[2] Born in Kosovo, Hetemaj arrived in Finland when he was six years old and played for HJK's youth teams; signing a professional contract in 2004 at age 17.

Hetemaj played a total of 300 matches in the Serie A, before returning to Finland in 2022 after a season with Reggina in the Serie B. Hetemaj made his international debut for Finland in February 2009, at the age of 22, and made 50 appearances, including appearing in 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications, before his retirement from international football in 2018.

[3] On 25 November 2023, it was announced by HJK, that Hetemaj will end his professional playing career after the season, and will start working as an assistant coach of their reserve team Klubi 04 in 2024.

Of Kosovo Albanian ethnicity,[5] Hetemaj was born in Skenderaj, Yugoslavia,[6] and moved to Finland with his family as refugees in 1992.

[7] His family first arrived at Oulu but they moved to Helsinki due to his father Miftar suffering from asthma.

[9] Hetemaj started his career at the youth academy of HJK Helsinki,[8] and in 2004 played for its second team, Klubi-04, in 26 Ykkönen—the second tier of Finnish football—matches, in which he scored six goals.

[8] Hetemaj made his AEK Athens debut on 26 September 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League.

[20] Even before having played a match for Twente,[10] On 1 February 2010, Hetemaj was signed by Italian club Brescia on a free transfer.

[28] At the end of the season and after 32 league matches, Chievo bought Hetemaj's full rights on 18 June 2012[29] for an additional €800,000.

On 14th December 2023, Hetemaj scored a goal from penalty in his last official match as a professional footballer, in a 4–2 away loss against PAOK in the UEFA Conference League.

[46] He gained his first UEFA European Championship qualifying game on 3 June 2011 when Mixu Paatelainen chose him to the starting line up against San Marino.