Florian Myrtaj (born 15 September 1976) is an Albanian 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 ...

who played as a striker. Myrtaj, who moved to Italy in 1989, aged 13, after having been signed by the Modena F.C. youth section, is also an Italian citizen.

Club career

Myrtaj was born in

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foo ...

. He reached his highlight during his period at

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, then in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

, where he spent two seasons with a total 13 goals. Before joining Verona he was signed by Parma in 2002 and sold to

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

in co-ownership deal along with Christian Terlizzi. In June 2003, Parma bought back Myrtaj and sold him to Verona. After leaving Verona in 2005, he had an unimpressive time at

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

, again in Serie B, before returning to play in the third tier with a number of other teams, including a lacklustre return at

Teramo Teramo (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Tèreme ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo. The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines ( Gran Sasso d'Itali ...

; in September 2008 he joined

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

from Arezzo, and spent two seasons with the Campanian side.

International career

He made his debut for

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 ...

in a January 2002 Bahrain Tournament match against Macedonia and earned a total of 25 caps, scoring 3 goals. His final international was a March 2006

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Lithuania.

International statistics

International goals

Post-playing career

After retirement, Myrtaj worked as a scout for Modena from July 2013 to February 2014.

References

External links

*
Hellastory.net page on Florian Myrtaj
1976 births Living people Footballers from Vlorë Albanian footballers Association football wingers Albania international footballers Modena F.C. players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 players S.S. Teramo Calcio players A.C. Cesena players Hellas Verona F.C. players U.S. Catanzaro 1929 players A.C. Perugia Calcio players S.S. Arezzo players A.S.D. Sorrento players Serie B players Serie C players Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy {{Albania-footy-forward-stub