Elena Sadiku

Swedish football player and coach

Elena Sadiku
Personal information
Sadiku with Eskilstuna United in 2014
Date of birth	(1993-11-06) 6 November 1993 (age 30)
Place of birth	Bocholt, Germany
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)^[1]
Team information
Current team	Celtic (head coach)
Youth career
0000	LdB Malmö
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2011	LdB Malmö	13	(1)
2012–2013	Kristianstad	28	(1)
2014–2016	Eskilstuna United	16	(5)
2017	Hammarby	6	(1)
International career
2011–2012	Sweden U19	14	(2)
Managerial career
2018–2019	Beijing BG Phoenix (assistant)
2019–2021	Rosengård (assistant)
2021	Fortuna Hjørring (assistant)
2021–2022	Eskilstuna United
2023–2024	Everton U21
2024–	Celtic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Elena Sadiku (born 6 November 1993) is a Swedish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Scottish club Celtic.

Playing career

She was an Under-19 international.^[2]

She started her career with LdB Malmö,^[3] before moving to Kristianstad and Eskilstuna United.

Sadiku suffered a knee injury in July 2014. She scored a hat-trick in her comeback game a year later, only to suffer another serious knee injury a few days later. She was unable to play in 2016 and after suffering from depression, left Eskilstuna at the end of the season.^[4] Shortly afterwards, newly-promoted Hammarby announced that they had signed Sadiku and were hoping she could overcome her injuries and recapture her best form.^[5] She played 6 games for Hammarby in 2017, scoring once, before retiring due to recurring problems with injuries.^[6]

Coaching career

In February 2018 Sadiku accepted a coaching role with Chinese Super League club Beijing BG Phoenix.^[7]

She later managed Eskilstuna United.^[8]^[9]

In January 2024 she became Head Coach of Scottish club Celtic, the first woman to hold that role.^[10]

References

^ Elena Sadiku at WorldFootball.net
^ "UEFA Women's Champions League". UEFA.com.
^ LdB FC Malmö-spelarnas bästa tips Expressen
^ Redebo, Susanne (30 November 2016). "Elena Sadiku om sin tuffa tid: "Hemskaste jag varit med om"" (in Swedish). Ekuriren. Retrieved 29 December 2016.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Liljedahl, Carl-Johan (9 December 2016). "Sadiku till Hammarby" (in Swedish). Kristianstadbladet. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
^ Norberg, Simon (7 February 2018). "Tidigare Hammarbyspelaren flyttar till Kina" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
^ "Tidigare Hammarbyspelaren flyttar till Kina" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
^ Sadiku kampione e Suedise Gazeta Express
^ "Elena Sadiku återvänder till Eskilstuna som tränare". www.aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). 4 October 2021.
^ "Sadiku becomes Celtic's first female head coach" – via www.bbc.co.uk.