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Lorik Cana

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Lorik Cana
Personal information
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Sunderland
Number 19
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 October 2008

Lorik Cana [lɔɾik ʦɑ̟nɑ̟], (born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian footballer. He is a defensive midfielder, who plays for Sunderland in the English Premier League and the Albania national football team. He is also the club captain at Sunderland and vice-captain for Albania at international level. He carved his reputation as a strong, tenacious tackler and a leader on the field during his duration in France with Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille.

Club career

Paris Saint-Germain

At Paris Saint-Germain he spent three years working through the ranks of the French club. Lorik finally broke into their first team in 2003 and quickly became one of their main players. During the 2003-2004 season he played 32 games and scored one goal, as the team won the Coupe de France and finished second in the French Division 1 league, proving to be one of the most successful seasons of his career so far. This was repeated the next season when he also played 32 games for the Paris team and scored one goal.

Olympique Marseille

However, at the beginning of the 2005-06 season, there was a change of coach at Paris Saint-Germain and Cana fell out of favour. This prompted him to move to the south of France to join the most successful club in French history, Olympique de Marseille. Since joining Olympique de Marseille, he has cemented his place in the starting eleven, and scored the winning goal in the first match between his new club (Olympique de Marseille) and his former club (Paris Saint-Germain). He also became team captain since the departure of the former captain Habib Beye to Newcastle United during the summer of 2007.

Sunderland

Cana joined Sunderland on a four-year contract for a fee of over £5 million on 24 July 2009.[1] He was soon handed the team's captaincy by manager Steve Bruce,[2] although Bruce later stated a captain had yet to be appointed.[3] On 15 August Cana made his league debut for Sunderland and contributed with an impressive performance in a 1–0 win over Bolton Wanderers. He has also enjoyed Man Of The Match performances over Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, becoming a fans favourite already at the club.[4] He was appointed as Sunderland's captain for the 2009–10 season on 3 September.[5]

International career

Lorik Cana was eligible to play for either Switzerland, Albania or France as he has all three passports,[citation needed]. Cana has been involved with the Albania national football team since early 2003, after receiving a call-up byfrom their federation. He accepted the invitation and made his international debut on 11 June, at the age of just 19. On 12 September 2007, he was sent off by referee Mike Riley in the 87th minute of Albania's home game against the Netherlands, after an altercation with Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy. His team conceded a late goal to lose 0:1 shortly after the dismissal. [citation needed] Since his first call-up to the team he has made 36 appearances and scored 1 goal for Albania.

Personal life

At the moment he is in relationship with Zana Krasniqi, the beauty queen, fashion model and the first Miss Universe Kosovo since the state's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 where she made it to 6th place. He also is a UNO-ambassador against poverty. After his football career he wants to study Albanology.[citation needed]

He is the son of former footballer Agim Cana.

Honours

Career statistics

Season Club Country Competition Matches Minutes Goals Assists
2002–03 Paris Saint-Germain  France Ligue 1 3 225 0 0
2003–04 32 2589 1 0
2004–05 32 2644 1 0
2005–06 2 51 0 0
2005–06 Olympique de Marseille 28 2520 1 0
2006–07 33 2864 6 1
2007–08 34 3036 7 2
2008–09 23 2320 2 0
2009–10 ||  England ||Premier League || 13 || 810 || 0 || 0

European statistics

Season Club Country Competition Matches Minutes Goals Assists
2004–05 Paris Saint-Germain  France UEFA Champions League 6 540 0 0
2005–06 Olympique de Marseille UEFA Cup 8 569 0 0
2006–07 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2 180 0 0
UEFA Cup 3 198 0 0
2007–08 UEFA Champions League 6 540 0 0
UEFA Cup 3 270 0 0
2008–09 UEFA Champions League 3 216 1 0

References

  1. ^ "Sunderland sign Marseille captain". BBC Sport. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  2. ^ "Catt fight is not over yet". Sunderland Echo. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Fraser, Paul (15 August 2009). "Skipper's crown is awaiting Dunne". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 19 August 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Is Lorik Cana destined for a top four Premier League club? Sport.co.uk, 28 September 2009
  5. ^ "Exclusive: Cana for captain". Sunderland AFC. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
Preceded by Sunderland captain
2009 - 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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