Shaqiri was born in Gjilan, Yugoslavia to Albanian Kosovar parents.[4][6] He emigrated to Switzerland in 1992 with his parents and three siblings.[7] He has dual nationality: Swiss and Albanian.[8] He acquired Swiss citizenship throughnaturalisation.
Club career
FC Basel
Shaqiri played for SV Augst's and FC Basel's youth teams. While on Basel's youth team, he played in the Under-15 Nike Cup 2007 and was named the best player of the tournament, and, despite having several other clubs attempting to sign him, he decided to stay with Basel. He then played for their reserve team from 2007 to 2009 in theSwiss 1. Liga and just two years later, Shaqiri signed his first professional contract with Basel on 2 January 2009.[9]The new contract was set to keep him at St. Jakob-Park until June 2014.
Shaqiri made his Basel debut as a substitute on 12 July 2009 in Basel's 2009–10 season opening game against FC St. Gallen at the AFG Arena.[10] On 9 November, he scored his first goal for Basel in a 4–1 win over Neuchâtel Xamax at home.[11] At the end of the 2009–10 season, Shaqiri won the national Double with Basel and a year later won the League Championship title again.
On 7 December 2011, Shaqiri provided two assists in the match against Manchester United. The match ended in an upset with Basel winning 2–1.[12] At the end of the 2011–12 season, for the second time in his Basel stint, he won theDouble, the League Championship title[13] and the Swiss Cup[14] with Basel.
Bayern Munich[edit]
On 9 February 2012, Basel announced that Shaqiri had accepted a transfer to Bayern Munich in the GermanBundesliga for the 2012–13 season.[15] The transfer fee was a reported €11.6 million, with Shaqiri signing a four-year contract with the German giants until 30 June 2016, making around €2 million per season.[16]
Shaqiri playing against CSKA Moscow in October 2014
On 10 July 2012, Shaqiri made his debut in a friendly match against German side SpVgg Unterhaching which Bayern won 1–0 by a goal of teammateDavid Alaba. His first official appearance for the club came on 20 August in aDFB-Pokal match against SSV Jahn Regensburg; Shaqiri came on as a half-time substitute and scored Bayern's second goal as well as providing assists for Mario Mandžukić and Claudio Pizarro as Bayern won 4–0.[17] He helped Bayern secure top spot in their Champions League group by winning the Man of the Matchaward in Bayern's 4–1 defeat of BATE Borisov on 5 December; Shaqiri scored a goal and provided an assist for the hosts, avenging their matchday two loss in Minsk.[18] He did not score his first Bundesliga goal until the final league match of 2012, rescuing a 1–1 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach, leaving Bayern in first at the winter break.[19][20] In April, Shaqiri also scored in the DFB-Pokal semi-final against VfL Wolfsburg with a long-range effort. Although he didn't play in the final, Shaqiri won the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League title with Bayern in late May, as well as the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal title making him one of the Bayern Munich players to have won the treble.
Inter Milan
On 9 January 2015, Shaqiri transferred to Inter Milan, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.[21] English club Stoke City had previously declared interest in signing him.[22] Two days later, Shaqiri was an unused substitute in Inter's 3–1 victory over Genoa at San Siro.[23] His made his debut for Inter on 17 January, playing the last 16 minutes of the goalless draw away to Empoli at Stadio Carlo Castellani, replacing fellow new signing Lukas Podolski.[24] Shaqiri made his first start and hisCoppa Italia debut in a match against Sampdoria in the Round of 16 on 22 January, scoring the first goal of the match, helping the team to a 2–0 win to progress into the last 16.[25]