Besart Selim Berisha (; born 29 July 1985) is a Kosovan professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Melbourne Victory seniors academy team based in Victoria, Australia. Previously he held an assistant manager role of Kosovo Superleague club Prishtina. Best known for his time in Australia, is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the A-League Men, having made 231 appearances and scoring 142 goals in the competition.
Club career Youth and Hamburger SV Berisha began his youth career at German side Berliner VB 49 academies aged nine. He then moved to various German teams, such as Berliner FC Dynamo, TSV Lichtenberg, SV Lichtenberg 47 until 2003, when he moved to NOFV-Oberliga club Tennis Borussia Berlin, where a 17-year-old Berisha won the national youth league's golden boot, outclassing future Germany strikers, Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski. He stayed for just a year before being spotted by Bundesliga club Hamburger SV.
For the first half of the 2004–05 season, Berisha wasn't included in Hamburg's starting lineup for any of the matches, and for the second half he was loaned to Danish Superliga team Aalborg Boldspilklub where he spent a rather unsuccessful spell, playing only three games and scoring no goals.
The following season 2005–06 he was loaned to fellow Superliga side AC Horsens, where he scored 11 goals in 32 appearances, becoming the team's top scorer that season.
For the 2006–07 football season, he remained at Hamburg and was given his chances in the first team making his German Bundesliga debut on 12 August 2006 against Arminia Bielefeld, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute in place of Nigel de Jong, as the match finished in a 1–1 draw. On 6 December 2006, Berisha became the first Albanian ever to score a goal in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League by scoring his first goal for Hamburg in the match against CSKA Moscow at home in Hamburg. Exactly 10 days later, on 16 December 2006, Berisha managed to score his first Bundesliga goal against Alemannia Aachen, as the starting striker and scoring the opening goal in the 32nd minute in the match as it finished in an away draw 3–3. He went on to make a total 14 appearances for Hamburg in the 2006–07 season, including one in the German cup and two in the UEFA Champions League, and eleven of them as a substitute. After the sacking of Thomas Doll and the arrival of Huub Stevens as Hamburg's new manager, Berisha was not seen as part of his plan for the team and remained on the bench for the rest of the season.
Burnley On 3 July 2007, Burnley purchased Berisha from Hamburg for £340,000, this followed his impressive performance for Albania against England B on Burnley's home ground Turf Moor. After his performance many European clubs were interested in signing the player but Berisha was eventually signed to Burnley on a three-year deal, subject to the player being granted a work permit. The permit was eventually granted on 3 July 2007 and the deal was completed.
Berisha was ruled out for the 2007–08 season when he picked up an injury while playing for his country in an International friendly against Malta. It was originally believed to be a minor knock to the knee but it was later discovered that the injury was more serious and was likely to keep the player out for 5–6 weeks. After seeing a surgeon it was further revealed that the player had in fact snapped his cruciate ligament in his knee and would not return to football for a year. The reason that doctors had originally failed to discover the damaged ligament was due to a buildup of fluid in the knee which distorted the scans image.
Ten months after suffering his serious knee injury, Berisha made his return to football in a pre-season friendly match in the USA against Carolina Railhawks when he came on in the 71st minute for Joey Guðjónsson. Berisha did not exert an influence in the 20 minutes that he spent on the field having just flown to America 24 hours earlier from Albania. The American side defeated Burnley 2–1.
Loan to Rosenborg He was loaned to Rosenborg in the autumn of 2008, scoring twice in his debut on 10 August 2008 against rivals Molde FK at Lerkendal Stadion in a 3–1 victory for Rosenborg. On 21 September 2008, Berisha scored in a 4–0 victory against HamKam.
Berisha started for Rosenborg on 14 August 2008 in the first leg of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, a 2:1 loss to Djurgården, coming off in the 76th minute. He played only the first half in the second-leg, a 5–0 home victory, as Rosenborg won 6–2 on aggregate to advance to the next round against Brøndby. He played only in the second leg on 2 October 2008 which Rosenborg won 3–2. Rosenborg won 5–3 on aggregate, advancing to the Group stage where they faced Saint-Étienne, Valencia, Copenhagen and Club Brugge. Berisha played only once, against Club Brugge on 23 October 2008, coming on as a substitute in the 90th minute. The match finished in a goalless draw.
Loan to Horsens Berisha joined AC Horsens on loan on 8 January 2009 but returned prematurely to Burnley F.C. on 26 May 2009 despite having scored some important goals for AC Horsens. The Danish club dissolved the loan contract after an incident in training involving Berisha and Kenneth Emil Petersen.
His contract with Burnley ran until 2010, but having failed to make a single competitive start for Burnley after his return, the club announced on 31 July 2009 that Berisha would be transferred to German Bundesliga 2 team Arminia Bielefeld. The transfer fee was believed to be £75,000.
Arminia Bielefeld Berisha officially joined Bielefeld on 5 August 2009. In the 2009–10 season, Berisha finished scoreless, having made just 11 appearances, only two as a starter, since his debut on 10 August 2009 against Hansa Rostock. The match was a 3–1 victory with Berisha coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute.
He started the 2010–11 season on 22 September 2010 as a substitute in a 3–1 loss to Bochum and scored his first goal of the season on 29 September 2010 in a 1–2 loss to Union Berlin. He finished the season with a total of 19 appearances, 12 as a starter. In 15 matches Berisha was an unused substitute.
Brisbane Roar 2011–12 season
On 16 August 2011, Brisbane Roar manager Ange Postecoglou announced that Berisha had agreed to a one-year deal with the 2010–11 A-League champions. Berisha scored his first goal for Brisbane in round two against Sydney FC. Berisha scored four goals in a 7–1 thrashing against Adelaide United in round four, Brisbane's biggest ever victory and making him the first player to score more than three goals in a single game for the club.
On 14 January 2012, Berisha was involved in an on-field melee with Sydney FC defender Pascal Bosschaart. Despite being cleared by the referee's post-match report and the Match Review Panel, Berisha was found to have breached the FFA Code of Conduct and was banned for one match. On 14 February 2012, it was announced that Berisha had signed a two-year contract extension, taking him to the end of the 2013–14 season. Berisha's "volatile" personality led to occasional clashes with teammates, both at training and on-field, as well as with opposition players. However, he was largely praised for his passionate approach to the game.
In the 2012 A-League Grand Final against Perth Glory, Berisha scored a brace, one in the final seconds from a controversial penalty kick, to help the Roar win 2–1 and become the first team to win back-to-back A-League championships. Berisha became the first Albanian to score in two different Champions Leagues when he scored against F.C. Tokyo in the Asian Champions League. In the 2011–12 A-League season, Berisha won the Golden Boot with 19 goals, the Football Media Association Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, and Members' Player of the Year awards. Berisha finished the season with 23 goals from 35 games, a record for a player in a season for Brisbane. His season tally included 19 goals in the regular season of the A-League; a joint all-time record.
2012–13 season
Berisha's 2012–13 season was less notable than his debut season for the club. However, he still managed to finish what was a disappointing season for Brisbane with 14 goals from 28 appearances in all competitions. Berisha scored a number of important goals for Brisbane as they struggled to find the form that won them two consecutive championships; he scored the sole goal in Round 9 as ten man Brisbane saw off Newcastle Jets at home. However, arguably none were as important as the opening goal of the final round victory over Sydney FC which confirmed Brisbane's place in the post-season finals series.
2013–14 season
The 2013–14 season started poorly for Berisha, despite scoring in the opening round win over Wellington Phoenix, he injured his hamstring in Round 2 which kept him on the sidelines for four weeks. Upon his return, he scored four goals in his next five appearances including a second half winner against Perth Glory and a brace in a 2–1 defeat of Adelaide United, however a hip injury then sidelined him for a further two weeks. Despite Berisha again scoring on his return from injury, on this occasion he could not prevent defeat to Adelaide at home. In the following match away to Perth Glory he received his first red card in the A-League. He was unfortunate to be booked in the first 30 seconds of the game while contesting a header with Michael Thwaite; he was then given his marching orders in the 32nd minute after receiving a second yellow card for a reckless tackle on the same player. Berisha scored on his return from suspension, netting a 90th-minute winner against Central Coast Mariners. On 27 April 2014, Berisha scored and gave his team the victory 1–0 against Melbourne Victory, valid for semi-finals of the A-League. With this victory, Brisbane Roar advanced to the final match and played on 4 May 2014 against Western Sydney Wanderers winning the match 2–1 after extra-time, Berisha scoring the match equalising goal after the Wanderers scored the opening goal. With the score 1–1 after 90 minutes the match went into 30 minutes of extra-time, when Brisbane scored the winning goal in the 108th minute by Henrique Silva and were declared the champions of the 2013–14 season. Berisha finished the 2013–14 season with a total of 20 appearances and scoring 13 goals, ranked second top-scorer of the A-League.
Melbourne Victory
On 22 January 2014, it was announced that A-League club Melbourne Victory had agreed to sign Berisha as the club's International Marquee player when his contract with Brisbane expires at the conclusion of the 2013–14 season. The contract is for two seasons commencing in the 2014–15 season and is worth $1.5 million, more than double his wage at Brisbane.
Berisha had his competitive debut for Victory on 20 August 2014 in a 2014 FFA Cup Round of 32 match against Bayswater City SC away in Perth winning praise for his impact, assisting Archie Thompson's 77th-minute goal, followed by a hat-trick in the next round of the same competition in a 0–6 win away to Tuggeranong United in Canberra on 16 September.
Berisha made his A-League debut for the Victory in their first round clash with the Western Sydney Wanderers. In the same match, Berisha scored his first A-League goal for the Victory, and the 2nd goal of the new A-League season, from a penalty kick in the 19th minute of the match, putting the Victory 2–0 up, in an eventual 4–1 win for the Victory.