Foto Strakosha

Fotaq "Foto" Strakosha (born 29 March 1965) is an Albanian retired goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach of Lazio Youth. [2]

Foto Strakosha
Personal information
Full name Fotaq Strakosha
Date of birth (1965-03-29) 29 March 1965
Place of birth Memaliaj, Albania
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Lazio Youth (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1988 Minatori Tepelenë
1988–1990 Dinamo Tirana 38 (0)
1991 PAS Giannina 3 (0)
1991–1993 Ethnikos Piraeus 33 (0)
1993–1997 Olympiacos 39 (0)
1997–1999 Panionios 56 (0)
1999–2002 Ionikos 75 (0)
2002–2003 Kallithea 14 (0)
2003 Kalamata 18 (0)
2003–2004 Ethinikos Asteras 13 (0)
2004 Proodeftiki 13 (0)
2004–2005 Panionios 5 (0)
Total 307 (0)
International career
1990–2005 Albania[1] 73 (0)
Managerial career
2011–2014 Albania U19
2014–2017 Olympiacos (goalkeeping coach)
2017– Lazio Youth (goalkeeping coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Strakosha is regarded as one of Albania's most popular and greatest goalkeepers. In his 20-years playing career he played with 11 different clubs, initially in Albania before moving in Greece in 1991 to spend the majority of his career there until his retirement in 2005. He captained the Albania national team for a number of years before his retirement in 2005. He became Albanian's most ever capped player having 73 caps to his name for the Albania national team from 1990 to 2005.

Club career

Strakosha started his senior career for Minatori (now KF Memaliaj) in 1985 beforing moving to Albanian giants Dinamo Tirana.[3] In his first season at Dinamo he won Albanian Cup and Albanian Supercup eventually. The next season was even more successful as he won all three competitions Albanian Superliga, Albanian Cup and Albanian Supercup. After another half-season with Dinamo, he moved to Greece playing initially for PAS Giannina for the remainder of the 1990–91 season. Then he moved immediately in Piraeus, playing for both teams Ethnikos Piraeus for 2 years and Olympiacos for other 4 years. During his time at Olympiacos he was always at top 3 best teams in Greece top-flight winning the title in his last season 1996–97. Then he signed for fellow top-flight side Panionios where he would play for 2 seasons, becoming a starter and winning the Greek Cup in his first season. He left Panionios to spend another 3 years and a half at top-flight joining Ionikos to play for 3 years before moving to Kallithea to spend the first half of the 2002–03 season. Then he moved for a year at Greece second top-flight playing for Kalamata for the remainder of the 2002–03 season and first half of the 2003–04 season for Ethnikos Asteras. He was returned in top-flight joining Proodeftiki for the remainder of the 2003–04 season prior moving once more at Panionios in the next season to end his playing career.[4]

International career

Strakosha was Albania's national team goalkeeper from 1990 to 2005. He made his debut on 30 May 1990 and retired on 13 October 2005.

Strakosha was first called up in the Albania national team by coach Agron Sulaj for a Euro 1992 qualifier against Iceland in May 1990.

On the day of his first international game, he was already 25 years and 62 days old. The reason for such a late debut on the international stage was a surplus of qualified keepers in the Albanian international squads like the veteran Perlat Musta and the very promising youngster Blendi Nallbani[5][6]

Due to Albania's staunch communist rule, despite his talent, Strakosha was playing in his country's domestic league as every single player in the international squad .[7]

In his debut, Albania lost the game in Reykjavík 2–0 which added to their miserable run of 19 games without a single win.[8] The game itself was not to be a special one for the rookie goalkeeper as he conceded 2 goals, which kept him aside for the following games.

Strakosha had to wait more than a year for his next shot at international football, with the departure of Agron Sulaj as the national manager and the introduction of Bejkush Birce.

This game was played after the fall of Communism in Albania which meant that from there on, players would be allowed to play abroad for the first time in 45 years. A notable impact like this, struck directly to the national team since nine players – notably Sulejman Demollari and Edmond Abazi – would be playing in foreign leagues, the majority choosing neighbour Greece, the same way Strakosha did.

His second international cap would be coincidentally in a friendly against these cross-border rivals which ended in a 2–0 win after striker Sokol Kushta scored twice.[9]

Strakosha's career would follow up to the point to become Albania's most capped player, and achieving an extense career under the Eagle's goalposts.

Personal life

Strakosha was born in Memaliaj, southern Albania.[2] His son Thomas plays as a goalkeeper for English club Brentford in Premier League and the Albania national football team.[10] His son Dhimitri played as a striker in the lower leagues of Albania and Greece.

Managerial career

After his retirement, he became a goalkeeping coach. Until 2007 he was the Olympiakos goalkeeping coach, when he signed for the Cypriot champions APOEL FC. In 2011, he became the coach of Albania national under-19 football team.[11] He left Albania U19 on 12 August 2014 to work for Olympiacos[12] as goalkeeping coach.[13] He left Olympiacos and moved at Lazio Youth to work again as goalkeeping coach; he rejoined his son Thomas who was part of Lazio's senior team.[14]

Career statistics

Club
Club statistics[4]
Club Season League Cup Europe[lower-alpha 1] Other[lower-alpha 2] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Minatori Tepelenë 1985–86 ——
1986–87 ——
1987–88 Albanian First Division ——
Total ——
Dinamo Tirana 1988–89 Albanian Superliga ——
1989–90 310—1[15]0320
1990–91 702[16][17]0—90
Total 3802010410
PAS Giannina 1990–91 Alpha Ethniki 30———30
Ethnikos Piraeus 1991–92 Alpha Ethniki 170———170
1992–93 Beta Ethniki 160———160
Total 330———330
Olympiacos 1993–94 Alpha Ethniki 80—3[18][19][20]0—110
1994–95 170———170
1995–96 120———120
1996–97 20—2[21][22]0—40
Total 390—50—440
Panionios 1997–98 Alpha Ethniki 320———320
1998–99 240—60—300
Total 560—60—620
Ionikos 1999–2000 Alpha Ethniki 320—20—340
2000–01 250———250
2001–02 180———180
Total 750—20—770
Kallithea 2002–03 Alpha Ethniki 140———140
Kalamata 2002–03 Beta Ethniki 180———180
Ethnikos Asteras 2003–04 Beta Ethniki 130———130
Proodeftiki 2003–04 Alpha Ethniki 130———130
Panionios 2004–05 Alpha Ethniki 50———50
Career total 3070150103230
  1. Including continental competitions, such as UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
  2. Including other competitions, such as Albanian Supercup

International
As of 9 February 2005[4][23]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Albania 199010
199120
199240
199320
199440
199560
199620
199760
199860
199970
200050
200160
200220
2003110
200480
200510
Total730

Honours
Dinamo Tirana
Olympiacos
Panionios

References
  1. "Fotaq "Foto" Strakosha – International Appearances". rssf.com. 23 February 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
  2. Always Next Year. WSC Books Limited. 2001. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-9540134-2-4. Still , in this depressing state of affairs , the example of Foto Strakosha offers a ray of hope. An Albanian of ethnic Greek origin, Strakosha was among the first to cross the border in 1991, where he soon emerged as one of the best goalkeepers in the Greek league.
  3. "SPECIALE NGA UVIL ZAJMI/ Nga Kategoria e Dytë në Kombëtare, kur Strakosha e Sadiku thyenin një… tabu" (in Albanian). Panorama Sport. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  4. "Foto Strakosha". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  5. Albanian 1987
  6. Albania 1989
  7. Albania 1990 (clubs)
  8. Iceland 2–0 Albania
  9. Greece 0–2 Albania
  10. "Foto Strakosha: Krenar për djalin tim". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  11. "F.Strakosha trajneri U19" [F.Strakosha coach of U19] (in Albanian). FSHF. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  12. "Altin Lala merr drejtimin e kombëtares U-19, Strakosha largohet". fshf.org (in Albanian). 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  13. "Strakosha në stafin e Olimpiakos, Lala bëhët trajner i kombëtares U19" [Strakosha in Olympiakos staff, Lala named coach of the national U19 team] (in Albanian). Gazeta Shekulli. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  14. "Foto Strakosha largohet nga Olimpiakos, tani do të stërvit djalin te Lazio" [Foto Strakosha leaves Olympiacos, now will train his son at Lazio] (in Albanian). Albeu.com. 18 March 2017. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  15. "Albania - List of Super Cup Finals - 1989". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  16. "UEFA Champions League 1990/91 - History - Marseille-Dinamo Tirana Lineups". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  17. "UEFA Champions League 1990/91 - History - Dinamo Tirana-Marseille Lineups". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  18. "UEFA Europa League 1993/94 - History - Botev Plovdiv-Olympiacos". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  19. "UEFA Europa League 1993/94 - History - Olympiacos-Botev Plovdiv". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  20. "UEFA Europa League 1993/94 - History - Tenerife-Olympiacos". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  21. "UEFA Europa League 1996/97 - History - Ferencváros-Olympiacos". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  22. "UEFA Europa League 1996/97 - History - Olympiacos-Ferencváros". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  23. "Foto Strakosha - national football team player". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
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