Drilon Shala

Last updated

Drilon Shala
Drilon Shala.jpg
Shala with Lahti in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1987-03-20) 20 March 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Lahti, Finland
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
2001–2006 Reipas
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2006–2012 Lahti 122 (31)
2006 → PP-70 (loan) 15 (2)
2007–2008 → City Stars (loan) 4 (0)
2010 → Hämeenlinna (loan) 2 (0)
2013 Tavşanlı Linyitspor 14 (0)
2013 PK-35 5 (0)
2014–2019 Lahti 63 (7)
2020 Reipas 11 (0)
International career
2006 Finland U19 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Drilon Shala (born 20 March 1987) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is of Albanian origin. His brother Driton is also a footballer.

Contents

Club career

Shala progressed through the Reipas youth academy. [1] He made his breakthrough as a senior player for Lahti, playing for the club from 2006 to 2012.

On 17 January 2013, Shala moved to TFF First League club Tavşanlı Linyitspor. [2] At the end his first season at the club, his contract was terminated by mutual agreement. [3] He eventually returned to Lahti, signing a two-year contract with his former club on 5 November 2013. [4] There, he won the Finnish League Cup in 2016 with a 4–3 victory against SJK in the final; his third League Cup playing for Lahti. He retired from professional football in February 2020, only to return for one more season to play for his childhood club Reipas in the third-tier Kakkonen. [5]

International career

On 27 February 2006, five months after having been granted Finnish nationality, Shala made his debut for the Finland U19s as a substitute for Jami Puustinen during a 1–0 victory against Norway. [6]

Honours

Lahti

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jari Litmanen</span> Finnish footballer (born 1971)

Jari Olavi Litmanen is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. He also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petri Pasanen</span> Finnish footballer (born 1980)

Petri Pasanen is a Finnish football coach, TV studio presenter and a former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was most comfortable as centre-back, but also played right-back and left-back as well. Pasanen began his senior career in his native Finland before moving to Ajax. He spent most of his career at Bundesliga club Werder Bremen which he represented in the UEFA Champions League in multiple seasons, and in the 2009 UEFA Cup Final. At international level, he made 76 appearances for the Finland national team scoring one goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FC Lahti</span> Association football club in Finland

FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (Veikkausliiga) after placing first in the Finnish First Division (Ykkönen) during season 2011. The homeground of Lahti is Lahden Stadion. Lahti is famous of being the local team of the most successful Finnish player, Jari Litmanen, who played for the club in two stints in 2004 and 2009–10. In his youth years and the start of his career, he played in Reipas Lahti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FC Kuusysi</span> Finnish football club

FC Kuusysi is a football club in Lahti, Finland. Its men's team is currently playing in the fourth tier of Finnish football (Kolmonen), and its women's team is playing in Kakkonen. The homeground of FC Kuusysi is Lahden kisapuisto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sami Ristilä</span> Finnish footballer and manager (born 1974)

Sami Ristilä is a Finnish football manager and former player.

Olavi Litmanen is a Finnish former international footballer who played as a forward. He spent his career with Reipas Lahti in Mestaruussarja and Lahden Palloseura in lower divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reipas Lahti</span> Finnish sports club

Reipas Lahti is a sports club based in Lahti, Finland. It is involved in various of ball games and also other sports. The club emerged in the late 1940s, when the inhabitants of Viipuri had mostly been relocated in Lahti, after evacuation during World War II. As a consequence, the activities of Viipurin Reipas, which had been founded in 1891, were continued in the new home town of the evacuees. The name of the club was still Reipas Viipuri until 1962, when the ball game section became simply Reipas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kari Arkivuo</span> Finnish footballer (born 1983)

Kari Arkivuo is a Finnish football coach and a former professional football defender who could play as left back and right back. He is currently working as an assistant coach of FC Lahti. Arkivuo was born in Lahti, Finland where he played for the local teams before moving to Sandefjord at age 22 in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jussi Länsitalo</span> Finnish footballer (born 1990)

Jussi Länsitalo is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a right winger.

Jonne Kemppinen is a Finnish former professional footballer who played 168 games for FC Lahti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Finnish Cup</span> Association football competition

The 2012 Finnish Cup is the 58th season of the main annual association football cup competition in Finland. It is organised as a single-elimination knock–out tournament. Participation in the competition is voluntary. A total of 198 teams registered for the competition, with 12 teams from the Veikkausliiga, 10 from the Ykkönen, 28 from the Kakkonen, 54 from the Kolmonen and 94 teams from other divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikko Viitikko</span> Finnish footballer (born 1995)

Mikko Ville Olavi Viitikko is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Veikkausliiga club Lahti, on loan from Trelleborg.

Altin Zeqiri is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Çaykur Rizespor. Born and raised in Finland, Zeqiri represents the Kosovo national football team.

Asaad Babiker is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a winger for FC Lahti.

Samuel Pasanen is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Veikkausliiga club Lahti.

Osku Maukonen is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Veikkausliiga club Lahti.

Anton Munukka is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Veikkausliiga club Lahti.

Vilho Huovila is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ykkösliiga club MP on loan from Lahti, and the Finland U18 national team.

Driton Shala is a Finnish footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Kakkonen club Reipas Lahti. His brother Drilon Shala is also a former footballer. Shala's family is of Kosovo Albanian descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommi Laitila</span> Finnish football coach (born 1979)

Tommi Laitila is a Finnish football coach and a former player, currently working as a goalkeeping coach of the Finland women's national football team and the executive manager of FC Lahti.

References

  1. ↑ "Alle 17-vuotiaiden (1.1.1987) maajoukkue-ehdokas leiri pidetään Eerikkilässä 2. - 4.2.2004". Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  2. ↑ "Linyitspor'da 3 transfer birden". Fotomaç (in Turkish). 17 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Linyitspor'da 3 transfer birden". Fotomaç (in Turkish). 21 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Laaksonen, Antti (5 November 2013). "FC Lahdelle mieluisa paluumuuttaja". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish).
  5. ↑ Hoikkala, Mikael (12 February 2020). "FC Lahden Drilon Shala lopettaa pelaajauransa". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish).
  6. ↑ "Räväkkä alku". Suomen Palloliitto (in Finnish). 27 February 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007.
  7. ↑ Lehtonen, Samu (9 April 2013). "Liigacupin voitto teki hyvää FC Lahden itseluottamukselle". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.