Nicknamed 'The Bomber' by his former international coach Otto Barić who would compare him to Gerd Müller,[1] Salihi is known for being a prolific goalscorer both in Albania and Austria, the two countries where he has spent the majority of his career.

[7] Later on 16 September in the match day 4 against city rivals Dinamo, Salihi scored a brace, including a last-minute winner, to rescue his side a point.

On 19 July 2007, in the first leg of 2007–08 UEFA Cup first qualifying round, Salihi netted in the last minute of regular time as Ried won 3–1 against Neftchi Baku.

[13] At the end of the season Salihi scored 17 goals, 2 of which were from the previous club Ried making him the fifth leading goalscorer behind two of his teammates Steffen Hofmann, who was in first, and Nikica Jelavić who was tied in third.

On 3 February 2013, Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Sainty official announced that they had signed Hamdi Salihi from D.C. United to replace injured Cristian Dănălache.

He scored twice (a penalty kick and a last-minute equalizer) in the following home fixture, who witnessed a tough 2–2 tie of his team against Shanghai Shenxin.

[23] Later on 1 March 2014, Salihi scored an overhead bicycle kick inside the zone to beat goalkeeper Amir Edri for his side only goal in the home draw against Maccabi Haifa.

[32][33] On 2 February 2015, Salihi signed with Israeli club Hapoel Haifa becoming one of the highest paid players in the domestic league, with a salary of $20,000 per month.

In July 2015, it was reported that Salihi joined Skënderbeu Korçë for their UEFA Champions League campaign, taking the vacant number 14.

[36] He made his debut on 14 July 2015, in the first leg of second qualifying round of 2015–16 UEFA Champions League against Crusaders, scoring two goals for a crucial 4–1 victory.

[41] In the returning leg at Elbasan Arena, Salihi was again in the scoresheet as Skënderbeu recorded another 2–0 win, advancing in play-off round with the aggregate 4–0.

After the end of the team's Champions League campaign, Salihi was second top goalscorer with five goals, two behind from Maccabi Tel Aviv's Eran Zahavi.

[46] Salihi made his league debut on 9 September in the 1–0 away win against Vllaznia Shkodër, suffering an early injury and was subbed off in the 19th minute.

[51] Twenty days later, in the 2–1 away defeat to Partizani Tirana, Salihi scored with a bicycle kick from the penalty area in the eighth minute, gaining international notoriety.

[52][53] Salihi started November with a brace in team's 3–1 home victory against his former side Vllaznia Shkodër on eighth, taking his tally up to 8 goals, overtaking Xhevahir Sukaj in the process.

[54] On the last day of November, Salihi scored his tenth league goal in the 2–1 away win against Tirana in the inaugural match in the newly renovated Selman Stërmasi Stadium.

[56] Salihi kicked off 2016 on 7 February by scoring twice in the 3–1 home win against the rivals Kukësi, placing Skënderbeu two points clear at the top.

[59] On 20 March, Salihi scored his sixth Albanian Superliga hat-trick in team's 5–1 home defeat of Flamurtari Vlorë, taking his tally up to 23 league goals.

[63] He started the season by playing full-90 minutes in the 2016 Albanian Supercup match against Kukësi which ended in a 3–1 defeat at Selman Stërmasi Stadium.

[66] On 1 October, Salihi scored another brace to take his tally up to 5 goals as Skënderbeu won against Vllaznia Shkodër to extend the league lead to 5 points.

[70] Everything started in the 59th minute when the referee didn't give a clear penalty to Skënderbeu after a foul inside the zone on Liridon Latifi, instead booking him for diving.

[77] His first score-sheet contributions came in his second ever appearance for the club seven days later, scoring a header just inside the zone as Wiener Neustadt recorded a 4–0 home win over Blau-Weiß Linz to take the championship lead.

[78] Later on 20 October, Salihi scored all four goals as Wiener Neustadt recorded a 4–2 home win over Kapfenberger SV to stay top of league tied on points with Ried.

On 4 May 2018, Salihi netted his 20th goal of the season with a 96th minute free-kick to give Neustadt the win over Floridsdorfer AC and to keep their hopes for a top flight spot alive.

Salihi also scored the advantage goal in the unofficial friendly against Milan for the Taçi Oil Cup; the match eventually ended 3–3 with Albania losing on penalty shootouts.

Young players forwards such as Edgar Çani, Armando Sadiku and Bekim Balaj provided competition for the established and mature internationals which were Salihi and Erjon Bogdani.

Salihi started the game upfront with Çani and immediately created problems for the Norwegians with a shot on target from an overhead kick in the third minute.

He scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute following a clever run inside the box to put the ball in the right hand corner of the net.

[96][97] Salihi was called up regularly by the coach Gianni De Biasi in the team's successful UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.