Medin Zhega (31 January 1946 – 12 June 2012) was an Albanian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

, who played as a forward.

Playing career

Club

Firstly he played for Vllaznia the football team of Shkodra, then he went to Dinamo Tirana and he concluded his career at the team of Vllaznia. During his career he won several championships in Albania. Medin Zhega quit playing at the age of 32 on 9 September 1979.

International

He made his debut for

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

at age 19 years and 3 months in a May 1965

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match away 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 ...

and earned a total of 11 caps, scoring 3 goals. His final international was a June 1971 European Championship qualification match against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Managerial career

Following his playing career, Zhega became a manager and led the Albania during the 1999–2001 period. He won with

2000 Rothmans International Tournament. Zhega became a coach, starting his career with his former club of Vllaznia. Later Albanet Tirana in Albania, Prishtina in Kosovo and Shkëndija in Macedonia. He also coached an amateur club in Germany named SV Bad Tölz 1925. He got the honor award "Master of Work" given by the president of Albania.

Personal life

He was born in Shkodra,

31 January 1946. In May 2011, Zhega had an accident in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, which made him paraplegic and he remained in a coma for a year until he died 12 June 2012 in

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 ...

. He was survived by 2 sons. One of them, Kreshnik, has also played football for Besëlidhja and

Teuta Teuta ( Illyrian: ''*Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; ; ) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agron in 231 BC, she assumed ...

and was named assistant to coach Peter Pacult at

FK Kukësi Futboll Klub Kukësi is an Albanian professional football club based in the city of Kukës. The club plays its home games at the Kukës Arena and currently competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second highest division of Albanian football. The ...

in 2018.Kukësi gjen ndihmësin e trajnerit Pakult, prezantohet djali i të ndjerit Medin Zhega
– Panorama

Honours

Player

;Vllaznia Shkodër *

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

: 1971–72, 1973–74, 1977–78 *

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

: 1972, 1979 ;Dinamo Tirana *

: 1966–67 *

: 1965

Manager

;Vllaznia Shkodër *

:1981 ;Albania * 2000 Rothmans International Tournament: 2000

Individual

* Albanian Superliga top scorer: 1966–67 (19 goals) *

Albanian Footballer of the Year Albanian Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the best professional Albanian footballer elected by Football Association of Albania members, coaches and captains of the Kategoria Superiore clubs. The award can also be given to a forei ...

1967

References

External links

* 1946 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Shkodër Albanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Albania men's international footballers KF Vllaznia Shkodër players FC Dinamo City players Albanian football managers KF Vllaznia Shkodër managers Albania national football team managers FC Prishtina managers KF Shkëndija managers KF Besëlidhja Lezhë managers Kategoria Superiore players Kategoria Superiore managers Albanian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Expatriate football managers in Kosovo Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Kosovo 20th-century Albanian sportsmen {{Albania-footy-forward-stub