"My blood is Albanian, but I am Swiss"

Granit Xhaka, captain of Swiss National, reveals the pressures of being a 28-year-old soccer star, the joys new fatherhood, and what it means to be Swiss.

“I will give everything to change the false image of myself. Of course, that won't happen overnight, but I'm convinced it will happen.”
When Granit Xhaka flashed the Albanian “double eagle” sign at the World Cup soccer match against Serbia, two years ago, he triggered an avalanche of headlines and storm of furious debate. Where did his heart truly lie? In Switzerland, the land of his birth? Or Albania, the land of his forebears? The intense reaction over his jubilant gesture took the young soccer phenomenon by surprise. As he tells Die Weltwoche in our exclusive interview, “I always say my blood is Albanian, but I am Swiss… That's a fact.&r ...