Makedonski Sport reported that Arijan Ademi will switch allegiances and represent Macedonia moving forward as opposed to his birth country of Croatia.

Arijan Ademi, who turns 23 years old later this month, wanted to represent his birth country Croatia, but he was passed over on their World Cup squad so he decided to make the switch to Macedonia, which is where his mother was born.  Ademi is first cousins with Agim Ibraimi (their mothers are sisters), and Agim has been lobbying him to represent Macedonia.

Ademi plays in defensive midfield, a very problematic position for the Macedonian national team.  It is a position lacking in both depth and quality, so his additions would be welcome news to manager Boshko Gjurovski.  For the Cameroon and Qatar friendlies, the only defensive midfielder on the squad was Stefan Spirovski.  Since Ademi holds a Macedonian passport, which is required before he is able to play, the only thing that he must wait for before making his debut is the FIFA clearance.  Gjurovski will certainly need to add another defensive midfielder or two since you can’t go into two games with just one defensive midfielder on the roster.

The 23-year-old is currently under contract with Croatian giant Dinamo Zagreb.  This season, Arijan has played in 24 out of 35 league games for the current table leaders in Croatia.  Furthermore, Ademi has been capped by the various youth national teams of Croatia and also has appeared for Croatia’s senior national team in a friendly.  However, since that was only a friendly and not a competitive match, he remained eligible to switch allegiances to Macedonia.  Arijan has now decided to make the move and represent Macedonia’s national team moving forward.

Ademi joins Besart Abdurahimi as the second Croatian born player to recently announce plans to represent Macedonia’s national team.