Fotaq "Foto" Strakosha (born 29 March 1965) is an Albanian retired

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and current

goalkeeping coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

of Lazio Youth. Strakosha is regarded as one of Albania's most popular and greatest goalkeepers. In his 20-years playing career he played with 11 different clubs, initially in Albania before moving in Greece in 1991 to spend the majority of his career there until his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

in 2005. He captained the Albania national team for a number of years before his retirement in 2005. He became Albanian's most ever capped player having 73 caps to his name for the Albania national team from 1990 to 2005.

Club career

Strakosha started his senior career for Minatori (now KF Memaliaj) in 1985 beforing moving to Albanian giants

Dinamo Tirana Futboll Club Dinamo Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital Tirana. They play in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football, in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1950 during the communist ...

. In his first season at Dinamo he won

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup ( sq, Kupa e Shqipërisë) is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit (English:"The King's Cup"). Just after a year the cup was suspended as the Second World War st ...

and

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double. However, after ...

eventually. The next season was even more successful as he won all three competitions

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 ...

and

. After another half-season with Dinamo, he moved to Greece playing initially for

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

for the remainder of the 1990–91 season. Then he moved immediately in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, playing for both teams

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμιλ ...

for 2 years and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

for other 4 years. During his time at Olympiacos he was always at top 3 best teams in Greece top-flight winning the title in his last season 1996–97. Then he signed for fellow top-flight side

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

where he would play for 2 seasons, becoming a starter and winning the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

in his first season. He left Panionios to spend another 3 years and a half at top-flight joining Ionikos to play for 3 years before moving to

Kallithea Kallithea (Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a district of Athens and a municipality in south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth largest municipality in Greece (96,118 inhabitants, 2021 census) and the fourth biggest i ...

to spend the first half of the 2002–03 season. Then he moved for a year at Greece second top-flight playing for

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

for the remainder of the 2002–03 season and first half of the 2003–04 season for

Ethnikos Asteras Ethnikos Asteras F.C. ( el, Γ.Α.Ο. Εθνικός Aστέρας, the ''National Star'') is a professional football club based in Kaisariani, Athens, Greece. History The club, originally named ''Ethnikos Astir,'' was founded in 1927 from the m ...

. He was returned in top-flight joining

Proodeftiki Proodeftiki Football Club, also known as Proodeftiki Piraeus, simply as Proodeftiki, or with its full name as A.O. Proodeftiki Neolea ( el, Αθλητικός Όμιλος Προοδευτική Νεολαία, transliterated "Athlitikós Όmilo ...

for the remainder of the 2003–04 season prior moving once more at Panionios in the next season to end his playing career.

International career

Strakosha was Albania's national team goalkeeper from 1990 to 2005. He made his debut on 30 May 1990 and retired on 13 October 2005. Strakosha was first called up in the Albania national team by coach Agron Sulaj for a

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

qualifier against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in May 1990. On the day of his first international game, he was already 25 years and 62 days old. The reason for such a late debut on the international stage was a surplus of qualified keepers in the Albanian international squads like the veteran Perlat Musta and the very promising youngster Blendi Nallbani Due to Albania's staunch communist rule, despite his talent, Strakosha was playing in his country's domestic league as every single player in the international squad . In his debut, Albania lost the game in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

2–0 which added to their miserable run of 19 games without a single win. The game itself was not to be a special one for the rookie goalkeeper as he conceded 2 goals, which kept him aside for the following games. Strakosha had to wait more than a year for his next shot at international football, with the departure of Agron Sulaj as the national manager and the introduction of Bejkush Birce. This game was played after the fall of

Communism in Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...

which meant that from there on, players would be allowed to play abroad for the first time in 45 years. A notable impact like this, struck directly to the national team since nine players – notably Sulejman Demollari and

Edmond Abazi Edmond Abazi (born 29 January 1968) is an Albanian retired international association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Abazi was born in Tirana. He made his league debut for Dinamo Tirana in 1985. He was one ...

– would be playing in foreign leagues, the majority choosing neighbour

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, the same way Strakosha did. His second international cap would be coincidentally in a friendly against these cross-border rivals which ended in a 2–0 win after striker

Sokol Kushta Sokol Kushta (born 17 April 1964) is an Albanian retired football player, who was arguably one of his country's best players in the second half of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s and one of the first to be allowed by the communist part ...

scored twice. Strakosha's career would follow up to the point to become Albania's most capped player, and achieving an extense career under the Eagle's goalposts.

Personal life

Strakosha was born in

Memaliaj Memaliaj is a town and a municipality in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Buz, Krahës, Luftinjë, Memaliaj, Memaliaj Fshat and Qesarat Qesarat i ...

, southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. His son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

plays as a

for English club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and the

Albania national football team The Albania national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e futbollit të Shqipërisë) represents Albania in men's international football, and is governed by the Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania. Albania co ...

. His son Dhimitri played as a striker in the lower leagues of Albania and Greece.

Managerial career

After his retirement, he became a goalkeeping coach. Until

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

he was the Olympiakos goalkeeping coach, when he signed for the Cypriot champions

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. In 2011, he became the coach of

Albania national under-19 football team The Albania national under-19 football team represents Albania in international football at this age level in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship and the FIFA U-20 World Cup, as well as any other under-19 international football tourna ...

. He left Albania U19 on 12 August 2014 to work for

. He left Olympiacos and moved at Lazio Youth to work again as goalkeeping coach; he rejoined his son

who was part of Lazio's senior team.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Dinamo Tirana *

: 1989–90 *

: 1988–89, 1989–90 *

: 1989,

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 ...

;Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 1996–97 ;Panionios *

: 1997–98

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strakosha, Foto 1965 births Living people People from Memaliaj Sportspeople from Gjirokastër County People from Tepelenë Albanian emigrants to Greece Men's association football goalkeepers Albanian men's footballers Albania men's international footballers FK Tepelena players FC Dinamo City players PAS Giannina F.C. players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Panionios F.C. players Ionikos F.C. players Athens Kallithea F.C. players Kalamata F.C. players Ethnikos Asteras F.C. players Proodeftiki F.C. players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Albanian football managers Association football goalkeeping coaches