Përparim Hetemaj (born 12 December 1986) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Veikkausliiga club HJK. Born in modern-day Kosovo, Hetemaj arrived in Finland when he was 6 years old and played for HJK's youth teams; signing a professional contract in 2004 at age 17. He joined Greek side AEK Athens in 2006, and moved to Twente in 2009. Subsequently, in 2010, he was signed by Brescia and was transferred to Chievo in 2011. Hetemaj played 300 matches in the Serie A before returning to Finland in 2022 after a season with Reggina in the Serie B. Hetemaj made his international debut for Finland in February 2009, at the age of 22, and made 50 appearances, including appearing in 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications, before his retirement from international football in 2018. Early and personal life Of Kosovo Albanian ethnicity, Hetemaj was born in Skenderaj, SAP Kosovo, which was part of SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia at the time, and moved to Finland in 1992. His family first arrived at Oulu but they moved to Helsinki due to his father Miftar suffering from asthma. He has a younger brother, the footballer Mehmet, and two sisters, Fatlume and Fatbardhe. In 2004, he acquired Finnish citizenship. Club career HJK Helsinki Hetemaj started his career at the youth academy of HJK Helsinki, and in 2004 played for its second team, Klubi-04, in 26 Ykkönen—the second tier of Finnish football—matches, in which he scored six goals. He played 26 matches and scored a goal in the 2005–06 season of Veikkausliiga—the premier division of Finnish football. After playing seven matches for HJK during the 2006–07, he was sold to AEK Athens for a fee of €450.000. AEK Athens Hetemaj made his AEK Athens debut on 26 September 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League. After seven matches, Hetemaj's 2006–07 season ended on 8 February 2007, when he suffered a fractured leg after a tackle by Kevin Thomson during a friendly match between the Finnish and Scottish national teams. He was again on playing condition in October 2007, but he did not play for AEK and in January 2008 he was loaned to Apollon Kalamarias until the end of the season to gain more playing experience. He scored his first goal in the Superleague Greece on 23 February 2008 against Asteras Tripoli. He played a total