Kujtim Shala ( hr, Kujtim Šalja; born 13 July 1964) is a Croatian-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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

International career

Shala played his one and only match for the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a ...

in a 2–1 win against the US on 17 October 1990, during a friendly match before the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

was affiliated by FIFA in 1992.

Coaching career

Shala was the head coach of

FC Prishtina Football Club Prishtina ( sq, Klubi Futbollistik Prishtina, ; sr, Фудбалски клуб Приштина, Fudbalski klub Priština), commonly known as Prishtina, is a professional football club based in Prishtina, Kosovo. The club play ...

Kosovar Superliga The Football Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Kosovar football ...

. But after FC Prishtina failed to win the Kosovar Superliga, he was sacked. In February 2008 he was selected as head coach of the

Kosovo national football team The Kosovo national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e futbollit të Kosovës; sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Косова, Fudbalska reprezentacija Kosova) represents Kosovo in men's international football. The team is co ...

Personal life

Shala was born in

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

(now

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

) and is of Albanian descent. His son is fellow

Andis Shala.

References

External links

* * * 1964 births Living people People from Prizren Kosovo Albanians Croatian people of Albanian descent Croatian people of Kosovan descent Kosovan emigrants to Croatia Association football midfielders Yugoslav footballers Croatian footballers Croatia international footballers Kosovan footballers KF Liria players FK Partizan players FC Prishtina players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Stade Rennais F.C. players Stuttgarter Kickers players Chemnitzer FC players Fortuna Düsseldorf players 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig players VfR Mannheim players Yugoslav First League players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Kosovan expatriate footballers Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in France Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Croatian football managers Kosovan football managers FC Prishtina managers Kosovo national football team managers Government ministers of Kosovo Shala (tribe) {{Croatia-footy-midfielder-stub