Amarildo Zela (born 25 August 1972) is an Albanian football manager and former player who is head coach of SG Waidhofen/Ybbs. An
attacking midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
. He played in five different countries through his career, and playing for 14 different teams in the process. He started his footballing career 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 ...
VfL Osnabrück
VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section.
History Foundation to WW2
The c ...
. His first experience abroad was only a short one as he only spent six months at the club before moving back to Albania with
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 ...
in January 1994. After a season and a half back in Albania Zela decided to move to Croatia and the 1.HNL for the first time with NK Neretva Metković. Zela then moved to
HNK Šibenik
Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik ( en, Croatian Football Club Šibenik), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Šibenik. It competes in the Croatian Football League, and plays the ...
the next season where he teamed up with former Partizani teammate Ylli Shehu. It took just six months before his next move, this time i was to another Croatian club NK Vukovar '91 During his time with NK Vukovar Zela won promotion twice and teamed up with fellow Albanian
Fatmir Vata
Fatmir Vata (born 20 September 1971) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played primarily as an attacking midfielder. He began his footballing career with local side 31 Korriku, before moving to Tirana in 1991 where he would remai ...
for the 1999–2000 season after they were promoted to the top division in Croatia. He scored ten goals that season in the 1.HNL. After five seasons and four clubs in Croatia, Zela moved to Israel with second-tier side Hapoel Jerusalem F.C.
International career
Zela 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 ...
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
and earned a total of two caps, scoring no goals. His other international game was a June 1997 World Cup qualification match against
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
Managerial and later career
After three championship titles, 110 championship appearances and 101 goals for Vorwärts Steyr, Zela hung up his boots and became manager for the club's reserve team for the 2009–2010 season. However, he returned to the pitch for the upcoming season, signing with Austrian club Union Weißkirchen and then ASKÖ Leonding in the summer 2011 at the age of 38. However, only one month later, he became manager of Union Pregarten.
On 25 September 2012, Zela was appointed manager of WSC Hertha Wels. In the summer 2014, Zela returned
SK Vorwärts Steyr
SK Vorwärts Steyr is an Austrian association football club based in Steyr. It was founded in 1919. They play at the Vorwärts Stadium. Currently the club has about 300 members. Is one of the oldest football clubs in Upper Austria. In 1999 the ...
, once again as a player-manager for the club's reserve team.
In May 2017, 44-year-old Zela made comeback at the pitch for ASV Kleinreifling. Zela became in charge of Austrian lower league side ASKÖ Steinbach Schwertberg in 2017 but left the club in July 2019. He then took the reins at
FC Wels
FC Wels is an Austrian association football club founded in 2003 by the merger of the traditional clubs ''SK Eintracht Wels'' and ''FC Union Wels''.Albanian Superliga: 2
::
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...