Lorent Tolaj (born 23 October 2001) is a Swiss professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club Aldershot Town.

Club career

Brighton & Hove Albion

Born in

Aigle , neighboring_municipalities= Vaud: Yvorne, Leysin, Ormont-Dessous, Ollon; Valais: Vouvry, Collombey-Muraz , twintowns = L'Aigle (France), Tübingen (Germany), Bassersdorf (Switzerland) } Aigle (French language, French for "eagle", ; frp, ...

, Tolaj joined Brighton & Hove Albion's academy in 2018 after playing youth football for Swiss side FC Sion. He would score two goals for the ''Seagulls''' under-23 side in their 4–2 win over

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

in the 2022

Sussex Senior Challenge Cup The Sussex Senior Cup is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of Sussex and is the county senior cup of the Sussex FA. Its official name is the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup. F ...

final. On 16 June 2023, Tolaj was released from his contract with Brighton.

Cambridge United, Salford City, and Dundee loans

On 31 January 2022, he joined

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Cambridge United on loan until the end of the season. A day later, he made his debut for the ''U's'' as a substitute in the 2–0 away defeat at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. On 18 April, it was confirmed that Tolaj had returned to his parent club Brighton after struggling for game time at Cambridge only making five appearances in all competitions. On 23 August, Tolaj signed for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Salford City on loan for the 2022–23 season. However, on 31 January 2023, Tolaj left Salford and joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for the ''Dark Blues'' as a substitute in a league game away to Hamilton Academical. In April 2023, Tolaj return to Brighton after suffering an injury to his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

, and would only briefly return to Dundee before the issue flared up again.

Aldershot Town

On 7 July 2023, following his release from Brighton, Tolaj joined

side, Aldershot Town on a one-year deal. Tolaj scored a brace in his debut for the ''Shots'', in a 5–2 league win over Oxford City. On 28 August, Tolaj would play part of a league game away to

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

as a

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 ...

after ''Shots'' goalie Jordi van Stappershoef was sent off. Tolaj scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

win over

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

International career

Born in Switzerland, Tolaj is of Kosovan descent. He has represented Switzerland internationally at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. On 19 November 2019, Tolaj scored eight goals in Switzerland U19's 16–1 win over Gibraltar U19, setting the record for the most goals scored in a under-19 Euro qualifier.

Career statistics

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion *

: 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolaj, Lorent 2001 births Living people Swiss people of Kosovan descent People from Aigle Swiss men's footballers Footballers from the canton of Vaud Men's association football forwards FC Sion players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Switzerland men's youth international footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England