Blerim Nexhmi Rrustemi (; born 4 February 1983) is a football manager and former player who is the assistant manager of Oberliga Niederrhein club Union Nettetal. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented Albania internationally.
Over the course of his career he played in Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, Denmark, Cyprus and Albania, appearing at both professional and semi-professional levels. He represented the Albania national team in 2007, earning three caps.
Rrustemi began his football career with 2 Korriku, and due to the Kosovo War, he emigrated to Canada, where he initially played for Weston Collegiate Institute in 1999 and then continued with Azzurri Toronto in 1999âÂÂ2000, and Toronto Supra in 2000âÂÂ2001, both competing in the Canadian Professional League. He also appeared for local Albanian community teams in the Toronto area.
At the age of 17, he moved to South America, joining Portuguesa in Brazil for the 2001âÂÂ02 season, where he was offered a three-year contract, but because of his young age he did not remain away from his family for more than six months, before signing for Defensor Sporting in Uruguay in 2002. With Defensor, he played in the Uruguayan Primera División until 2004, gaining top-flight experience in South America.
Rrustemi returned to Europe in 2004 when he was signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach II after a trial period, joining the clubâÂÂs reserve side in the German Regionalliga. He spent three seasons with MönchengladbachâÂÂs second team, making more than 50 league appearances. After the reserves were relegated, he left on a free transfer in 2007 to join Danish 1st Division club AC Horsens, where he played in two league matches during the 2007âÂÂ08 season.
In January 2008, he moved back to Germany with Rot-Weiss Erfurt, then playing in the Regionalliga Nord and later in the newly created 3. Liga. With Erfurt he won the Thuringian Cup in 2007âÂÂ08. For the 2008âÂÂ09 season Rrustemi joined Alki Larnaca in the Cypriot First Division, where he scored twice in 12 league matches. After financial problems at the Cypriot club, he left as a free agent and, in October 2009, signed a one-year contract with Vllaznia Shkodër in the Kategoria Superiore of Albania, with an option for extension.
After leaving Albania, Rrustemi returned once more to Germany, where he spent the remainder of his playing career in the regional leagues. In 2010, he joined FC Wegberg-Beeck in the NRW-Liga, making 27 league appearances and scoring four goals in the 2010âÂÂ11 season. In 2011, he moved to Goslarer SC, helping the club to win the Oberliga Niedersachsen title in 2011âÂÂ12 and achieve promotion to the Regionalliga Nord.
Rrustemi subsequently played for SSVg Velbert in the Regionalliga West in 2013, in the Oberliga Niederrhein in 2014, and in the German regional leagues in 2014âÂÂ15, where he posted a notable scoring record for a defender. From 2015 to 2019, he was a regular for , with whom he achieved promotion to the Oberliga Niederrhein in 2018.
In the summer of 2019, having established himself in the Niederrhein amateur scene, he joined from Union Nettetal. He helped Viersen win promotion from the Bezirksliga to the Landesliga Niederrhein and remained with the club into the early 2020s.
After ending his long playing career in the German amateur leagues, Rrustemi remained involved in football. In 2025, he joined the coaching staff of his former club as an assistant coach, forming part of a three-man staff in the Oberliga Niederrhein.
He was eligible to represent three countries on international level, either Kosovo (then not a FIFA member, but it did play occasional friendlies), Albania or Canada. During his time at Portuguesa, he played in an unofficial friendly against the Brazil U17 and provided an assist in a 1âÂÂ1 draw; following the match he was offered the opportunity to take Brazilian citizenship and represent Brazil, but he declined.
He later opted to represent the Albania national team instead and was granted Albanian citizenship on 23 March 2007. His debut for Albania came on 22 August 2007 in a 3âÂÂ0 home friendly win against the Malta at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana. He went on to appear in two UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying matches: a goalless draw away to the Slovenia in October 2007 and a 4âÂÂ2 home defeat against the Belarus in November 2007, which proved to be his final international match.
Born in Kosovo to an ethnic Albanian family, Rrustemi was raised in Canada after his family left Kosovo at the beginning of the Kosovo War, and he later obtained Canadian citizenship.
Rrustemi has long-standing ties with fellow footballer Granit Xhaka, with whom he has a close friendship. In 2024 he attended Bayer Leverkusen's Bundesliga title celebrations as a guest of Xhaka.