Meet the hot-shot striker who turned down Bayern

Stats correct as of 4 July 2025

Fisnik Asllani

Age: 22 (born 8 August 2002)
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Striker
Country: Kosovo (five caps)

Key stats

As Elversberg threatened to record back-to-back promotions in 2024/25, Hoffenheim loanee Asllani was their talisman, scoring 18 goals and providing eight assists – no player contributed to more goals in Bundesliga 2 across the whole campaign. It was just another prolific season for a player who clearly knows where the back of the net is.

Berlin-born Asllani started out at BFC Dynamo before joining Union Berlin as a 14-year-old in 2016. Two years later, he began fulfilling his potential with the U17s, racking up 23 strikes and seven assists in 2018/19 before following that up with 15 and seven respectively in 16 outings for the U19s in 2019/20.

Hoffenheim then came calling, and Asllani was immediately thrust into the men’s game, featuring for the Sinsheim outfit’s second string over the next two seasons. Unfortunately, his progress was stunted by injury. First, he struggled with a swollen pubic bone, before ankle and knee injuries limited him further.

Asllani eventually made his debut for the first team in a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig in November 2021 and made a further nine appearances by the end of 2022/23. Still, it was likely his 14 goals in 22 Regionalliga matches that earned him a loan move to Austria Vienna for 2023/24, and subsequently Elversberg.

At international level, Asllani turned out for both Germany and Kosovo’s youth teams, available to play for the latter through his parents. Ultimately, however, he choose to represent Kosovo and made his senior debut against Romania in the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League.

Plays a bit like: Hugo Ekitiké

Eintracht Frankfurt’s centre-forward played both as a second striker alongside Omar Marmoush and as the main focal point of the attack last term. Not only was he able to score 15 goals himself in the Bundesliga, but he also created a further eight – similar numbers to Asllani at Elversberg.

The two stand at around 6’2” and have also been occasionally used on the left wing during their budding careers. Ekitiké has already taken the German top flight by storm, and it is now time for Asllani to do the same.

Do you know?

After impressing at Union, Asllani attracted significant interest from Bayern Munich. By his own admission, the forward even spoke to youth trainer Sebastian Hoeneß, who was then starting out in his coaching career, before deciding against a switch as he was not sure he was ready to make the move to such a large club at the time. A year later, he was a Hoffenheim player.

What they’re saying…

“He's a guaranteed goal scorer. He always makes things look so easy. He knows how football works." – André Hofschneider, former head coach of Union Berlin's youth academy

“He has a great understanding of the game, a striking finishing ability and a tremendous joy of running.” – Former Elversberg head coach Horst Steffen

“Fisnik has a fine character. He is very mature for his age and on his way to becoming a leading player” – Elversberg sporting director Ole Book towards the start of the 2024/25 campaign