Early career Çani was born in
Tirana,
Albania but grew up in
Città della Pieve in the
Perugia central Italy, after his family emigrated to Italy in the famous exodus of the
Vlora ship on 8 August 1991. He was first spotted by a
Pescara scout in 2004 and started his youth career at the time. He signed his first professional contract with the
biancazzurri in 2007. He played for Pescara in
Serie C1 in the first half of the 2007–08 season overall 11 matches, 7 as a starter and 4 as a substitute, scoring 3 goals.
Palermo On 31 January 2008
Serie A side
Palermo confirmed to have signed Cani, along with
Luca Di Matteo, for a reported €600,000 and €500,000 fee respectively. In their June 2008 accounts Palermo showed the signings as being for €450,000 each. Çani made his
Serie A debut on 27 April 2008 in a 0–0 home tie against
Atalanta coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute in place of
Edinson Cavani.
Loan at Ascoli In July 2008,
Ascoli confirmed they had signed Çani on loan for the
2008–09 Serie B season. He scored 4 goals in 24 appearances, most of them as a starter. Ascoli finished the season in 16th.
Loan at Padova On 20 August 2009 Çani was signed with fellow Serie B team
Padova on loan. He made his competitive debut one day later in the opening league matchday against
Modena by playing the last 17 minutes of a 1–0 home win. His first score-sheet contributions came in his second ever appearance for the club one week later, scoring the equaliser in an eventual 1–1 draw at
Reggina. During the first half of the
2009–10 season, Çani was below expectations, netting only twice in 19 appearances.
Loan at Piacenza He left Padova in January 2010 to be loaned out to another Serie B team,
Piacenza, for the rest of the season. He made his debut for Piacenza by scoring two goals in a 3–1 win over
Triestina. He finished his loan spell with a respectable number of 6 goals in 14 appearances.
Loan at Modena After his loan move to Piacenza expired at the end of the season, Çani was sent out on loan again to
Modena, another Serie B club, in July 2010. His debut occurred on 22 August 2010 in the matchday 1 against his former side Piacenza which finished in a 1–0 home win. Çani scored his first two goals with the team later on 13 November in the matchday 15 against
Vicenza, leading the team into a 2–1 home win. This was followed by another goal one week later, but this time in a 3–2 away defeat to
Torino. Çani was used mostly as a starter during the
2010–11 season, appearing in 34 league matches, including 22 as starter, collecting 1983 minutes. He also made 2
Coppa Italia appearances, scoring once in a 4–1 home win over
Sorrento.
Polonia Warsaw The following year he was sold to
Polonia Warsaw. He soon got into a conflict with the club's owner, coach and team and started to look for a new team, however he decided to stay with Polonia. In the Summer of 2012 he refused to return to Poland and missed the teams pre-season training camps. After finally returning he found his opportunities limited and, after an argument with the team coach, found himself training with the youth academy team. In total he scored 11 league goals for Polonia, with 16 of his 31 league appearances coming as a substitute. His move to
Serie A side Catania was considered controversial, by the Polish media, as he was considered to be still technically a Polonia Warsaw player until 2015.
Catania Çani made his return to
Serie A, signing on 22 January 2013 for
Catania on a 3-year contract. He made his debut on 3 March 2013 in a 3–2 loss against
Inter, coming on as a substitute in place of
Gonzalo Bergessio in the 85th minute, he was booked just a minute after coming on.
Loan at Carpi He was loaned to
Serie B side
Carpi on 23 July 2013. He made his debut on 11 August 2013 in a
Coppa Italia - 2nd round match against
Reggina, playing the full 90 minutes match in a 1–0 loss. His league debut came on 24 August 2013 in the
2013–14 Serie B opening match against
Ternana, finished in the 1–0 loss with Çani playing the full 90-minutes. He scored his first goal for Carpi on 21 September 2013 against
Cesena, where he came in as a 77th-minute substitute for
Alessandro Sgrigna and scoring 10 minutes later. The match ended in a 4–1 defeat.
Loan at Bari In January 2014 he was loaned to
Bari until 30 June 2014. He made his debut in a 2–1 loss against
Brescia on 1 February, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for
Stefano Sabelli. His first start came in a 0–0 draw against
Crotone on 22 March, Çani played the full 90-minutes. /his second start came on 26 April 2014 against
Padova, the game finished in a 2–1 victory but Cani was taken off in the 62nd minute for
João Silva. Çani scored his first goal for Bari on 13 May 2014, scoring in the 2nd minute of a 2–1 win against previous club
Carpi. On 30 May 2014 Çani scored twice in a 4–1 victory against
Novara in the closing match of the regular season
2013–14 Serie B. Cani scored an equalizer in the 62nd minute, only 6 minutes after coming on as a substitute, and a second in the 74th minute. Bari finished the regular season in 7th place to qualify for the
play-off promotions to
Serie A where they shorted to play against
Crotone for the quarter-finals. Bari played Crotone on 3 June 2014 and won 3–0 result, with Çani playing the full 90-minutes. With this victory Bari advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced
Latina in a two-legged tie. Çani scored in the first leg, a 2–2 draw played on 8 June 2014. The second-leg was played on 12 June 2014 and again resulted in a 2–2, Cani playing the full 90-minutes. With the aggregate score at 4–4 Latina advanced to the final as the higher placed team of the regular season, as they finished in 3rd place and Bari in 7th place.
Return to Catania Çani returned to Catania ahead of
2014–15 season. He wasn't included to the team for the opening match against
Virtus Lanciano, but made his first appearance of the season on 7 September by starting in the 3–2 away defeat to
Pro Vercelli. He then was sent off in the matchday 7 against
Frosinone on 4 October 2014. receiving a
red card five minutes after coming in. Çani's first score-sheet contributions of the season came later on 25 October, where he scored the opener in the 3–1 rout against
Vicenza. On 6 December 2014, he scored a goal, and provided an assist, in a 2–2 draw away at
Bologna. He scored the third of the campaign two weeks later, a 6th-minute header, in a 2–2 draw against
Brescia.
Loan at Leeds United On 2 February 2015, Çani joined
Leeds United on loan for the remainder of the 2014–15 season, the deal includes an option to buy.
Granddi N'Goyi's number was then changed to number six with Football League approval, with Çani taking the number 10 shirt. He made his debut, as an 85th-minute substitute, against
Brentford on 7 February 2015. He was an unused substitute in the next game, against
Reading. On 18 April 2015, Cani was one of six
Massimo Cellino signings (along with
Mirco Antenucci,
Giuseppe Bellusci,
Souleymane Doukara,
Dario Del Fabro,
Marco Silvestri) who controversially pulled out of the squad with an 'injury' the day before a 2–1 loss against
Charlton Athletic.
Pisa On 31 August 2015, Çani confirmed his agreement with his new club
Pisa of
Lega Pro by signing a two-year contract. He was presented and was given squad number 9, stating that he was happy that the agreement came up after some negotiations and he will play alongside to a great coach as
Gattuso. Çani scored his first goal of the
2016–17 season in his 22nd game on 4 February 2017 against
Virtus Entella as he came in as a substitute in the 68th minute for fellow
Albania national team's striker
Rey Manaj to score the equalizer 10 minutes later and to give his team an important 1–1 draw.
Partizani Tirana On 4 August 2017, Çani joined
Albanian Superliga side
Partizani Tirana by penning a two-year contract. The transfer made him the highest paid player in Albania, with an estimated monthly fee of €20,000. He was presented three days later and was given squad number 9, last worn by
Mathew Boniface, stating: I'm here to win the championship." Çani missed the opening league match against
Laçi, lost 0–2, due to knee injury, but returned on 13 September in the first round of
2017–18 Albanian Cup first round against
Naftëtari Kuçovë, scoring a goal in a 6–2 away win. However, his knee injury reappeared at the end of the month, which forced the striker to travel to
Italy for further examinations. In December 2017, Çani underwent knee surgery again after originally going in May of the same year. He returned on training in February of the following year, and made his first appearance in over six-month by entering in the last minutes of a 3–0 home win versus
Luftëtari Gjirokastër on 10 March. Çani scored his first Albanian Superliga goal for the team nine days later, netting with a header in the second half against
Flamurtari Vlorë to seal a 1–0 win at home. Later in May, he was involved in a physical confrontation with team manager
Klevis Dalipi during a training session. Partizani Tirana finished 5th in league which initially left them without European football, but following Skënderbeu Korçë exclusion by
UEFA and later
Court of Arbitration for Sport due to match-fixing, the team was given a spot for the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. Following the end of the season, Çani's monthly wage was decreased down to €6,000 after a failed first season. On 7 July, he was excluded from the UEFA Europa League team, with the manager describing it as a "tactical choice". Later on 31 July, Çani begun training with the
B squad after refusing to terminate the contract by mutual consent.
Vibonese On 27 August 2018, he returned to Italy, signing with
Serie C club
Vibonese. His contract with Vibonese was terminated by mutual consent on 21 January 2020, he has not appeared for the club since April 2019.
Later years in Serie D In 2022 he moved to
Sassari Torres, the main club in the city of
Sassari in
Sardinia, playing
Serie D at the time. After having been unattached for the beginning of the 2022–23 season, on 27 October he signed for
Aprilia, another Serie D club. He however left Aprilia soon afterwards, then joining
Legnano, another Serie D club, on 28 December 2022. ==International career==