| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1994-01-08)8 January 1994 (age 31) | ||
| Place of birth | Ishøj, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Left-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Amazonas | ||
| Number | 35 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2002 | SB 50 Ishøj | ||
| 2002–2013 | Brøndby | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2013–2016 | Brøndby | 93 | (7) |
| 2016–2018 | Real Betis | 51 | (3) |
| 2018–2023 | Lazio | 10 | (0) |
| 2020 | →Nice (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2021 | →Salernitana (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2022 | →Sparta Rotterdam (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | →Leganés (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2023 | →Tenerife (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2024 | ŁKS Łódź | 11 | (0) |
| 2025 | Nea Salamina | 16 | (0) |
| 2025– | Amazonas | 3 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2009–2010 | Denmark U16 | 7 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Denmark U17 | 27 | (1) |
| 2011–2013 | Denmark U19 | 15 | (0) |
| 2013–2015 | Denmark U21 | 9 | (1) |
| 2015–2018 | Denmark | 23 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 22:48, July 15, 2025 (UTC) | |||
Riza Durmisi (Danish pronunciation:[tuɐ̯ˈmisi],Albanian:Riza Durmishi; born 8 January 1994) is a Danish professionalfootballer who plays as aleft-back forCampeonato Brasileiro Série B clubAmazonas. He has represented Denmark at several youth levels and made his debut for thesenior national team in 2015.
Durmisi was born inIshøj, part of theCopenhagen suburbs and started playing football for local clubSB 50 Ishøj before moving to theBrøndby IF youth academy.[2][3] Durmisi is of Albanian heritage fromTetovo, in the former Yugoslavia.[4]
Durmisi made hisBrøndby debut in a 1–1 home draw againstEsbjerg fB on 26 August 2012. He made four total substitute appearances during the season.[5]
On 24 June 2013, Durmisi signed a three-year contract tying him to the club until summer 2016.[6] Durmisi was promoted to the first team and issued shirt number 17.[7] He became a frequent starter, first as a left winger and later as a left wing-back.[8] On 10 November, he scored his first goal from his position as left wing-back in the 3–0 home victory againstAGF.[9] He attracted the attention from foreign scouts, including FrenchLigue 1 clubToulouse and Turkish giantsFenerbahçe,[10] after scoring 3 goals in 33 matches that season.[11]
On 31 July 2014, Durmisi made hisUEFA Europa League debut, starting in the 3–0 away defeat against Belgian sideClub Brugge.[12]
Durmisi revealed during the 2014–15 Christmas break that he was approached by theFootball Federation of Macedonia to representMacedonia internationally, due to his Macedonian roots. However, he said at the same time that representingDenmark was his first priority, should its then-head coach,Morten Olsen, offer him a call-up. In response, Olsen said Durmisi should focus on proving his worth on the pitch rather than in the press, yet nonetheless acknowledged Durmisi was being considered for a call-up.[13][14] During the winter break in January, Durmisi revealed his ambition was to move to either the DutchEredivisie or the GermanBundesliga.[15]
On 2 October 2015, after months of negotiations and after replacing his agent Sedat Duraki, Durmisi signed a contract extension which tied him to the club until the summer 2018. The contract reportedly included a €2 million buyout clause, and was finalized by Durmisi's new agent, Nikalo Jurić.[16] At the end of 2015, Durmisi rewarded for his impressive performance and a great year by winning the 2015 Brøndby IF Player of the Year award ahead of such players asDaniel Agger andThomas Kahlenberg.[17] By the end of March, Durmisi revealed he was receiving significant attention from clubs all across Europe, also stating his expectation that the 2015–16 would be his last for Brøndby. He also added his overall objective is to eventually play forReal Madrid.[18]
On 28 May 2016, Durmisi signed a five-year contract withLa Liga clubReal Betis after weeks of media rumours. Betis activated Durmisi's €2 million buyout clause with Brøndby, then replaced it with a €20 million buyout clause on a contract tying Durmisi to Betis until summer 2021.[19] He made his debut for the club on 20 August, starting in a 2–6 away loss againstBarcelona.[20]
On 30 April 2018, he scored a goal for Betis as they securedEuropa League qualification for the 2018-19 season following a 2-1La Liga win over Malaga.[21]
On 22 June 2018, Durmisi signed a five-year contract withLazio.[22] His debut came on 25 August in the 2–0 away loss toJuventus.[23] After struggling in his first season forI Biancocelesti partly due to injuries,[24][25] he was benched.[26]
On 6 December 2019, French clubNice announced that they reached an agreement with Lazio to loan Durmisi from January 2020 until the end of the 2019–20 season.[27] After his debut on 5 January 2020 in a 2–0 win overFréjus Saint-Raphaël in theCoupe de France,[28][29] Durmisi managed only to make five league appearances for the rest of the season, before returning to Lazio.[30]
On 22 January 2021, he was loaned toSerie B clubSalernitana.[31] He ended his six-month loan with only five appearances, all as a substitute.[30]
He returned to Lazio ahead of the2021–22 season, where he was not called up by new coachMaurizio Sarri for the second phase of the January training camp and consequently remained on the fringes of the squad.[32]
On 31 January 2022, Durmisi joined DutchEredivisie clubSparta Rotterdam on loan until the end of the season.[33]
On 1 September 2022, Durmisi moved toLeganés in SpanishSegunda División on a season-long loan.[34]
On 30 January 2023, Durmisi moved to a new loan toTenerife, also in theSegunda División.[35]
After spending six months as a free agent, on 8 January 2024 Durmisi signed a six-month contract with bottom-placedEkstraklasa clubŁKS Łódź.[36] He made his debut on 18 February, starting in a 0–2 Łódź derby loss againstWidzew Łódź.[37] He made 11 appearances for the club before leaving upon the expiration of his contract.[38]
On 2 January 2024, Durmisi signed a six-month deal withCypriot First Division clubNea Salamina.[39]
On May 2025, Durmisi signed a deal withAmazonas until the end of the year.[40]
On 8 June 2015, Durmisi made his senior international debut forDenmark in a 2–1 home friendly win againstMontenegro at theViborg Stadion, as a 72nd-minute substitute forSimon Poulsen.[41] Durmisi played the final seven matches in Morten Olsen's lengthy tenure as national team head coach.
In the Euro qualifiers game against Albania in 2015, Durmisi revealed that he would have liked to have played for Albania, being of Albanian heritage from Tetovo. He revealed that he never got a call up fromFSHF and that even theFootball Federation of Macedonia had sent him an invitation, in which he refused.[42]
On 1 March 2016, afterÅge Hareide replaced Olsen, Hareide called-up Durmisi for his first two matches in charge, againstIceland andScotland on 24 and 29 March respectively. He started and played the full 90 minutes in both matches as a left wing-back in Hareide's 3–5–2 formation.
In May 2018 he was named in Denmark’s preliminary 35-mansquad for the2018 World Cup inRussia.[43] However, he did not make the final 23.[44]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Brøndby | 2012–13 | Danish Superliga | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14 | Danish Superliga | 32 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 3 | |||
| 2014–15 | Danish Superliga | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2[b] | 0 | — | 30 | 3 | ||
| 2015–16 | Danish Superliga | 29 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7[b] | 0 | — | 40 | 1 | ||
| Total | 93 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 107 | 7 | ||
| Betis | 2016–17 | La Liga | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 1 | ||
| 2017–18 | La Liga | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 24 | 2 | |||
| Total | 51 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 3 | ||
| Lazio | 2018–19 | Serie A | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7[b] | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | |
| Nice (loan) | 2019–20 | Ligue 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| Salernitana (loan) | 2020–21 | Serie B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| Sparta Rotterdam (loan) | 2021–22 | Eredivisie | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 9 | 0 | ||
| Leganés (loan) | 2022–23 | Segunda División | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 0 | ||
| Tenerife (loan) | 2022–23 | Segunda División | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| ŁKS Łódź | 2023–24 | Ekstraklasa | 11 | 0 | — | — | — | 11 | 0 | |||
| Nea Salamina | 2024–25 | Cypriot First Division | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 194 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 219 | 10 | ||
Lazio
Individual