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Valter Birsa

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Valter Birsa
Personal information
Full name Valter Birsa
Date of birth (1986-08-07) 7 August 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth Šempeter pri Gorici, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 A.C. Milan
Number 86
Youth career
1991–2003 Bilje
2003–2004 Primorje
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2004 Primorje 1 (0)
2004–2006 Gorica 61 (26)
2006–2009 Sochaux 66 (8)
2009 → Auxerre (loan) 15 (1)
2009–2011 Auxerre 68 (8)
2011–2013 Genoa 9 (0)
2012–2013 → Torino (loan) 14 (2)
2013- A.C. Milan 0 (0)
International career‡
2004–2006 Slovenia U21 8 (5)
2005– Slovenia 62 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:00, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 August 2013

Valter Birsa (born 7 August 1986) is a Slovenian footballer who plays for A.C. Milan and the Slovenian national team.

Club career

Born in Šempeter pri Gorici, he spent his childhood in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Birsa's career began at the age of five, when he started playing for ND Bilje, the village club of Bilje near Nova Gorica. As he was a talented player, he was soon transferred first to Primorje, then to Gorica at the age of 17. By the second season he was already the second best striker and one of the best in the Slovenian first league, scoring 29 goals for his home team, an outstanding goalscoring record for a midfielder. In 2006, he signed for French club Sochaux in Ligue de Football Professionnel, Ligue 1. He was declared the best Slovenian player of 2006–2008 by the leading Slovenian football website.[1]

On 22 January 2009 AJ Auxerre signed him on a loan deal until June 2009 from Sochaux.[2] He scored his first Auxerre goal against giants Lyon. On 29 May, it was announced that Auxerre had made the loan permanent.[3] In the 2010–11 season, Birsa scored a 23 yard free kick and his first Champions league goal against Ajax in the group stage, Ajax eventually won 2–1.

On 2 February 2011, despite interest from big Premier league teams such as Liverpool and Fulham, Birsa signed a four year contract with Serie A team Genoa.[4] He made just nine appearances in his maiden season in the Italian Serie A.

He signed with Torino on the 31st of August 2012 on a loan basis. At Torino, Birsa played 17 games, scoring 2 goals but did not do enough to convince Torino to sign him on a permanent deal so he return to Genoa at the end of the season.

He signed with A.C Milan on 23 August 2013, in a straight swap deal which saw Bakaye Traore move in the opposite direction.

International career

He also plays for the Slovenian national football team, and was the youngest player to have that honor at the age of 18. He scored his first goal for the national team on 9 September 2009 in a World Cup qualifying match against Poland, which Slovenia won 3–0. At the 2010 World Cup finals, Birsa struck a long-range curling shot in Slovenia's 2nd match against the United States. Slovenia drew that match 2–2.

International goals

Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 9 September 2009 Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia  Poland 3–0 3–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 10 October 2009 Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia  Slovakia 1–0 2–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 18 June 2010 Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa  United States 1–0 2–2 2010 FIFA World Cup
4 7 June 2013 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Iceland 2–2 4–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life

Birsa was born in Šempeter pri Gorici, present day Slovenia. He is a childhood friend of three profesional footballers, Etien Velikonja, Tim Matavž and Goran Cvijanović, who also lived in the same town.[5][6]

Honours

ND Gorica

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard

See also

References

  1. ^ nogomania.com
  2. ^ "Valter Birsa prêté à Auxerre" (in French). FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  3. ^ Prolongation pour Stéphane Grichting et Benoît Pedretti, Valter Birsa auxerrois
  4. ^ "Birsa štiri leta v Genovi" (in Slovene). nogomania.com. Retrieved 3 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. ^ "Bratranca z golgeterskimi geni" (in Slovene). dnevnik.si. Retrieved 2 February 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  6. ^ "Do imena iz mamine knjige" (in Slovene). NK Maribor. Retrieved 12 July 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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