Enis Bardhi

Biography

Enis Bardhi (Macedonian: Eнис Барди; born 2 July 1995) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Turkish club Trabzonspor and the North Macedonia national team. Bardhi was born in Macedonia to an Albanian-Kosovar family and was thus eligible to represent Macedonia, Albania or Kosovo. Bardhi desired to represent Albania, stating "I do not believe there is an Albanian born in Skopje, with Albanian families, who would not want to play for Albania". Redi Jupi, who was appointed as scouting manager for the Albanian Football Association, never approached Bardhi or responded to Bardhi's agents. With Football Federation of Macedonia showing genuine interest and Bardhi viewing the Albanian Football Association's handling of the situation and response as unprofessional, he accepted the call-up for Macedonia. However, Jetmir Salihu, a representative for the Albanian Football Association, dismissed Bardhi's claim, unveiling all the text messages between him and the player, showing that Bardhi was never interested in playing for Albania in the first place. He also accused the player of trying to damage the image of the association with the aim to be seen as a hero to Albanian people, stating: "Since 2010 I've had hundreds of such cases, footballers that have refused the national team and at the end they came out with such statements because they want to make FSHF guilty so they can win the sympathy of Albanians." Bardhi represented North Macedonia at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels before making his senior international debut on 27 March 2015, coming on as a first-half substitute for Artim Položani in a 2–1 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying home loss against Belarus. Bardhi was part of North Macedonia's UEFA Euro 2020 squad, starting in all three of their group stage games.