DOnat Rrudhani is one of many Kosovar footballers who appear in the Swiss Super League.
At the beginning of his career, Rrudhani considered football only as a hobby. His priority was education.
At the age of 17, he moved up to the senior level and began playing for the team that competed only in the tenth category of French football, Brunstatt. After a year, he was transferred to the Swiss team, Timau.
In an interview with the Swiss newspaper "Blick", the Kosovo representative revealed that Timau invited him for a training session but that he had a request.
"Football was my dream, but at that moment it was just a hobby. I aimed for a good education. I participated in a tournament with amateur footballers where I played on the same team as my dad. A former colleague of my dad was a member of the Timau club and asked me if I wanted to do a training session with them. I finished the session and they said they really wanted me. However, I had to make a small request. Because I didn't have a driver's license yet, I asked Timau if he could pay for my train ticket and that worked," said Rrudhani.
From Timau in 2018 he transferred to another Swiss team, Black Stars.
He says he had no desire to transfer to the Black Stars because education was more important.
"Basel is small and the Black Stars noticed that I played some good games. At first I didn't want to move to the Black Stars because school was more important at that point. After some conversations with my father and some Black Stars players, I decided to change."
He stayed at the Black Stars for a year and in August 2019 he transferred to the team that competes in the second division of Swiss football, Aarau.
When Aarau showed interest in him, Rrudhani didn't know the club.
"At first I didn't even know which club it was. Aarau wasn't known in France. It was only when I Googled the players that I saw that this was serious. It took me a long time to decide. At the same time, I was accepted to a good university in France. My mother was initially in favor of the university. But she soon realized that football was my dream," says Rrudhani.
He stayed at Aarau for three years. In the summer of 2022, he took a big step by transferring to Swiss giants Young Boys.
He was loaned out of Young Boys to Lausanne-Sport in February last year, where he only stayed for six months. In July he was loaned out again from Young Boys, this time to Lucerne.
He is one of the players in best form for Lucerne. The 25-year-old has five goals and three assists this season.
But personal statistics don't impress him. He wants to succeed together with the team.
"It's a very family-oriented team. I'm not a big fan of statistics or personal values. I just always want maximum success in the team and of course I always want to improve," says Rrudhani.
The Kosovar also spoke to "Blick" about his pre-football days. He said that at the age of 12, due to a difficult life, he was forced to leave his home in Kosovo.
"The family decided that we should flee to France. My father, my mother and my little brother, who was one year old at the time, had visas. My little sister and I were not issued visas because we were in the middle of the school year. One day my father took me and my sister to the Serbian border. From there we crossed the forest with our suitcases and luggage, at night, to Hungary. A car was waiting for us in Hungary. It was supposed to take us to France. However, we did not arrive because the Hungarian police were already waiting for us. They had seen us early, watched us and then arrested us. The three of us had to go to a Hungarian prison for two days. We still did not know what would happen next. After two days we finally managed to explain our situation to those in charge,” Rrudhani said.
Despite a challenging journey, Rrudhani made it to the national team. He now plays regularly for Kosovo.
He has shown how excited he was when he was invited for the first time by Kosovo. Now he will play against Switzerland with Kosovo.
