Shaqir Ejup Tafa (born 14 November 1998) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Italian club Recanatese.

Early life

Tafa was born in Fondi, province of Latina, Lazio from Albanian parents originally from Luz i Vogël, Kavajë which had emigrated in Italy in 1994. He was 4th family's child and the first son after three daughters. At age of 2 he along his parents moved to comune of

Portogruaro Portogruaro ( vec, Porto, fur, Puart) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. The city is the centre of a district, made up of 11 ''comuni'', which form the Venezia Orientale with the San Donà di Piav ...

in Veneto and then in

Belfiore Belfiore is a comune s in the province of Verona, Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes ...

near Venezia. He started his footballing career there by playing 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 ...

at Annonese for three years. Tafa switched position to

following his transfer to Liventina. He enjoyed success there, winning Veneto's national title in 2013. After several trials in 2014, he was brought in by

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

on initially on loan. In the following years Tafa progressed through Palermo's youth teams, and was notably voted as Palermo primavera's best player of the year, receiving 47% of total votes. He was called for the first time at senior squad in 2017.

Club career

Monopoli (loan)

On 5 August 2017 Tafa was loaned out to Serie C side Monopoli until the end of the 2017–18 season. Under management of Massimiliano Tangorra Tafa was considered as 6th center-defense choice behind most used trio formed by team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Luca Ricci, Mattia Bei and Michele Ferrara (including also Mario Mercadante which was often used as a center-back in place of Ferrara) and other substituters Loris Bacchetti and Nicola Lanzolla. Consequently, Tafa was on the bench for 13 first matches. He made his debut in the penultimate matchday of the year on 23 December against

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

playing as a starter along Ricci and Mercadante, thus benching Ferrara whereas Bei moved as a midfielder; Tafa was substituted off in the 73rd minute as the match ended in a 2–0 loss for Monopoli which remained with ten men since the 68th minute.

Cuneo

On 7 August 2018, he moved on a permanent basis to the Serie C club Cuneo.

Sicula Leonzio

On 2 September 2019, he signed with

Sicula Leonzio Associazione Sportiva Dilettantisica S.S. Leonzio 1909, also commonly known as Leonzio, is an Italian football club located in Lentini. They participate in the 2022–23 Eccellenza, the fifth level of the Italian football league system. Histo ...

Piacenza

After a three-months spell with Albanian club Tirana where he did not appear for the senior squad and was released in November 2020, on 2 February 2021 he returned to Italy and signed with Piacenza.

Recanatese

On 12 July 2022, he moved to Recanatese.

International career

Early stages: Italy & Albania U19

Early in 2013 Tafa had a gathering stage with Italy national under-17 football team, from where he was scouted by

Paolo Tramezzani Paolo Tramezzani (born 30 July 1970) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. He was most recently the manager of FC Sion. Playing career Tramezzani was born at Castelnovo ne' Monti in Emilia. At the age ...

the Albania national football team assistant coach of Gianni De Biasi. Then in January 2016 he received a call up 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 coach

Arjan Bellaj Arjan Bellaj (born 1 February 1971) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Bellaj played for PAS Giannina, Kalamata F.C., Apollon Athens F.C., Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. and Panionios F.C. in the Greek ...

for a gathering stage in Verona, Italy.

Albania U21

Tafa received his first international call up to

Albania national under-21 football team The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, which is held every two ye ...

by coach Redi Jupi for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament ...

closing match against Israel U21 on 10 October 2016. He didn't featured in the game as he wasn't included in the final 18-man squad. He was called up by new coach

Alban Bushi Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Albania under-21 and under-20 team. He is nicknamed "Loku". During his playing career he played as a striker. Bushi ...

for a double Friendly matches against Moldova U21 on 25 & 27 March 2017. He debuted for Albania U21 in the second match against Moldova U21 on 27 March playing as a starter to help his side to take a 2–0 victory. Since he had not debuted yet for Albania in international competitive matches, in April 2017 Tafa was asked again by Italy for their national under-19 team but Tafa answered indirectly to have refused their invitation by posting on social media Facebook a picture while singing the national anthem of Albania during a March's match against Moldova U21. Tafa was called up by coach Alban Bushi for the Friendly match against France U21 on 5 June 2017 and the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tour ...

opening match against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017. He made his competitive debut for Albania U21 against Estonia U21 on 12 June 2017 under coach Alban Bushi playing the full 90-minutes match to help his side to take a goalless draw. He received his first call up for the Albania under-20 side by same coach of the under-21 team Alban Bushi for the friendly match against Georgia on 14 November 2017. He debuted for under-20 team against Georgia by playing as a starter, where he was granted as team

, to play until 55th minute when he was substituted off for Rei Nuriu with score at 1–0 and the entire match finished in an eventual 3–0 loss.

Style of play

Tafa mainly operates as a

, but he can play also as a right back and defensive midfielder. He is nicknamed ''Shaq'' alike former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

star

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

due to his height. He has been compared to

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

winner Andrea Barzagli due to his powerful physical build and power. Tafa himself has cited his role model the Slovakian defender Milan Škriniar.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Shaqir Tafa profile

Serie A TIM The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

*
archive

Shaqir Tafa
at FSHF.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Tafa, Shaqir 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Latina Footballers from Lazio Italian people of Albanian descent Albanian footballers Italian footballers Association football defenders Serie C players Palermo F.C. players S.S. Monopoli 1966 players A.C. Cuneo 1905 players A.S.D. Sicula Leonzio players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players U.S.D. Recanatese 1923 players KF Tirana players Albanian expatriate footballers Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Albania youth international footballers Albania under-21 international footballers