Paulo Sokoli (born 29 March 1995) is an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

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 most recently played as a defender for Swiss club

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

Club career

Early career

Genoa

Being a regular starter with primavera team of

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

he gained entry with the first team in September 2013 as he called up by the coach

Fabio Liverani Fabio Liverani (; born 29 April 1976) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder, who was most recently in charge of Cagliari. He made 288 Serie A appearances across 12 seasons, representing Perugia, Lazio, Fiorentina and Palermo. He ...

to participate in the 5th game week of the

2013–14 Serie A The 2013–14 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 112th season of top-tier Italian football, the 82nd in a round-robin tournament, and the 4th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie ...

against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

on 28 September 2013. In that match Sokoli remained as an unused substitute for the entire match wearing the 44th shirt number and Udinese won 1–0 scoring with

Antonio Di Natale Antonio Di Natale (; born 13 October 1977) is an Italian fotball coach and former professional player who played as a striker. After being a member of the Empoli youth side since 1994, Di Natale started his professional career with the Empoli ...

in the 79th minute. He managed to participate with the first team also in the next fixture 4 days later against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and two others during the next year 2014 in January and May, but didn't came in to play in any of these matches.

Barletta

On 10 July 2014 Sokoli left Genoa to start a professional career at

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

(former

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

) side

S.S. Barletta Calcio A.S.D. Barletta 1922 is an Italian association football club located in Barletta, Apulia. Currently it plays in Serie D. Barletta was played in professional league as Società Sportiva Barletta Calcio. In 2015 the club went bankrupt, and a new ...

. During his first months at Barleta, Sokoli remained with primavera team and involved with the first team on 19 October 2014 by the coach

Marco Sesia Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

against

Casertana Casertana Football Club is an Italian association football club based in Caserta, Campania. The club currently plays in Serie D. History The club was founded in 1908 as Robur Caserta and became known as Unione Sportiva Casertana from 1928 unt ...

, match finished in the 2–1 loss and Sokoli remained as an unused substitute. He then appeared again at the first team only in the 2015 year in the first match of the year against

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

on 11 January 2015 where he didn't play once again. Then he returned to participate with the first team in March without playing the entire match against Casertana before he made his first professional debut on 11 March 2015 against

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comple ...

coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute in place of Simone Guarco in a 2–1 away loss.

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds

On 19 December 2016 Sokoli signed with

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It was founded in 1894 and used to play at the Stade Charrière. History F.C. La Chaux-de-Fonds was founded on July 4, 1894, and won the Swiss first division in the ...

in the

Swiss Promotion League The Promotion League, named the YAPEAL Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Swiss football league system. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over the course of the season. The champions are ...

, but he left them at the end of the season.

International career

Sokoli was called up for the first time in international level at

Albania national under-17 football team The Albania national under-17 football team represents Albania in international football at this age level in the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, as well as any other under-17 international football tournaments. I ...

by the coach

Džemal Mustedanagić Džemal Mustedanagić (born 8 June 1955) is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian retired footballer and current manager of the Albania national under-16 football team. Playing career Club Born in Bosanski Novi, his playing career started in FK Sloboda Bosansk ...

to participate in the

2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship (qualifying round) was the first round of qualifications for the Final Tournament of UEFA U-17 Championship 2012. Matches were played between September 21–November 2, 2011. All times are CET/CEST. ...

in the month October 2011. He managed to play two full 90-minutes matches and helped his team to gain their qualification to the next

Elite round In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

by taking the second place in the rank of the group. Also in the Elite round in March 2012 Sokoli played two full 90-minute matches but Albania U17 eliminated from the tournament finishing in the 3rd place. Following his good performances with Albania under-17, Sokoli received a call up highery at

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 ...

by the coach

Foto Strakosha Fotaq "Foto" Strakosha (born 29 March 1965) is an Albanian retired goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach of Lazio Youth. Strakosha is regarded as one of Albania's most popular and greatest goalkeepers. In his 20-years playing career he pla ...

, for the

2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying round The 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying round was the first round of the qualification for the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament. A total of 52 participating teams were divided into 13 groups of 4 teams, w ...

. He played every minute of all 3 matches of the tournament but Albania u19 got eliminated finishing in the last 4th place of the group collecting 2 points.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokoli, Paulo 1995 births Living people Footballers from Shkodër Albanian footballers Men's association football defenders Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's youth international footballers A.S.D. Barletta 1922 players AC Monza players FC La Chaux-de-Fonds players Serie C players Albanian expatriate footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland