SFR Yugoslavia
currentclub = West Ham United
clubnumber = 21
position = Winger, Full back
youthyears = 1993–1997
1997–2000
2000–2002
youthclubs = FC Stabio
Chiasso
Lugano
years = 2002–2003
2003–2005
2004–2005
2005–2008
2008–
clubs = Lugano
Genoa
→ Verona (loan)
Lazio
West Ham United
caps(goals) = 02 (0)
24 (0)
32 (3)
64 (4)
07 (0)
nationalyears = 2005–
nationalteam = Switzerland
nationalcaps(goals) = 21 (2)
pcupdate = 13 September, 2008
ntupdate = September 212008

Valon Behrami (born 19 April 1985 in Mitrovica) is a Yugoslav-born Swiss football midfielder who plays for West Ham United in England.

Club career

Born to Kosovar parents, as a young child Behrami (often known by his nickname, Pepperami) moved to Stabio, a village in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, where he obtained his Swiss nationality.

Behrami started out playing football with Swiss club sides FC Stabio, FC Chiasso and FC Lugano. After a number of impressive appearances with FC Lugano, he was jointly signed by Italian teams Genoa and Udinese in the 2003–04 season, and played for Genoa in the Serie B championship. In the 2004–05 season, Genoa bought out Udinese' rights to the player and loaned him out to Hellas Verona, again in Serie B. After an impressive season with Hellas Verona, Lazio signed him in the summer of 2005.

Despite his clearance hitting Taddei's head and ricocheting into Lazio's goal to concede Lazio's first goal of the match, his 92nd minute winning goal etched Behrami's name into Lazio's history books as they won the Derby della Capitale on 19 March 2008 and virtually finished the Scudetto hopes for rivals A.S. Roma. [ [http://soccerlens.com/lazio-3-2-roma-derby-della-capitale-goes-to-lazio-are-romas-scudetto-chances-now-really-over/6690/ Lazio 3-2 Roma: Derby della Capitale Goes to Lazio, Are Roma’s Scudetto Chances Now Really Over?] ]

On 23 July 2008, West Ham United announced the capture of Behrami from Lazio, with the player signing a five year contract for a fee of £5 million. [ [http://www.whufc.com/page/News/0,,12562~1346270,00.html Valon Behrami signs 5 year deal with West Ham United FC] ] Behrami made his debut for West Ham in the 2-1 home win over Wigan Athletic on
16 August 2008. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7551169.stm West Ham 2-1 Wigan] ]

International career

Behrami has also been capped for the Switzerland national football team at the Under-18, Under-19 and "A" levels.

For the Swiss national team, Behrami scored a key goal against Turkey in the "Stade de Suisse" in the 1st leg of their World Cup 2006 qualifer playoff tie.

During the 2006 World Cup, he endured a groin injury which put him on the sidelines for the first two group matches. In the third match against Korea Republic, he was substituted late in the game in the 88th minute. He did not participate in the loss to Ukraine in the last 16 knockout round of matches.

Behrami was in the starting eleven of Switzerland for all three matches during the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship playing a total of 272 minutes.

Footnotes

External links

*FIFA player|216627
* [http://www.behrami85.com Official website of Valon Behrami]
* [http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=6532 FootballDatabase provides Valon Behrami's profile and stats]