Altin Lala

Early life

Lala was born in the capital of Albania, Tiranë, to Dodë and Pashke Lala who are both originally from Pukë. He grew up in the Tirana e Re neighbourhood of the capital with his parents, brother and sister, where he played football on the streets like most of the children in the area. His father wanted him to focus on his education ahead of sport, but eventually did sign up Lala to local side Dinamo Tirana.

He travelled to Germany at the age of 15 with the Albanian U-16 side in 1991, where they were staying at their training camp near the Port of Hamburg. However, Lala along with many of his teammates decided against returning to Albania and instead he sought asylum in Germany. He eventually settled at a refugee camp in Fulda, where he joined local side Borussia Fulda's youth team. As he could not speak anything other than Albanian, he relied on hand signals to communicate with the players and coaches, but after two years in the youth team he was promoted to the senior side.

Borussia Fulda

The defensive midfielder began his football career as a youth at SK Tirana before moving to Germany with the third flight side Borussia Fulda in January 1994.

Hannover 96

On 21 July 1998, he joined newly promoted 2. Bundesliga team Hannover 96; making his debut on 30 July 1998, in a 1–0 victory over Karlsruher SC. Here, he helped the club win the promotion to the Bundesliga in 2001–02 and since has played over 149 Bundesliga games, becoming the longest-serving player within their squad. In all his time at Hannover 96, Lala has only scored one Bundesliga goal.

In 2004, he became team captain and remained so until the 2007–08 season, being popular both within the team and with fans (who have nicknamed him "The Battle Dwarf" (German: Kampfzwerg) due to his combative style of play).

In the 2007–08 season, he made 28 league appearances without scoring a goal. Lala did not make a great start to the 2008–09 season, he only managed to start in five of the opening games and to come on as a substitute in some of the other games. Hannover 96 did not make a good start either as they only managed ten wins this season. After 181 Bundesliga matches for 96 his career in the German top-flight ended with the 2011–12 season.

Bayern Munich II

Despite planning his retirement once his contract with Hannover ran out in the summer of 2012, Bayern Munich II were in talks with Lala in March about joining the club on a free transfer in the summer. The idea was proposed by Lala's former teammate Michael Tarnat, a youth scout at Bayern Munich. Lala made three appearances for Bayern's reserve team before being forced to retire due to injury in October 2012.

International career

He has also enjoyed a long international career, making 79 appearances for his country since 1998, the second highest in Albania's international history, being overtaken only by Lorik Cana in 2014. He has also scored three goals for his country. His first international goal came in March 2003 in a European Qualifying match against Russia in the 79th minute. The match ended 3–1 for Albania and became one of the country's greatest ever achievements in football. His second goal came just three months later in the 22nd minute of a thrilling 3–2 loss to Switzerland. Lala was the captain of his country's national team, ever since Igli Tare was no longer capped by former manager Otto Baric. His third and final goal Lala scored in his 50th match for the Red and Blacks against San Marino in 2006.

Managerial career

On 3 March 2014, Lala was presented as assistant coach of Albania national football team by head coach Gianni De Biasi, replacing previous assistant Angelo Pereni. On 12 August 2014, Lala was named as the Albania national under-19 football team coach, after the previous coach Foto Strakosha left to work for Olympiakos.

Club career

As of 5 May 2012

Honours