Herdi Besnik Prenga (born 31 August 1994) is a 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 plays as a centre-back for RFS in Latvian Optibet Virslīga. Born in Croatia, he represents Albania internationally.

Early life and youth career

Herdi Prenga was born in

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

from parents of Albanian descent. His father Besnik is a former Albanian international footballer in years 1992–1994.Besnik Prenga
National-Football-Teams.com He started his youth career at

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy, also known as Hitrec-Kacian (), are the youth team of Dinamo Zagreb. The academy was founded on 27 December 1967. There are a total of ten age categories within the academy, the oldest being the Junior Team (under-19) an ...

. In 2013, he became professional as he gained entry with the first team of GNK Dinamo Zagreb.

Club career

Sesvete

In Summer 2013 Prenga was loaned out for 6 months to

NK Sesvete NK Sesvete is a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the city of Zagreb. History Radnik Sesvete Until 8 July 2013 club was known as ''Radnik Sesvete'' when it changed its name to the current one. Since the 2011–12 season ...

in Druga HNL (2. HNL) for the first half of the 2013–14 season.

2013–14 season

He made it his first senior debut with Sesvete on 17 August 2013 playing full 90-minutes in the opening match against Gorica, finished in a clean 3–0 victory. He scored 1 goal during the season, concretely on 28 September 2013 in the 8th game week against

Solin Solin (Latin and it, Salona; grc, Σαλώνα ) is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the ...

finished in the 2–0 victory where Prenga scored the opening goal in the 17th minute. He became a regular and important player for the team as he played in total 17 matches out 19 all full 90-minutes and missed out just 2 matches due to the suspension for completing the number of yellow cards (3) exactly two times as he received in total 6 yellow cards.

Lokomotiva Zagreb

2013–14 season second-half

For the second half of the 2013–14 season, also another full season (in total for 1 year and a half), Prenga was loaned to Lokomotiva Zagreb this time in the major Prva HNL. He made it his

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

debut with Lokomotiva Zagreb on 22 February 2014 against Hajduk Split coming on as a substitute in the 23rd minute in place of Dino Perić and the match finished in the 0–2 loss. Then until the end the season he played 9 other matches all as a full 90-minutes and was as an unused substitute for 4 matches.

2014–15 season

2015–16 season

Inter Zaprešić

On 3 July 2017 Prenga signed with fellow

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

side Inter Zaprešić among Marko Bencun and Tomislav Haramustek. Prenga was unable to play in two first games of the season due to a leg injury. He was an unused substitute in next match against Slaven Belupo on 29 July 2017. He made his debut a week later on 5 August against Rudeš playing the full 90-minutes match to help his team to take a clear away 0–2 victory.

Riga FC

On 19 February 2019, Prenga joined

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered ...

in the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is O ...

on a contract until the end of 2020.

Kisvárda FC

On 28 January 2021, after his contract with Riga expired, Prenga signed for

Kisvárda FC Kisvárda Football Club is a Hungarian football club located in Kisvárda. It currently plays in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The team's colors are red and white. History Kisvárda FC, later known as Várda SE, was founded in 1911 as ''Kisvárdai S ...

in the Hungarian National Championship.

International career

Croatia

Prenga first was called up at the

Croatia national under-17 football team The Croatia national under-17 football team represents Croatia in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. Competition history UEFA U-16/17 Europ ...

to participate in the

2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship (Elite Round) was the second round of qualifications for the final tournament of 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, UEFA U-17 Championship 2011. The 28 teams advancing from the 2011 ...

. He played every minute in the entire tournament. He was called up by the coach Dinko Jeličić at

Croatia national under-19 football team The Croatia national under-19 football team represents Croatia in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. Competition history Prior to 1990 Croat ...

to participate in the

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite qualification The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite round is the second round of qualification for the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament. The 25 teams that advanced from the first qualification round, plus three teams that ...

. In the tournament Prenga played just one match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on 7 June 2013, where he played as a starter and got substituted off in the 60th minute for Tomislav Kiš as the match finished in the 2–0 victory. Prenga was called up once at

Croatia national under-21 football team The Croatia national under-21 football team represents Croatia in association football matches for players aged 21 or under. Competition UEFA U-21 Championship ;Notes *OFF = Lost in play-offs. UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2023 UEFA ...

by the coach

Nenad Gračan Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team. Club career Born in Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia, Gračan started playin ...

for the match valid for the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship started with a qualifying competition which began in March 2013 and finished in September 2014. The final tournament was held in the Czech Republic. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 31 Jan ...

against Latvia on 3 September 2014, where he remained on the bench for the entire match.

Albania

In January 2015 Prenga declared to the Albanian media that he wish to continue his father's ( Besnik Prenga) footsteps to wear red and black shirt of Albania and that it would be great honor for him. Given this, the Albania national under-21 football team coach

Skënder Gega Skënder Gega (born 14 November 1963) is an Albanian retired football player and current manager. Playing career Club Gega played the majority of his career at Partizani, an Albanian team, whilst also having a two-year stint with German side ...

contacted the 20-year-old and his family. In February then, coach Skënder Gega announced to have sent an invitation to Prenga, declaring that he has seen him as a good reinforcement for the Albania U21 squad.

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Prenga received his first official call-up by coach Skënder Gega 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 ...

opening match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

on 28 March 2015. However Prenga couldn't play in this match as he was ineligible due to the absence of respective documents. Prenga was called up by a new appointed coach at the Albania U21,

Redi Jupi Redi Jupi (born 31 May 1974) is an Albanian retired footballer. He played in the central midfield for KS Dinamo Tirana and has 19 caps for the Albania national team since his debut in 1995. Jupi is currently the manager of Albania U21 for the ...

, for the

matches against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

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 ...

on 3 & 8 September 2015. He made it his first competitive debut for Albania U21 on 3 September 2015 in a

match against

playing the full 90-minutes match, which finished in the 1–1 draw. Prenga played another full 90-minutes match against Portugal 5 days later but unable to avoid a 1–6 defeat. He scored his first international goal for Albania U21 on 28 March 2016 against Hungary U21 to give his side the important 2–1 victory in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification. Prenga made his debut for the senior

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 a 1–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

win over

on 7 September 2018.

Senior

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prenga, Herdi 1995 births Living people Footballers from Zadar Croatian people of Albanian descent Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Albanian men's footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Sesvete players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players NK Inter Zaprešić players Riga FC players Kisvárda FC players Budapest Honvéd FC players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Latvian Higher League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary