Armando Broja

Armando Broja
Broja with Burnley in 2025
Personal information
Full name Armando Broja[1]
Date of birth (2001-09-10) 10 September 2001[2]
Place of birth Slough, England
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Position Striker
Team information
Current team
 Burnley
Number 27
Youth career
–2007 Burnham Juniors
2007–2009 Tottenham Hotspur
2009–2020 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2025 Chelsea 26 (2)
2020–2021 → Vitesse (loan) 30 (10)
2021–2022 → Southampton (loan) 32 (6)
2024 → Fulham (loan) 8 (0)
2024–2025 → Everton (loan) 10 (0)
2025– Burnley 20 (1)
International career‡
2019 Albania U19 7 (6)
2019–2021 Albania U21 6 (4)
2020– Albania 33 (6)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 10:30, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 16 November 2025

Armando Broja (Albanian pronunciation: [aɾˈmando bɾɔja]; born 10 September 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League side Burnley. Born in England, he plays for the Albania national team.

Club career

Early career

Broja was born in Slough, England to Albanian parents from Koplik, Malësi e Madhe District.[3][4][5] He began his football career with Burnham Juniors,[6] then had trials with Reading and Fulham, before signing with Tottenham Hotspur and joining their under-8 selection.[6]

Chelsea

After a two-year stint at Tottenham, Broja transferred to Chelsea and joined their academy in 2009.[7] With the under-18 side, he won the domestic treble of U18 Premier League, U18 Premier League Cup and FA Youth Cup in 2017–18.[8] He also won the Premier League 2 with the under-23s in 2019–20, scoring three goals in ten appearances.[9]

On 26 February 2020, Broja signed his first professional contract with the club after agreeing to a two-year deal.[10] On 8 March, he made his professional debut in a 4–0 Premier League win against Everton after coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute in place of Olivier Giroud.[11]

2020–21 season: Loan to Vitesse

On 21 August 2020, Broja signed for Vitesse on a season-long loan.[12] On 19 September, he scored his first ever league goal in a 2–0 win over Sparta Rotterdam.[13] Broja finished his loan spell at Vitesse as their joint-top scorer in the Eredivisie for the 2020–21 season, netting ten goals.[14]

2021–22 season: Loan to Southampton

On 18 July 2021, Broja signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea.[15] On 10 August 2021, he was loaned to fellow Premier League club Southampton for the 2021–22 season.[16] On his debut on 25 August, he scored two goals in an 8–0 win over League Two side Newport County in the second round of the EFL Cup.[17] On 16 October, Broja scored his first league goal for The Saints in a 1–0 win against Leeds United,[18] and became the first Albanian player to score in the Premier League.[19]

2022–23 season

On 2 September 2022, Broja signed a new long-term contract with Chelsea until 2028.[20] He scored his first goal for the club on 8 October 2022 against Wolverhampton Wanderers, helping Chelsea seal a 3–0 win.[9]

In December 2022, he was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury in a friendly game against Aston Villa during the international break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[21]

2023–24 season: Loan to Fulham

After scoring two goals in 19 games across all competitions for Chelsea in the first half of the season, Broja was sent on loan to fellow Premier League side Fulham on 1 February 2024, signing a contract until the end of the season.[22] He made his debut on 3 February, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Rodrigo Muniz in a 2–2 away draw to Burnley in the Premier League.[23]

2024–25 season: Loan to Everton

On 30 August 2024, shortly before the transfer window closed, Broja signed for fellow Premier League side Everton on a season-long loan with an option to make the transfer permanent.[24]

Burnley

On 8 August 2025, Broja joined fellow Premier League club Burnley signing a five-year contract in a deal worth around £20 million.[25][26] He made his league debut on 14 September 2025, against Liverpool, coming on as a substitute in the 89th minute of a 1–0 home defeat, decided by a stoppage-time penalty from Mohamed Salah in the 90+5' minute.[27]

On 20 December 2025, Broja scored his first goal for Burnley against Bournemouth in the 90th minute, after heading it past Đorđe Petrović to secure a 1–1 draw.[28] In January 2026, Broja was included in the Premier League "Team of the Week" following his assist in a match against Newcastle United.[29]

International career

Broja was eligible to play for England through his place of birth, and for Albania through his Albanian parents. In early 2019, he declined an invitation by the England national under-21 team as his desire was to play only for Albania.[3]

Under-19

Broja received his first international call-up from the Albania national under-19 team by coach Nevil Dede for the first gathering of 2019 in February.[30] He was then called up for a double friendly against North Macedonia the following month. Broja made his international debut in the first game played on 24 March, when he started the match and scored in the 60th minute for the final score of 1–1.[31] He started again in the second game two days later, putting his side 1–0 up in the 10th minute, but North Macedonia overturned the score and won 2–1.[32] In May 2019, he received a call-up for another double friendlies against Kosovo.[33] Broja was named in the starting line-up in the first match, and also scored his side's third goal in a 3–1 away win.[34] Two days later, Albania won 4–1 over Kosovo with Broja scoring twice.[35]

In November, Broja was invited to participate in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifications where his side were shorted to play against Greece, Belgium and Iceland.[36] He played the full 90 minutes in the first match versus Greece where his side were beaten 5–1, and against Belgium where he managed to score a consolation goal in the second half as Albania lost 2–1.[37] In the third game against Iceland, he started the match and helped his side to score two goals in the first half, but received a red card in the 65th minute as Iceland eventually overturned the game and won 4–2.[8][38]

Under-21

On 9 June 2019, aged 17 years and 9 months, Broja made his debut for the Albania national under-21 team in a friendly against Wales. Coming on as a half-time substitute, he scored twice within 13 minutes to secure a 2–1 win.[39] Three days later, he scored again in the return match, a 3–1 victory for Albania.[40]

Broja also played three full 90-minute matches during the 2021 and 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification campaigns. On 4 June 2021, he captained Albania U21 in a 3–0 away win against Andorra, scoring once himself.[41]

Senior

In September 2020, Broja received his first senior call-up from coach Edoardo Reja for Albania's 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C matches against Belarus and Lithuania.[42] On 7 September 2020 he made his debut in a 1–0 home loss against Lithuania.[43] In the following month, he started both of Albania's matches, which ended in goalless draws.[44]

After his transfer to Southampton for the 2021–22 Premier League season, Broja opened his scoring account for the national team by netting in three consecutive matches during September–October 2021.[44] On 5 September 2021, Broja scored his first senior goal in the 2022 World Cup qualification match against Hungary, helping his team to a 1–0 victory.[45] It was Albania's first ever win against Hungary.[46] Three days later, in the next qualifying match against San Marino, Broja came on as a half-time substitute and contributed significantly by scoring once and providing two assists in a 5–0 victory.[47] On 9 October 2021, Broja came on as a second-half substitute and scored the decisive goal in the 80th minute of a 1–0 victory over Hungary.[48] Albania ultimately finished third in the group, two points behind Poland, and did not qualify for the play-offs.[49]

On 10 June 2022, Broja scored from the penalty spot at the end of the first half in a 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B match against Israel, though Albania went on to lose 2–1 after conceding twice in the second half.[50]

Broja missed the entire Euro 2024 qualifying campaign after suffering a serious injury while at Chelsea in December 2022,[21] which sidelined him for 11 months and left him unavailable for coach Sylvinho.[51] He recovered in time for the finals and was included in Albania's 26-man squad for the tournament in Germany.[52] Ahead of the tournament, on 3 June 2024, Broja scored in the 31st minute of a 3–0 warm-up victory over Liechtenstein.[53] During the finals in Euro 2024 Group B, he featured in Albania's defeats to Italy (1–2) and Spain (0–1). Albania finished bottom of the group with a single point and were eliminated from the tournament.[8][54]

In August 2024, Broja suffered an Achilles tendon injury which sidelined him for the rest of the year, preventing him from featuring in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League B.[55] In his absence, Albania finished bottom of their group and were relegated to League C.[8]

Broja returned to action in the 2026 World Cup qualifications, quickly establishing himself as a starter on the right wing and in March 2025, he provided an assist in a 3–0 win over Andorra.[44][8]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 14 February 2026[8]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Chelsea U23 2019–20 — — — — 3[c] 0 3 0
Chelsea 2019–20[56] Premier League 1 0 — — 0 0 — 1 0
2022–23[57] Premier League 12 1 0 0 1 0 5[d] 0 — 18 1
2023–24[58] Premier League 13 1 2 1 4 0 — — 19 2
Total 26 2 2 1 5 0 5 0 — 38 3
Vitesse (loan) 2020–21[59] Eredivisie 30 10 4 1 — — — 34 11
Southampton (loan) 2021–22[60] Premier League 32 6 4 1 2 2 — — 38 9
Fulham (loan) 2023–24[58] Premier League 8 0 — — — — 8 0
Everton (loan) 2024–25[61] Premier League 10 0 1 0 0 0 — — 11 0
Burnley 2025–26[62] Premier League 20 1 0 0 2 0 — — 22 1
Career total 126 19 11 3 9 2 5 0 3 0 154 24
  1. ^ Includes KNVB Cup, FA Cup
  2. ^ Includes EFL Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in EFL Trophy
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played 16 November 2025[63]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Albania 2020 3 0
2021 7 3
2022 7 1
2024 6 1
2025 10 1
Total 33 6
Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Broja goal.
List of international goals scored by Armando Broja
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 5 September 2021 Elbasan Arena, Elbasan, Albania 7  Hungary 1–0 1–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 8 September 2021 Elbasan Arena, Elbasan, Albania 8  San Marino 3–0 5–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 9 October 2021 Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary 9  Hungary 1–0 1–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
4 10 June 2022 Arena Kombëtare, Tirana, Albania 13  Israel 1–0 1–2 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B
5 3 June 2024 Haladás Sportkomplexum, Szombathely, Hungary 20  Liechtenstein 1–0 3–0 Friendly
6 14 October 2025 Arena Kombëtare, Tirana, Albania 31  Jordan 2–1 4–2 Friendly

References

  1. ^ "Premier League clubs publish 2019/20 retained lists". Premier League. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Armando Broja: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Heroi nga Kopliku, kush është Armando Broja? 20-vjeçari i lindur në Londër që refuzoi të luante për Anglinë". Shqiptarja.com (in Albanian). 10 October 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Lojtari me origjinë nga Malësia e Madhe, Armando Broja edhe tre gola të tjerë për Chelsea" [The player with origin from Malësia e Madhe, Armando Broja also three more goals for Chelsea]. Shkodra Sport (in Albanian). 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  5. ^ Sheldon, Dan (19 February 2022). "Armando Broja: from a three-touch sensation in Slough to Albania superstar". theathletic.com. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
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  56. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  57. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  58. ^ a b "Games played by Armando Broja in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  59. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  60. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  61. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2024/2025". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  62. ^ "Games played by Armando Broja in 2025/2026". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
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