Leonard Arben Pllana (born 26 August 1996) is a Kosovan 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

club

Gimpo Gimpo (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It borders Incheon, with which it shares the South Korean side of the Han River (Korea), Han River estuary, as well as Seoul and the lesser cities o ...

Club career

Early career

Pllana at the age of six started playing football in

Trepça Trepca ( / ''Trepča'', ) may refer to: * Trepça Mines, an industrial complex in Mitrovica, Kosovo * KB Trepça, a basketball club in Mitrovica founded in 1947 * KF Trepça, a football club in Mitrovica founded in 1932 * KH Trepça, a handball clu ...

. On 12 January 2014, he joined Division 2 side

Grebbestad Grebbestad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Tanum Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. As of 2010, there were 1,401 inhabitants, though this number can increase by as much as ten-fold during the summer. The town is als ...

. Pllana in July 2015 was on trial at

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

U21, where on 21 July, he played in a league match against Häcken U21 after being named in the starting line-up and scored his side's only goal during a 1–3 home defeat.

Dalkurd

On 10 September 2015, Pllana signed a three-year contract with

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

club Dalkurd and this transfer would become legally effective in January 2016. On 18 April 2016, he made his debut against

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ), meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbr ...

after coming on as a substitute at 65th minute in place of Ahmed Awad and scored his side's second goal during a 1–2 away win.

Loan at Norrby

On 15 July 2017, Pllana joined

side Norrby, on a season-long loan. Seven days later, he made his debut in a 0–3 home defeat against

Falkenberg Falkenberg is a locality and the seat of Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 27,813 inhabitants in 2019 (out of a municipal total of about 45,000). It is located at the mouth of river Ätran. The name consists of the Swedish ...

after being named in the starting line-up. Fourteen days after debut, Pllana scored his first goal for Norrby in his third appearance for the club in a 3–2 home win over

in Superettan.

GAIS

On 7 August 2018, Pllana signed a one-year contract with

club

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

. Five days later, he made his debut in a 1–1 away draw against his former club Norrby after being named in the starting line-up.

Brage

On 27 November 2019, Pllana signed a one-year contract with

club Brage and this transfer would become legally effective in January 2020. On 22 February 2020, he made his debut with Brage in the 2019–20 Svenska Cupen group stage against Elfsborg after being named in the starting line-up. Seven days after debut, Pllana scored his first goal for Brage in his second appearance for the club in a 3–3 away draw over

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

in the 2019–20 Svenska Cupen group stage.

Jeonnam Dragons

On 25 January 2022, Pllana signed a two-year contract with

club

Jeonnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons () are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play their home matches at the G ...

. Jeonnam Dragons reportedly paid a €400,000 transfer fee. On 19 February 2022, he made his debut in a 1–0 away defeat against

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

after being named in the starting line-up.

International career

On 21 March 2017, Pllana received a call-up from Kosovo U21 for a

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

match against Republic of Ireland U21, and made his debut after being named in the starting line-up.

Personal life

Pllana was born in Mitrovica, FR Yugoslavia from Kosovo Albanian parents. His younger brother

Bujar Pllana Bujar Pllana (born 29 October 2001) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ekstraklasa club Lechia Gdańsk. Club career Youth career He played for the youth team of Australia, now known as FC Mitrovica.http://www.90m ...

is a footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pllana, Leonard 1996 births Living people Kosovo Albanians Footballers from Mitrovica, Kosovo Kosovan men's footballers Kosovo men's under-21 international footballers Kosovan expatriate men's footballers Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Men's association football forwards Division 2 (Swedish football) players Allsvenskan players KF Trepça players Superettan players Dalkurd FF players Norrby IF players GAIS players IK Brage players K League 2 players Jeonnam Dragons players Gimpo FC players Grebbestads IF players