Avdullahu chooses Kosovo instead of the national team These 11 football stars decided against Switzerland

Leon Avdullahu will not be playing for the Swiss national team, but for Kosovo. Many other football stars with a Swiss passport have also decided to play for another country.

On Tuesday, the Swiss Football Association announced that Leon Avdullahu will not be playing for the Swiss national team in future, but for that of Kosovo.

National teamAvdullahu turns his back on Switzerland

The SFA said it was a disappointment and that they only wanted to have players in the national team who "identify one hundred percent with our country and our national team".

Avdullahu is not the first player to decide against the Swiss national team. These are the most prominent footballers who have not played for Switzerland but for another national team.

The striker played one more game for the Swiss U21s under Köbi Kuhn, after which Petric opted for Croatia. In November 2001, he made his debut for "the plaid team". He was called up until 2013 and made a total of 44 international appearances, in which he scored 12 goals.

Petric on Avdullahu's change of nation"It's his decision - nobody has to be able to understand that"

Petric is now a much sought-after pundit and is on duty for "blue Sport" in the Champions League, among other things.

The blonde from Möhlin played for Switzerland from U16 to U21. After that, however, the midfield strategist opted for Croatia, where he made his debut in September 2007. The highlight of Rakitic's national team career was reaching the 2018 World Cup final, which the Croats lost 4:2 to France. Rakitic played a total of 106 international matches and scored 15 goals.

Rakitic ended his career this summer with Hajduk Split, and his greatest success at club level was winning the Champions League with FC Barcelona in 2015, where Rakitic scored the 1:0 in the final against Juventus. Without a doubt: Ivan Rakitic was the biggest loss suffered by the Swiss Football Association.

The FC Basel-educated junior made a single appearance for the Swiss U16s in central defense in 2011 (his partner at the time was a certain Kevin Mbabu). At the time, he was lured to Tottenham, where he was unable to play for the national team. After several loan spells on the island, he then found his way into the Bundesliga at Werder Bremen in 2016, where he played until the summer of 2025 before moving to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia.

Veljkovic jumped ship from the SFV early on and followed the lure of Serbia at U17 level. He became European champion there with the U19s and even became world champion with the U20s. He has since played 35 international matches for Serbia's senior national team.

The former FC Zurich junior made a total of 20 appearances for the Swiss U18, U19 and U21 teams. In 2015, however, he opted for the Albanian national team, where he has played 63 international matches to date. At club level, Djimsiti joined Atalanta Bergamo in 2016, where he developed into one of the best defenders in Serie A.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic's talent was recognized early on. In January 2007, aged just 20, he moved from Basel to Serie A side AC Fiorentina. At the time, the midfielder was still playing for the Swiss U21 team, but the last of a total of 30 games for the Swiss youth teams soon followed - he made his debut for Serbia in the summer of the same year. Kuzmanovic made 51 international appearances and played most successfully at club level for VfB Stuttgart and Inter Milan.

In 2012, Izet Hajrovic even wore the shirt of the Swiss senior national team. Back then, Ottmar Hitzfeld substituted him in a friendly match against Tunisia. Because it was only a friendly match, Hajrovic was free to switch nations, which he did and joined Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2013. However, it would have been difficult for the winger to establish himself in the national team in Switzerland anyway. After all, Hajrovic made 27 international appearances for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Before Abrashi earned 51 caps and two European Championship appearances with Albania, he was a fixture in the Swiss youth teams. He made 43 appearances for the national U-teams. In 2011, he was part of the successful U21 team that only lost to Spain in the European Championship final and later formed the backbone of the senior team. However, there was too much competition for Abrashi in the Swiss midfield, and so the GC identification figure opted for Albania.

The first 18-year-old is considered a great promise in central defense. In 2023, he moved from GC to FC Barcelona at the age of 16 and then on to Florence this summer. Kospo was a regular in the national U-teams, often even as captain. But because the Swiss association remained too passive and "didn't show him any prospects", Kospo decided to play for Bosnia in the future.

The brother of national team captain Granit Xhaka was a regular in the Swiss U-team (44 games in total). However, Taulant Xhaka did not make the grade for the senior team, so the midfielder opted for Albania instead. The big highlight came at Euro 2016, when Taulant and Albania faced Switzerland with his brother Granit. Switzerland narrowly won the emotional match 1:0.

Bajrami played for Switzerland up to U21 level, making 51 appearances and scoring 15 goals. However, instead of making the senior squad, Bajrami opted for Albania, where the 26-year-old has played 35 games and scored 6 goals. Bajrami caused a sensation at Euro 2024 when he scored the 1:0 against Italy after just 23 seconds, the fastest European Championship goal in history.

Bajrami knows Italy very well anyway, as the former GC youngster moved to Empoli in 2019, then went to Sassuolo, but is now under contract with Glasgow Rangers.

He made his big breakthrough relatively late. Haris Tabakovic moved to Hungary via YB and GC and later to Austria. From there, he made the move to Schalke 04 in Germany in 2023. Hoffenheim brought him in for three million euros in the summer of 2024, but loaned him out to Gladbach for this season.

Tabakovic made 15 appearances for Switzerland at U21 level, scoring six goals. However, it was never enough for him to make the senior team and so the striker opted for Bosnia in 2023 - at the age of 29. However, he is yet to score in five games.

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