Rudi Vata (born 13 February 1969) is an Albanian former 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 ...
who played as a defender, and had also a short stint as a manager of Albanian team
KF Vllaznia Shkodër
Klubi I Futbollit Vllaznia Shkodër, commonly known as Vllaznia is an Albanian football club based in the city of Shkodër. It is the association football branch of the Vllaznia Sports Club, which was founded on 16 February 1919. It is also the ...
.
Club career
Early life
Vata was born in the northern city of Shkodër and joined local side Vllaznia Shkodër at a young age, making his first team debut in 1988. Whilst travelling with 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 com ...
in France he sought political asylum in 1991.
Vata's career in
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
football began in France in 1991, when the
KS 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 r ...
player claimed
political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
following an international match. He played for Le Mans and
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
Energie Cottbus
FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...
(1998–2001),
Rot-Weiß Ahlen
Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...
(January–June 2002) and
SK Tirana
Sport Klub Tirana, is an Albanian sports club based in the country's capital Tirana, most notable for its association football department. The club also consists of various other departments including basketball, volleyball, futsal Futsal is a ...
(2002–2003). This was followed by a spell in Japan, after which he signed for St Johnstone in 2004. He retired from football in 2005 after a brief stint with
KF Partizani Tirana
Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club (association football), football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to ...
.
Since retiring from the professional game, Vata has become a sports agent, specialising in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
an football, and facilitating the transfer of players such as
Garry O'Connor
Garry Lawrence John O'Connor (born 7 May 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He played for Hibernian, Peterhead, Lokomotiv Moscow, Barnsley, Tom Tomsk, Birmingham City, Greenock Morton and represented Scotland.
O'Connor beg ...
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 ...
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 ...
and earned a total of 59 caps, scoring 5 goals. His final international was a September 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification match against
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.
Personal life
Vata is married to Anne Frances from
Wishaw, Lanarkshire
Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it formed ...
in Scotland, whom he met during his time playing at Celtic. They have two sons together, Ruan and
Rocco
Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins
* Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor a ...
, both of whom were born in Scotland. They live in
Hamilton, Scotland
Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nor ...
.
In November 2019, his son Rocco was set to make his Republic of Ireland U-15 debut against Poland. Rocco then joined and progressed through the youth sector of Celtic (one of his father's former clubs), signing a professional contract with the Scottish team in July 2021.
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 humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
Albania - Championship Winning Teams - RSSSF
Celtic
*
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 ...
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...