Granit Xhaka (Albanian: [gɾanit d͡ʒaka], born 27 September 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and captains the Switzerland national team.

He moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2012, developing a reputation as a technically gifted player and natural leader alongside criticism for his temperament, and acted as club captain from 2015, twice leading the team to UEFA Champions League qualification.

Xhaka signed for Premier League club Arsenal in 2016 for a fee in the region of £30 million, winning two FA Cups and briefly serving as captain.

On 28 July 2010 Xhaka played his first team debut in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League in the away match against Debrecen.

[18] At the end of the season he left the club, during his time with Basel's first team Xhaka played a total of 67 competitive games for them scoring a three goals.

Three days later, he made his first appearance in European competition for Borussia in 1–3 home lost to Dynamo Kyiv in qualification for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League.

[21] In his second season at the club, Xhaka started 29 times and made five substitute appearances as Gladbach finished in sixth place in the 2014–15 Bundesliga.

[citation needed] On 23 September 2015, Xhaka captained Borussia and scored his first goal of the season, heading in from Raffael's free kick in a 4–2 win over FC Augsburg.

On 30 September, he made his first appearance for Borussia in the Champions League proper in a 1–2 group stage loss at home to Manchester City.

[21] Xhaka received his fifth red card for the team in his 95th game on 20 December, for striking his opponent in the first half; he voluntarily gave €20,000 to charity as an apology.

[24] Xhaka was signed after Arsenal allegedly backed out of N'Golo Kanté transfer due to agent fees involved which totalled more than £10 million.

[26] Xhaka made his competitive debut for Arsenal in the club's opening match of the 2016–17 Premier League season, a 4–3 defeat to Liverpool, replacing midfielder Mohamed Elneny in the 65th minute while also picking up a yellow card in the process.

[29] Xhaka's first Arsenal red card – and eighth for club and country since April 2014 – came in a 3–2 win over Swansea City on 15 October 2016.

[37] On 27 September 2019, Arsenal manager Unai Emery confirmed that Xhaka will be the new captain for the Gunners, replacing Laurent Koscielny.

He was booed as he walked off the pitch, and responded by making several sarcastic gestures and angrily saying "fuck off" twice to the fans who jeered his name.

[48] However, under the tenure of new manager Mikel Arteta, Xhaka was reintroduced into the team as a key player and saw a sharp uptake in his form for the club and slowly began to win over the fans with whom he had previously had an oft fractious relationship.

[50] On 28 August 2020, Xhaka was in the starting 11 in the 2020 FA Community Shield, which Arsenal clinched a 5–4 victory over Liverpool in the penalty shootout after the match was 1–1 after 90 minutes.

[54] Xhaka scored his first goal of the 2021–22 season with a long-range strike from 25 yards out, that helped seal a 3–1 victory over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.

[citation needed] Xhaka played his first game for the under-21 side on 3 September 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat the Republic of Ireland 1–0 at the Cornaredo Stadium in Lugano.

[70] He participated in all ten of Switzerland's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign matches, scoring both goals in a 2–0 defeat of Slovenia.

[74] Xhaka played every minute of Switzerland's campaign, which ended in the round of 16 with a loss to Poland at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard; after a 1–1 draw he was the only player to not score in the penalty shoot-out, shooting wide.

[75] Ahead of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, there was speculation that Xhaka could switch his allegiance to represent Kosovo, which had been accepted as a full member of FIFA and were allowed to play competitive matches for the first time.

Xhaka, however, published an open letter stating that his participation in Euro 2016 had disqualified him from changing his allegiance, and he was thus tied to Switzerland.

[82][83] Xhaka was appointed as a temporary captain by Vladimir Petković in the absence of Stephan Lichtsteiner, which caused him to be criticised by former Swiss international Stéphane Henchoz, who claimed that Xhaka could not properly represent Switzerland due to his Albanian heritage, instead suggesting that Lichtsteiner, Yann Sommer, or Fabian Schär serve as captain.

In the match against France, he assisted Mario Gavranović's 90th-minute equalising goal as Switzerland progressed to the quarter-final via a penalty shootout.

[87] However, a yellow card received 14 minutes earlier meant that Xhaka was suspended for the quarter-final, where the Swiss lost to Spain in a penalty shootout.

[90] On 15 October 2023, in a 3–3 draw with Belarus during UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, Xhaka equalled Heinz Hermann's record of 118 appearances for the Swiss national team.

[93][94] Xhaka's elder brother, Taulant is also a professional footballer who plays for Basel and previously represented the Albania national team.