Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Club career
o 2.1 Early Career
o 2.2 West Ham
* 3 International career
o 3.1 International goals
* 4 References
* 5 External links
Early life
Behrami was born in Titova Mitrovica, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. When Behrami was five, his parents both lost their jobs; his mother Halime as a secretary and his father Ragip as a manager of a plastics company. As a result, Behrami along with his parents and older sister Valentina moved to Stabio, a village in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Behrami's mother described him as energetic: "As a child, running was Valon's favourite pastime — he just never got tired. Even now, he can hardly sit still for a second. He always needs a ball at his feet.
Club career
Early Career
Behrami started out playing football with Swiss club sides FC Stabio, FC Chiasso and FC Lugano. After a number of impressive appearances with 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 Verona, again in Serie B. After an impressive season with Verona, Lazio signed him in the summer of 2005.
Despite his clearance hitting Rodrigo Taddei's head and ricocheting into Lazio's goal to concede their 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 Roma.
West Ham
Valon Behrami at Upton Park 11 September 2010
On 23 July 2008, West Ham United signed Behrami from Lazio, with the player signing a five-year contract for a fee of £5 million. Behrami made his debut for West Ham in the 2–1 home win over Wigan Athletic on 16 August 2008. His versatility would see him become a vital part of West Ham's midfield, having begun the season as a stand in for captain Lucas Neill at right back. He scored his first goal for West Ham in the 1–0 away win against Sunderland on 23 November 2008.
During the home win over Manchester City on 1 March 2009,[8] he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee that required oxygen to be administered on the field during a six minute break in play. His knee and ankle twisted badly when his studs caught in the turf resulting in a premature end to his 2008–09 season.
Behrami made his comeback as a substitute on 12 September 2009 against Wigan Athletic.His return was interrupted by injury again for a month from November. He scored his first and only goal of the 2009–10 league campaign with the opener in a 3–0 home win over relegation rivals Hull City on 20 February 2010.[11] He scored his first goal back from injury for West Ham against Wigan athletic on 27 November 2010, helping West Ham to gain 3 much needed points in the start of their 2010-2011 campaign.
International career
Behrami has also been capped for the Swiss national team at the Under-18, Under-19 and "A"
For the Swiss national team, Behrami scored a key goal against Turkey in the Stade de Suisse in the first leg of their World Cup 2006 qualifier 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 South Korea, 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.
On 21 June, in the 2010 World Cup, after appearing to elbow Chilean player Arturo Vidal, Behrami was sent off with a red card in the second Group H match against Chile and became the first Swiss player to be sent off in a World Cup match.
International goals
Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 Nov 2005 Stade de Suisse, Berne, Switzerland Turkey 2 – 0 Win 2006 World Cup qualifying
2 24 May 2008 Stadio Cornaredo, Lugano, Switzerland Slovakia 2 – 0 Win Friendly
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