Altin Dodë Lala (born 18 November 1975) is an Albanian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, and former manager. He spent his entire playing career in Germany and represented the Albania national team. He has also enjoyed a long international career, making 79 appearances for his country since 1998, the second highest in Albania's international history, being overtaken only by

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional Association football, footballer. He is currently the grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 201 ...

in 2014. He debuted for Albania in January 1998 during a friendly match and then participated in the friendly tournament 2000 Rothmans, helping his team to win the tournament. He participated in overall seven qualifying tournaments of both

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and

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. He also scored three goals for his country. His first international goal came in March 2003 in a

UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Qualification for the 2004 UEFA European Championship took place between September 2002 and November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups, with each team playing the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top te ...

match against

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. Lala took over the captaincy of Albania national team in 2007, ever since Igli Tare was no longer capped by former manager Otto Baric during the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

. He led his team as a captain in the next qualifying tournaments of the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

and the

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until 2011 before announcing his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

from international football.

Early life

Lala was born in the capital of Albania,

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, to Dodë and Pashke Lala who are both originally from Pukë. He grew up in the Tirana e Re neighbourhood of the capital with his parents, brother and sister, where he played football on the streets like most of the children in the area. His father wanted him to focus on his education ahead of sport, but eventually did sign up Lala to local side Dinamo Tirana. He travelled to Germany at the age of 15 with the Albanian U-16 side in 1991, where they were staying at their training camp near the

Port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (), it is the country's largest seaport by volume. In terms of TEU throughput, Hambur ...

. However, Lala along with many of his teammates decided against returning to Albania and instead he sought asylum in Germany. He eventually settled at a refugee camp in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, where he joined local side

Borussia Fulda Borussia Fulda is a German association football club from Fulda, Hesse. The club was founded 4 July 1904 as ''FC Borussia 1904 Fulda'' and underwent a number of changes in 1923 when they were first joined by ''Radsportclub 1907 Fulda'' in July, ...

's youth team. As he could not speak anything other than Albanian, he relied on hand signals to communicate with the players and coaches, but after two years in the youth team he was promoted to the senior side.

Club career

Borussia Fulda

After the first team of

was promoted to the third tier Oberliga Hessen, Lala was often as an unused substitute during the second half of the 1993–94 season playing two matches. In the next season, the Oberliga Hessen was moved to the fourth tier of German football. Lala managed to play eight matches. He managed to establish himself in the first team for the 1995–96 season to play 24 games and to score his first and only goal in the whole season. Borussia Fulda reachted the first place in the table which meant promotion to the Regionalliga Süd in the next season.

Hannover 96

On 21 July 1998, Lala joined newly promoted 2. Bundesliga team

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

; making his debut on 30 July 1998, in a 1–0 victory over

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. Here, he helped the club win the promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in 2001–02 and since has played over 149 Bundesliga games, becoming the longest-serving player within their squad. In all his time at

, Lala has only scored one Bundesliga goal. In 2004, he became team captain and remained so until the 2007–08 season, being popular both within the team and with fans (who have nicknamed him "The Battle Dwarf" (German: ''Kampfzwerg'') due to his combative style of play). In the 2007–08 season, he made 28 league appearances without scoring a goal. Lala did not make a great start to the 2008–09 season, he only managed to start in five of the opening games and to come on as a substitute in some of the other games.

did not make a good start either as they only managed ten wins this season. After 181 Bundesliga matches for ''96'' his career in the German top-flight ended with the 2011–12 season.

Bayern Munich II

Despite planning his retirement once his contract with Hannover ran out in the summer of 2012,

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

were in talks with Lala in March about joining the club on a free transfer in the summer. The idea was proposed by Lala's former teammate Michael Tarnat, a youth scout at Bayern Munich. Lala made three appearances for Bayern's reserve team before being forced to retire due to injury in October 2012.

International career

Lala recorded 79 appearances for Albania national team and is currently the second highest in Albania's international history, being overtaken only by

in 2014. He has also scored three goals for his country. He debuted with Albania senior team under coach Astrit Hafizi on 21 January 1998 in a friendly against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

as a half-time substitute for Përparim Daiu; in Lala's presence on the pitch during the second-half, Albania managed to score three times to take an away 1–4 victory at İzmir Atatürk Stadium. Right after his debut he went on to participate in the 1998 Rothmans International Tournament in next month. He was ever-present in the whole tournament under coach Hafizi and Albania took two draws against hosts

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

(1–1) and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

(2–2) and lost to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

to end the tournament in the third place. He participated in the next edition in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, helping his team to win the tournament. He scored his first international goal on 29 March 2003 in a

match against

in the 79th minute; the match ended 3–1 for Albania and became one of the country's greatest ever achievements in football. His second goal came just three months later during the same qualifying tournament against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the 22nd minute of a thrilling 3–2 loss. Lala became the captain of Albania during the

, since Igli Tare was no longer capped by former manager Otto Baric. His third and final goal was scored in his 50th match for the ''Red and Blacks'' against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

in 2006.

Managerial career

On 3 March 2014, Lala was presented as assistant coach of

Albania national football team The Albania national football team () represents Albania in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), the governing body for football in Albania. It is a member of UEFA in Eur ...

by head coach Gianni De Biasi, replacing previous assistant Angelo Pereni. On 12 August 2014, Lala was named as the Albania national under-19 football team coach, after the previous coach Foto Strakosha left to work for Olympiakos.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lala goal.'' , + List of international goals scored by Altin Lala , - , style="text-align:center", 1 , 29 March 2003 , Loro Boriçi Stadium,

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

, Albania , , style="text-align:center", 2–1 , style="text-align:center", 3–1 , rowspan="2",

, , - , style="text-align:center", 2 , 11 June 2003 ,

Stade de Genève Stade de Genève (Stadium of Geneva), also called Stade de la Praille, is a stadium in Lancy, Canton of Geneva. It has a capacity of 30,084. Overview The stadium was completed in 2003 by Implenia, Zschokke Construction S.A. after nearly three y ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland , , style="text-align:center", 1–1 , style="text-align:center", 2–3 , , - , style="text-align:center", 3 , 16 August 2006 ,

Stadio Olimpico Stadio Olimpico (; ), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after ...

, Serravalle, San Marino , , style="text-align:center", 3–0 , style="text-align:center", 3–0 , Friendly ,

Honours

Hannover 96 * 2. Bundesliga: 2001–02

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lala, Altin 1975 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian men's footballers 20th-century Albanian sportsmen 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Albania men's international footballers FC Dinamo City players Borussia Fulda players Hannover 96 players FC Bayern Munich II players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Albanian football managers Albanian defectors