Career
Early career
After one season with the under-17s, he was promoted to the under-19s at KF Tirana but he left the club in January 2013 and returned to Partizani Tirana, where he also played for the club"s under-19s side. With the arrivals of Sebino Plaku, Xhevahir Sukaj and Emanuele Morini, Vatnikaj found his chances limited at Partizani so he joined newly promoted Albanian Superliga side KF Tërbuni Pukë on loan ahead of the 2015-2016 season. Youth teams
In total he earned 2 caps and scored one goal, which came against Liechtenstein on 17 October 2009.
He was then called up to the Albania U17s Džemal Mustedanagić in 2011 ahead of the 2012 Union of European Football Associations European Under-17 Championship qualifiers held in Tallinn, Estonia in October 2011.
He was an unused substitute in the side"s next game against Germany which ended in a 1–0 loss for Albania, but he did come on in the second half of the side"s final qualifier against Estonia which ended in a 1–1 draw and secured Albania a place in the elite round of the European Championship for the first time in 9 seasons. In preparation for the elite round, Vatnikaj was called up to the squad once again in February 2012, where he was a second-half substitute in both of the first two friendly games that were both played against Slovenia, with the scores being a 1–0 loss and a 1–1 draw, respectively.
In the elite round Albania failed to qualify for the tournament as they lost to both the Netherlands and Serbia, 4–0 and 3–0 respectively.
