Besnik Hasi

Besnik Ilmi Hasi (born 29 December 1971) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Belgian club Mechelen.

Club career
Born in Gjakova, SFR Yugoslavia (present day Kosovo), he began playing with his hometown team KF Vëllaznimi at an early age before joining KF Liria playing back then in the Yugoslav Second League where he began playing as a senior. He played one game with FC Prishtina in the 1991–92 Yugoslav First League. He then played with NK Zagreb and FK Dinamo Pančevo (on loan) still in Yugoslavia. In 1992, he returned to NK Zagreb, now playing in a newly formed Croatian First League and he also played with NK Samobor before moving to Belgium.

Hasi moved to KRC Genk in mid-1994, then to 1860 Munich where he played only seven times during the 1997–98 season. He returned to KRC Genk establishing himself in starting lineup, winning the Belgian Title in the 1998–99 season. During his time at Genk, his family were forced to flee Kosovo to Albanian during the Kosovo War.

Hasi moved to RSC Anderlecht in May 2000 and, despite only playing 16 matches in his first season due to injury problems, helped the club retain their league title. He played 30 games the following year, including five in the UEFA Champions League to add to his five of the previous season.

Groin and knee problems restricted Hasi to eleven league appearances and four UEFA Cup games in 2002–03, however, but he returned to fitness to help Anderlecht win back the Belgian crown the following season.

In the 2004–05 season, he suffered torn ligaments in his left knee and was out for three months, when he came back he was limited to just 14 starts as Anderlecht relinquished the title.

Hasi moved to Lokeren during the 2005–06 season. On 11 June 2007, he signed a two-year contract with Cercle Brugge.

Albania
On 15 November 2000, Hasi made his debut with Albania in a friendly match against Malta after coming on as a substitute at 46th minute in place of Devi Muka, and he was one of the first Kosovo Albanian to play for Albania. Hasi received the Albanian citizenship on 21 February 2001.

Kosovo
Six months after retiring from international football with Albania, on 15 June 2007, Hasi made his debut with Kosovo in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia after being named in the starting line-up and acting as captain of the team.

Anderlecht
Hasi retired at the end of the 2007–08 season and became the assistant manager of his former club RSC Anderlecht. He signed a two-year contract at the club in 2008, continuing as assistant coach for six years.

Hasi was promoted to head coach on 10 March 2014 following the sacking of John van den Brom in the aftermath of Anderlecht winning only three out of their eight post-Christmas league games, and being threatened with falling out of the title race. Under Hasi, the Mauves won eight of their remaining eleven games - winning their final five games in the closing stretch - to complete the Belgian Championship hat-trick.

Following two and a half seasons as head coach with the club, Hasi was sacked on 26 May 2016 after losing the league title to rivals Club Brugge.

Legia Warsaw
On 4 June 2016, Hasi was appointed new manager of Legia Warsaw. Due to poor results, notably the disastrous 6–0 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, Hasi was relieved of his duties on 18 September 2016.

Olympiacos
On 9 June 2017, Hasi was unveiled as the new manager of the Greek team Olympiacos F.C., penning a two-year contract worth €600k per annum. The board chose him over other candidates based on his experience in UEFA Champions League qualifying matches, with the objective of leading the Reds to the competition's group stage after a year's absence. The feat was officially accomplished on 22 August 2017, as the team pulled off a 3–1 aggregate victory (2–1 at home and 1–0 away) over Rijeka in the competition's playoffs. Criticized for his substandard defensive coaching and man management, Hasi was relieved of his duties on 25 September 2017, due to a string of negative results including a 2–3 Champions League group stage home defeat against Sporting CP, and successive league fixtures without a win, culminating to a 3–2 away loss to arch-rivals AEK despite being 0–2 up after just over 60 minutes of play.

Saudi Arabia
On 26 July 2018, Hasi was appointed manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Raed. During the 2019–20 season, Hasi lead Al-Raed to a fifth-place finish, their highest in the top flight.

On 6 June 2021, Hasi was appointed manager of Al-Ahli. He was sacked on 4 March 2022 after a 1–0 defeat to Al-Ettifaq.

International

 * Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hasi goal.

Player
Genk
 * Belgian Pro League: 1998–99
 * Belgian Cup: 1999–2000

Anderlecht
 * Belgian Pro League: 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06
 * Belgian Super Cup: 2000, 2001

Manager
Anderlecht
 * Belgian Pro League: 2013–14
 * Belgian Super Cup: 2014

Individual
 * Saudi Professional League Manager of the Month: November & December 2019