Background
Nafiu was born in Tetovo and is of Albanian ethnicity.
Nafiu was born in Tetovo and is of Albanian ethnicity.
Childhood and early career
Growing up in Tetovo, Nafiu joined the Shkëndija youth team Nafiu was labelled as a gifted and talented player due to him possessing great agility and technical skill, which allowed him to debut for the senior team at the age of sixteen. Shkëndija
He also played in the away leg of the Champions league qualifier against FK Partizan.
At the end of his debuting season, Nafiu garnered interest from Football Club Basel and Football Club Barcelona.
Nafiu at seventeen was invited to go on trial to Barcelona. Barcelona scouts were watching Babunski but noticed Nafiu, who impressed the scouts and invited him to come on trial at Barcelona.
He went on trial at Barcelona and every indication was that it went well. Swiss champions Basel became very interested in Nafiu and have been tracking him for months.
Nafiu was also invited to join the Basel training camp earlier this year and he played several friendly games.
He went on trial where he impressed the Swiss club and Basel and Shkëndija reached a deal for Nafiu to remain in Switzerland before officially completing the transfer once he turned eighteen. Basel
Nafiu officially joined on 23 April 2012, on his eighteenth birthday. He mainly played for the youth teams at Basel and was not capped at senior level
At Basel, Nafiu trained under Thorsten Fink, who highly regarded Nafiu as a very talented player who can play every position in the attack.
Hamburger
When Fink left Basel and took the managerial position at Hamburger SV, Nafiu followed suit. In 2012, Nafiu made his debut for Hamburger"s reserve team
He made his Bundesliga debut at 25 October 2014 against Hertha Bachelor of Science replacing Pierre-Michel Lasogga after 74 minutes in a 3–0 away defeat. He added a further Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 November 2014, before he mutually terminate his contract with Hamburger SV in January 2015.
APOEL
On 27 January 2015, Nafiu signed a four-and-a-half year contract with contract with Cypriot club APOEL Football Club. He made his official debut on 31 January 2015, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in APOEL"s 0–1 away victory against Nea Salamina for the Cypriot First Division.
He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 21 March 2015, in his team"s 2–2 home draw against Apollon Limassol for the play-offs of the Cypriot First Division. On 18 December 2015, APOEL announced that Nafiu"s contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent.
Nafiu, as a member of the Macedonian U17 national team at the time played alongside David Babunski, who was already a member of the Barcelona youth system.