Xhulian Rrudho (pronounced ; born 9 September 1987 in

Lushnjë Lushnjë (; locally ''Lushnje'' ; sq-definite, Lushnja) is a city and municipality in west-central Albania. The municipality's population is 63,135 as of the 2023 census, in a total area of . History In January 1920, Lushnje was a provis ...

) is an

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 ...

n former

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 last played for

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. The men's football club is part of the multi-discipli ...

Club career

After moving to Italy as a child, he started his professional career with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Serie C1/B Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

team

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

. On 31 January 2007 he agreed a permanent move to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

. On 3 March 2007 he played his first (and only) Serie A match for Chievo against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

In the 2007 summer market he was farmed to Tuscan

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

team Sansovino in co-ownership deal, where he spent the first half of the 2007–08 season along with goalkeeper Antonino Saviano, defenders Leonardo Moracci (loan),

Marcus N'Ze Marcus N'Ze Kouassi (born 7 April 1987) is an Italian footballer of Ghanaian origin who plays for Italian Eccellenza club Montorio FC. Biography Born in Sekondi, Ghana, N'Ze moved to Italy at young age. He started his career at Verona for Chiev ...

, midfielders

Maycol Andriani Maycol Andriani (born 17 September 1987) is an Italian footballer who plays for the Serie D club Ciliverghe. Andriani played two seasons in the Lega Pro, from 2007 to 2009. Biography Born in Verona, Veneto, Andriani started his career with Chi ...

and Luca Spinetti. On 31 January 2008 he left Sansovino and agreed to move to Scafatese, another Serie C2 team, in a loan deal. In July 2008 he returned to his native Albania, joining

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's home ground is the newly built sta ...

. In January 2009 he moved to

, another top flight Albanian club, but he sued the club in October 2011 citing the club still owed him money. As his football career had been derailed, he finished his professional career at only 23.

Legal issues

In February 2013 he was arrested in Ancona for drug trade after a police investigation in

Montacuto Montacuto is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. Montacuto borders the following municipalities: Albera Ligure, Cantalupo ...

(

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

); his house was full of materials used for packing the drugs.

References

1987 births Living people Footballers from Lushnjë Men's association football forwards Albanian men's footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers AC Ancona players AC ChievoVerona players AC Sansovino players FK Partizani Tirana players KF Tirana players Serie A players Kategoria Superiore players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Albanian drug traffickers Albanian people imprisoned abroad 21st-century Albanian sportsmen {{Albania-footy-forward-stub