Engjel Makelara ( sq, Engjëll Makelara; born 22 August 1996) is an Albanian-born naturalized Italian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for Alghero Rugby 1975 in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, and his preferred position is hooker.

Career

Makelara was born on 22 August 1996 in Debar, Macedonia from Albanian parents, he began playing rugby at the age of 14, showing off right away also thanks to the prowess of her physique. After a couple of seasons spent with the yellow and red jersey of Bassano, the adventure begins with the youth of Benetton during which Makelara gets the call-up by the Italy U17 and wins the U16 championship in 2012 and U18 in 2014 and in that same year, he was part of the group selected for the Mogliano's Zonal Academy. He played for Benetton until

2019–20 Pro14 The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness Brewery, Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It was the third season to be ...

season. From 2020 to 2023, he played for

Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

in the Italian

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019� ...

. In the summer of 2014, he received a call-up from the technical commissioner Alessandro Troncon for the summer tour of the Italy U20 in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and after the call came, he injured and had to give up and then that of Mogliano, a club where he remains for two years in which he makes his debut in Excellence and is also selected for the

Six Nations Under 20s Championship The Six Nations Under 20s Championship is an international rugby union tournament. It is the under-20s equivalent of the Six Nations Championship. Originally the tournament was in an under-21 format but changed to under-20s in 2008. England wer ...

. On 4 February 2019, Makelara was named as part of the

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

squad for

2019 Six Nations The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

to replace the injured

Oliviero Fabiani Oliviero Fabiani (born 13 July 1990) is an Italian rugby union player. His usual position is as a Hooker, and he currently plays for Colorno in Top10. After the experience with Lazio, from 2014 to 2022 he played with Zebre. In 2013 and 2014 Fab ...

References

External links

ESPN profile
1996 births Living people People from Debar Italian rugby union players Italian people of Albanian descent Benetton Rugby players Rugby union hookers {{Italy-rugbyunion-bio-stub