Soccer
Austin FC were some 800 miles from home, locked in a tight battle with St. Louis CITY SC on a sunny afternoon at Energizer Park, one of MLS’s louder and more imposing atmospheres. And Myrto Uzuni offered real-time feedback to his fellow Designated Player out on the right wing, Osman Bukari.
“In that moment, with Buka, I was calling him all the time, ‘pass me the ball,’ because two times before, he shot the ball. So I was telling him, ‘pass me the ball, because I’m alone. Don’t put your head down,’” the Albanian striker told reporters postgame.
“And Buka listened to me, because I see better.”
Indeed, Bukari dribbled into the St. Louis penalty box, cut past a defender and squared the ball to an unmarked Uzuni, who fired a deflected finish past Ben Lundt – his opening goal in MLS, the game-winner in a 1-0 ATX victory during their strong start to the 2025 campaign.
“I read the game better, because I see everything. So Buka passed me the ball,” added Uzuni. “I think this was a big win. To win three games in a row is not easy.”
New challenge
Austin’s new marksman is not short on confidence, and with good reason. Uzuni has scored everywhere his career his taken him to date, from Albania to Greece, Croatia, Hungary and most recently Spain, where he won the Segunda División’s Pichichi (top scorer) trophy to help Granada earn promotion to LaLiga in 2023 and eventually became the club’s all-time leading scorer across just three seasons in Andalusia.
Uzuni got a fleeting taste of Spain’s vaunted top flight, as Granada were narrowly relegated last season. But ‘El Graná’ looked poised to push for a quick return in 2024-25, with Uzuni leading the charge. So why did he decide it was time for move on and start a new adventure in MLS – even when his old club strived to keep him, reportedly forcing Austin to pay the full $12.3 million release clause to secure his services?
In a word: glory.
“In Granada, I win everything: Best player, No. 10, captain, top scorer, champion. I win everything. My name is there. I broke records with one club – 100 years old, broke records,” Uzuni explained during a one-on-one conversation with MLSsoccer.com, with Saturday’s visit from defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy on the horizon (1:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+; FOX, FOX Deportes).
“I come here to put my name here in Austin, know what I mean?”
Once Uzuni understood Austin’s vision for him via conversations with sporting director Rodolfo Borrell, he only had eyes for MLS, even despite Granada’s hesitance.
“I speak with my family. My family was there, because we were celebrating the new year,” he explained. “My father told me, ‘You go, you go. You have to put your name. You put your name here, you win everything. You have to go there, put your name. The most important is what you leave behind when you finish the football.’”
Myrto Uzuni, man of few words: “I didn’t come (to Austin) to relax. I came to make history.” pic.twitter.com/tRjjcDjkKI
— Eric Goodman (@Goodman) February 19, 2025
Long journey
The Verde & Black’s new reinforcement has always been going places, always on the grind. When he was just 10, his family emigrated from Albania to Greece – a three-day journey, on foot – crossing into the European Union in search of greater opportunities, going deep into debt to open that door. Eventually they settled on the island of Zakynthos, where stunning natural beauty fosters a strong tourism industry.
Early in his academy career, young Myrto worked at the same restaurant as his parents after his training sessions. Soccer, he believed, was the best chance at escaping poverty.
“I never had a good childhood,” Uzuni said. “The only solution was a football.
“My story is not that easy,” he explained. “Because we didn’t have nothing. We were at zero. And when we go in Greece, we were minus zero, because you pay the rent and this is everything. So the only solution at home was me.”
Mirësevini në Austin, Myrto! ???????? pic.twitter.com/qmEHQSpR3x
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) February 20, 2025
That confidence he flashed in St. Louis has deep roots – functioning as armor and fuel for the journey he took to get here. He recalls a moment around age 15 which bolstered his faith that a professional career might be within reach, when he drew the attention of scouts from Manchester City and Chelsea hunting for talent. “You have a diamond,” he remembers one telling his father.
Piraeus powerhouse Olympiacos took an interest, but without Greek citizenship, he lacked the paperwork required to sign on. So he returned to Albania to take the next step in his career, breaking into the first team at KF Tomori, his hometown club in Berat, as a teenager. Transfers to bigger Albanian clubs soon followed; first Apolonia, then Laçi.
His first move abroad was to Croatian club NK Lokomotiva; 36 goal contributions across two seasons earned him a shot with Hungarian notables Ferencváros. There he grabbed international headlines during their upstart run in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League, scoring a goal against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus and mimicking the Portuguese legend’s signature celebration – but as a tribute, not a troll, later explaining to CR7 that he was his idol before swapping jerseys postgame.
Persistence pays off
It was the sort of moment that can vindicate a lifetime of struggle and sacrifice, to say nothing of raising his profile, a prelude to his move to the bright lights of Spain. Uzuni, though, is just as likely to point to more personal milestones, like buying a house for his parents back in Albania, and another for his sister and her family to boot.
“Of course, because my family was with me when I didn’t have nothing,” he said. “So they’re the only people who see me growing up with no food, and I put my name in every country I’ve been in – in Croatia, in Hungary, in Spain. That’s why I want to put my name here, because the most important is, when you finish the football, what you leave behind you. The most important is the name you put.
“I don’t want the kids of my sister growing up like me with no food, nothing,” he added. “So everything is great now.”
Myrto Uzuni hit the CR7 celebration after scoring against Juve yesterday.
15 minutes later, Ronaldo answered back with his 131st UCL goal.
They swapped shirts at full-time ???? pic.twitter.com/lzHKreKPBc
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 25, 2020
The Uzuni family’s decision to cross borders in search of a better life is a familiar story among the Balkan nations. The vicious internecine wars of the 1990s, combined with the economic inequality between the former Soviet bloc and their Western counterparts, forced many to leave home, creating a large diaspora and a powerful collective experience.
“I think there’s more Albanians throughout Europe than living in Albania,” said Uzuni’s Austin teammate Besard Sabovic, a midfielder of Albanian and North Macedonian heritage who was born and raised in Sweden. “The possibilities and earnings are not so high in Albania. That’s why it’s a lot of people abroad in Europe, because of the job opportunities, and the earnings are much higher in other countries.
“Myrto is a top footballer and every Albanian feels proud of being Albanian and trying to be a good ambassador.”
Uzuni carries that everywhere.
“That’s why I want to put my name here in MLS, so everyone can know Albania for good things,” he said. “So I have a responsibility also for my country, to be here.”
Club-record signing
Fans and pundits often talk about a goalscorer’s responsibility, the burden to produce reliably in front of goal after the rest of the team has worked so hard to create those situations. It can get dialed up to suffocating extremes when a big price tag is attached, like in Uzini’s case with Austin. But it’s always been like that for him, on and off the pitch.
“Of course, pressure is always,” he said. “Of course, now is more high, the pressure. But I know; this is my job. I’m doing this many years, scoring goals. It takes a little bit of time to adapt with a league, with a vision, but I don’t have doubt in myself. I’m confident. I believe in myself. So the goals will come.”
Along the way he’s become a polyglot, fluent in five languages, well-versed in the adaptation process central to moves like the one he made over the winter.
“The good thing about Myrto is he connected real quick with all kind of players,” said ATX head coach Nico Estévez. “It doesn’t matter if it’s old, young; he cares, he’s engaging with them and already right away from the beginning he has connected with everyone.”
Uzuni would surely prefer to have struck up a higher conversion rate than the one goal he’s scored in his first six MLS appearances, and the Verde & Black’s coaching staff has worked with him on working within the system, to keep him from roaming to excess when clear chances don’t materialize. But they see the tools, the commitment, the swagger – the full package that can power a rise to stardom on this side of the Atlantic.
“He has this humble and hungry side of him that shows every day that he shows up, as a motivation. He’s the one that runs more, that fights more, that wants more. I think that’s contagious,” said Estévez. “Sometimes when you sign a DP, he could miss some of that, because they don’t relate to the quality and they miss a little bit of that hunger and desire and show up every day at work and work and do everything. I think he has that side.”
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