Rudi Vata (born 13 February 1969) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played as a defender, and had also a short stint as a manager of Albanian team KF Vllaznia Shkodër.

Club career

Early life

Vata was born in the northern city of

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

and joined local side Vllaznia Shkodër at a young age, making his first team debut in 1988. Whilst travelling with the Albania national football team in France he sought political asylum in 1991. Vata's career in Western football began in France in 1991, when the KS Dinamo Tirana player claimed political asylum following an international match. He played for

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

and Tours, before playing for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

between January 1993 and 1995–96. He became the first Albanian to win an honour in a major European country when he won the 1995 Scottish FA Cup with Celtic. Vata went on to play for

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

(1996–1998), Energie Cottbus (1998–2001), Rot-Weiß Ahlen (January–June 2002) and SK Tirana (2002–2003). This was followed by a spell in Japan, after which he signed for

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

in 2004. He retired from football in 2005 after a brief stint with KF Partizani Tirana. Since retiring from the professional game, Vata has become a sports agent, specialising in Eastern European football, and facilitating the transfer of players such as Garry O'Connor and

Aiden McGeady Aiden John McGeady (born 4 April 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian. Born in Scotland, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team from 2004 until 2017. He started his c ...

International career

He made his debut for Albania in a May 1990 European Championship qualification match away against Iceland and earned a total of 59 caps, scoring 5 goals. His final international was a September 2001

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match against Finland.

Personal life

Vata is married to Anne Frances from Wishaw, Lanarkshire in Scotland, whom he met during his time playing at Celtic. They have two sons together, Ruan and Rocco, both of whom were born in Scotland. They live in Hamilton, Scotland. In November 2019, his son Rocco was set to make his Republic of Ireland U-15 debut against Poland. Rocco then joined and progressed through the youth sector of Celtic (one of his father's former clubs), signing a professional contract with the Scottish team in July 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo Tirana *

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Albania - Championship Winning Teams
- RSSSF Celtic * Scottish Cup: 1994–95 KF Tirana *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Albanian Supercup:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Albania * Malta International Tournament:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Rothmans Tournament 2000 (Malta)
RSSSF. Retrieved 3 April 2020.

References

External links

Vata at Celtic FC - Football-Heroes.net
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vata, Rudi 1969 births Living people Footballers from Shkodër Albanian footballers Association football defenders Albania international footballers KF Vllaznia Shkodër players FK Dinamo Tirana players Le Mans FC players Tours FC players Celtic F.C. players Apollon Limassol FC players FC Energie Cottbus players Rot Weiss Ahlen players KF Tirana players Yokohama FC players St Johnstone F.C. players FK Partizani Tirana players Ligue 2 players Scottish Football League players Cypriot First Division players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players J2 League players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Albanian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Scotland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Germany Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Japan Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Albanian football managers KF Vllaznia Shkodër managers Kategoria Superiore players Kategoria Superiore managers Association football agents