Alban Meha

Alban Meha

Meha playing for Paderborn in 2013
Personal information
Full name Alban Syla Meha
Date of birth (1986-04-25) 25 April 1986
Place of birth Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Konyaspor
Number 27
Youth career
TV Kemnat 1890
0000–1995 SV Esslingen
1995–2005 Stuttgarter Kickers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005 Stuttgarter Kickers II
2006–2007 VfL Kirchheim 54 (16)
2007–2010 SSV Reutlingen 84 (16)
2010–2011 Eintracht Trier 33 (15)
2011–2015 SC Paderborn 102 (26)
2015– Konyaspor 31 (4)
National team‡
2012–2016 Albania 7 (2)
2016– Kosovo 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 May 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 5 March 2014

Alban Syla Meha (born 26 April 1986) is a Kosovan professional footballer who plays as Midfielder for Turkish club Konyaspor and the Kosovo national team.[1][2] He's known for his abilities of scoring long-rage goals and often compared with specialist of free kicks Juninho.[3] Meha also is nicknamed Snaiper due to his reputation as a marksman with deadly accuracy from set pieces.[4]

Early life and youth career

Meha was born in Kosovska Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia. Due to the Kosovo War, Meha's family migrated to Germany in 1991,[5] and settled in Ostfildern. Alban is the grandchild of Tahir Meha, an Albanian rights activist, who resisted heroically together with his father against a large Yugoslav army and police force until they were killed in 1981.[6][7]

In his youth, Meha joined the local side TV Kemnat 1890 and SV Esslingen. By the time Meha was nine years old, he joined Stuttgarter Kickers and remained in the junior side for ten years. When Meha was nineteen, he officially signed for the senior team.

His older brother Feriz Meha (born 1984) also was once a semi-professional footballer, playing fourth division football for VfL Kirchheim and SSV Reutlingen between 2007 and 2008. For Reutlingen both brothers even played together in one team.[8][9]

Club career

Stuttgarter Kickers

In July 2005, Meha joined Stuttgarter Kickers' senior teams. However, he remained on the reserve squad and never made an appearance on the first team. In December 2005, during the winter break, Meha moved to VfL Kirchheim.

VfL Kirchheim

Meha played one and a half seasons at Kirchheim, making a total of 54 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He then moved to SSV Reutlingen.

SSV Reutlingen

Meha played three seasons at Reutlingen, making a total of 82 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He then moved to Eintracht Trier.

Eintracht Trier

Meha played one season for Eintracht Trier, making a total of 33 appearances, scoring 15 goals and providing 16 assists. He helped the club win the Rhineland Cup and helped the club come second in the Fußball-Regionalliga West.[5] He then moved to SC Paderborn.

SC Paderborn

In 2011 Meha joined 2. Bundesliga side Paderborn and made an immediate impact on the team.

2011–12 season

He made 33 appearances for the club and scored five goals. Four of Meha's goals were scored from direct free kicks and one from long distance. He also made an impressive ten assists on his first season with the club. Paderborn reached fifth place, nine points shy from first.

2012–13 season

On 13 August 2012, Paderborn coach Stephan Schmidt declared that Meha is "an extremely important player for Paderborn".[10] Meha had begun his second season well, scoring a goal from a penalty on his first match of the season against Hertha BSC and scoring a goal from a direct free kick against VfL Bochum on his second game of the season. After a pause of the 2012–13 season, he returned scoring in the start of the season second half, where on 10 February 2013, Meha scored in the 87th minute from a difficult angle to the top right hand corner of the goal to sign the 1–3 away victory against FC Ingolstadt.[11] A week later, on 15 February 2013 Meha scored by penalty spot the last goal of the 2–0 victory in the 40th minute against Erzgebirge Aue, and also he participated in the opening goal, as he kicked a set piece Free-kick which was evitated by the Goalkeeper and then the ball was sent into the goal by Tobias Feisthammel in the 20th minute.[12][13] Last goal of the 2012-13 season was scored on 3 May 2013 against Dynamo Dresden in the 2–1 away loss.[14]

He finished season 2012–13 with a total of 26 appearances and six goals. Three goals were scored from penalties, two from free kicks and one goal against FC Ingolstadt. Meha also made five assists in his second season with Paderborn. His team Paderborn finished in the 12th place of the rank table.[15]

2013–14 season

On 18 October 2013, he scored first goal of the 2013–14 season. Meha scored in the 54th minute the last goal of the 4–2 victory against FSV Frankfurt.[16] On 8 December 2013 he scored two goals in the away victory 2–4 against Aalen, were Meha scored 1st in the 12th minute and last in the 72nd minute.[17] He debuted in 2014 with a goal on 9 February 2014. He scored a free-kick goal in the 47th minute and gave victory to Paderborn in an away match against Köln (0–1).[18] In next fixture match on 16 February 2014 against Arminia Bielefeld, he scored again a goal in the victory 4–0.[19] He scored again for the 3rd consecutive game on 22 February 2014 against 1860 München, finished in a draw 2–2, were Meha scored second goal for 0–2 in the 18th minute.[20] On 28 February, he scored two more goals in next match against VfL Bochum to help his team win the match 4–1.[21] On 17 March 2014 Meha honoured as "player of the month February" and that for mading a spectaculary games, where he scored a total of 5 goals in 4 matches.[22] Meha scored on 25 March 2014 against St. Pauli in the home victory 3–0.[23] He continued his scoring form as on 4 April 2014 he scored an amazing free kick in a 1–2 loss against Fortuna Düsseldorf.[24] Meha captained Paderborn team for the first time on 27 April 2014 in the match against Sandhausen finished in the victory 2–0 where he played full 90-minutes.[25] On 4 May 2014 Meha returned scoring goals, as he scored in the away victory 0–2 over Erzgebirge Aue, were Meha scored the opening goal in the 35th minute.[26] On the last day of the second division campaign, Paderborn came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over VfR Aalen, to secure automatic promotion to the Bundesliga,[27] where they made history as they sealed their first ever promotion to the Bundesliga.[28] Meha personally finished the 2013–14 season with a total of 26 appearances including 1 made in the German Cup, scoring in total 12 goals during campaign where he ranked as 6th place, equal with Charlison Benschop, Patrick Helmes and Torsten Mattuschka in the 2. Bundesliga all goalscorers.[29] The peak of his success was when he was voted as the best player of the season for his team Paderborn, giving a special contribution in the team success of the promotion for the first time in their history.[30]

On 1 August 2014 Meha suffered an injury during a friendly match against Maccabi Haifa and was forced undergo surgery, which according to doctors, would keep him from playing for 8 weeks until his recovery.[31]

2014–15 season

Due to the injury of the previous season he missed out the start of the 2014–15 season for 5 weeks.

On 27 September 2014, Alban Meha debutted in the Bundesliga by playing in the 6th game week against Borussia Mönchengladbach, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute in place of Lukas Rupp in a 1–2 loss.[32] On 2 November 2014 Meha scored his first goal for Paderborn in a 3–1 win at home to Hertha Berlin. He scored from a powerful strike from the edge of the penalty area.[33] On 14 December 2014 Meha scored from the penalty spot to give his team the 1–1 draw against the 2nd ranking place Wolfsburg at their home.[34] Meha scored a goal from freekick against Hannover 96 on 15 February 2015 to give his team the away 1–2 victory coming from behind of 1–0, as Hannover 96 had scored in the 66th minute with Marcelo Antônio Guedes Filho, then Srdjan Lakic of Paderborn scored the equalising 1–1 goal in the 72nd minute, before Meha scored in the 79th minute to secure the win. It was his first goal of 2015 and he played a full 90-minute match.[35]

Konyaspor

Following the relegation of Paderborn to the 2. Bundesliga, on 9 June 2015, Meha moved to Turkish Süper Lig side Konyaspor on a free transfer.[36] After having spent his entire previous career in Germany, the move to Turkey is his first abroad. He signed a one-year contract with Konyaspor, including a one-year extension option. According to media reports he earns up to €1 million per season.[37]

Meha made it his Süper Lig debut on 16 August 2015 in the 2015–16 Süper Lig opening match against Akhisar Belediyespor playing the full 90-minutes match.[38] He scored his first goal in the 3rd match on 29 August 2015 against the defending champiopns Galatasaray by a free-kick for the temporary 1–1 equaliser, but it turned out to be not enough as Galatasaray scored three more goals to take the 1–4 victory themselves.[39] In the next match on 13 September 2015 Meha scored against Osmanlıspor in the 61st minute of the match to overturn the score 1–2 and to sign an away victory.[40][41]

Al-Nassr FC

Meha signed for Arabian club Al-Nassr FC for an undisclosed fee and will earn €3,5 million in season.[42]

International career

Albania

In summer 2012, Meha expressed his desire to play for Albania and that he had been in contact with national coach Gianni de Biasi.[43] On 26 August, it was reported that Meha had received an invitation to play for Albania in the September match against Cyprus, valid for the qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2014.[44] On 4 September 2012 he received the Albanian citizenship among fellow new upcoming at national team Burim Kukeli, to be able to play international game for Albania.[45] On 7 September 2012, Meha made it his first international debut for Albania and led the Albanian midfield in the 3–1 victory against Cyprus, where he assisted the opening goal scored by Armando Sadiku.[46] Because of his play-making abilities and strong set piece capabilities, he is viewed by Albanian fans as the replacement for the retired Ervin Skela.[47] On 7 October 2012 Meha assisted a goal scored by Edgar Çani in the 1–2 loss against Iceland, valid for the qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2014.[48] On 26 March 2013, Meha scored first goal for Albania against Lithuania in the victory 4-1.[49] The second international goal came a year later, on 5 March 2014 where he scored an amazing volley from 40 metres in a 2–0 win over Malta.[50]

Kosovo

On August 15, 2016, Meha announced that he had switched to play for Kosovo.[51]

International goals

Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 26 March 2013 Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania  Lithuania 1–0 4–1 Friendly match
2. 5 March 2014 Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, Albania  Malta 2–0 2–0 Friendly match

Career statistics

Club

As of 13 September 2015 [15][52]
Season Club League country League League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2007–08ReutlingenRegionalliga Süd 281----281
2008–09 293----293
2009–10 2712----2712
Total 841600008716
2010–11Eintracht TrierRegionalliga West331510--3415
Total 331510003415
2011–12 Paderborn2. Bundesliga 33521--356
2012–13 26611--277
2013–14 241210--2512
2014–15Bundesliga 18300--183
Total 10226420010628
2015–16KonyasporSüper Lig 4200--42
Total 42000042
Career total 22059520022461

International

As of 5 March 2014
Albania national team [52][53]
YearAppsGoals
201230
201321
201411
201500
201510
Total72

Honours

Club

Paderborn

References

  1. ↑ "Alban Meha". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Alban Meha". konyaspor.org.tr. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Meha shënon si Juninho (Video) Telegrafi
  4. ↑ Hauk, Randall (March 7, 2014). "Arc it Like Alban: SC Paderborn's Alban Meha is Drawing Attention with Free-Kick Artistry". bundesligafanatic.com. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 "SC Paderborn: Meha will mehr – Ex-Trierer klopft ans Tor zur Bundesliga" [SC Paderborn: Meha wants more – Former Trier Knocks at the Bundesliga's Door] (in German). 5vier.de. 7 November 2011. Archived from the original on 9 November 2011.
  6. ↑ Kostovicova, Denisa (2005). Kosovo: The Politics of Identity and Space. 2 park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: Antony Rowe Ltd. p. 155. ISBN 0-415-34806-4. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  7. ↑ Nipi i dëshmorit Tahir Meha, Albani, luan kundër Serbisë, në Beograd KosovAlbaner.Com
  8. ↑ Feriz Meha - Spielerprofil FuPa
  9. ↑ Feriz Meha profile at Soccerway
  10. ↑ "Trajneri Schmidt: Albani është shumë i rëndësishëm për Paderbornin" (in Albanian). portishqiptar.com.al. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  11. ↑ Meha shkëlqen edhe në kampionat, shënon në fitoren e Paderbornit Sporti Shqiptar
  12. ↑ Paderborn vs. Erzgebirge Aue - 15 February 2013 - Soccerway
  13. ↑ Alban Meha shënon sërish, konfirmohet si “arma” e kuqezinjve Sporti Shqiptar
  14. ↑ Dynamo Dresden vs. Paderborn - 3 May 2013 - Soccerway
  15. 1 2 Alban Meha profile at Soccerway
  16. ↑ Paderborn vs. FSV Frankfurt - 18 October 2013 - Soccerway
  17. ↑ Aalen vs. Paderborn - 8 December 2013 - Soccerway
  18. ↑ Köln vs. Paderborn - 9 February 2014 - Soccerway
  19. ↑ Paderborn vs. Arminia Bielefeld - 16 February 2014 - Soccerway
  20. ↑ 1860 München vs. Paderborn - 22 February 2014 - Soccerway
  21. ↑ "Paderborn vs. Bochum - 28 February 2014 - Soccerway". Soccerway. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  22. ↑ Spieler des Monats Februar: Alban Meha liga2-online.de | 2. Bundesliga
  23. ↑ Paderborn vs. St. Pauli - 25 March 2014 - Soccerway
  24. ↑ Paderborn vs. Fortuna Düsseldorf - 4 April 2014 - Soccerway
  25. ↑ Paderborn vs. Sandhausen - 27 April 2014 - Soccerway
  26. ↑ Erzgebirge Aue vs. Paderborn - 4 May 2014 - Soccerway
  27. ↑ "Paderborn win promotion to Bundesliga, Greuther Fürth to face Hamburg". dw.de. deutsche welle. 2014-05-11. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  28. ↑ "Paderborn clinch historic promotion". bundesliga.com. bundesliga. 2014-05-11. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  29. ↑ Players - 2. Bundesliga - Germany - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway
  30. ↑ Alban Meha, lojtari i sezonit te Paderborn Sporti Shqiptar
  31. ↑ Meha 8 jave larg fushave, humbet Portugaline SuperSport
  32. ↑ Paderborn vs. Borussia M'gladbach - 27 September 2014 - Soccerway
  33. ↑ "Paderborn victorious at home to Hertha". bundesliga.com. bundesliga. 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
  34. ↑ Drejtpërdrejt/ Meha i 'akullt' shënon për Paderborn (video) aSport.al
  35. ↑ Hannover 96 vs. Paderborn - 15 February 2015 - Soccerway
  36. ↑ Edhe Meha në Turqi Sportal.al
  37. ↑ Alban Meha do përfitojë 1 mln euro në sezon te Koniaspori SUPERLIGA SHQIPTARE
  38. ↑ Konyaspor vs. Akhisar Belediyespor - 16 August 2015 - Soccerway
  39. ↑ Konyaspor vs. Galatasaray - 29 August 2015 - Soccerway
  40. ↑ Goli i Mehës i jep fitoren me përmbyje Konyaspor (Video) minuta90.com
  41. ↑ Goal: Osmanlispor FK 1 – 2 Konyaspor (video) | News butiwom.com
  42. ↑ http://www.indeksonline.net/sporti/17117/zyrtare-alban-meha-me-skuader-te-re/
  43. ↑ "Gjermani/ Alban Meha shenon serish, por De Biazi s'ka ftese per te" (in Albanian). Albaniasoccer. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  44. ↑ "Zyrtare: Alban Meha merr ftesë nga Kombëtarja, debuton në shtator" (in Albanian). Sporti Shqiptar. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  45. ↑ Zyrtare: Alban Meha e Burim Kukeli marrin pasaportat shqiptare (Foto) aSport.al
  46. ↑ "Erjon Bogdani: Dua një tjetër gol të madh, ndaj Zvicrës". Panorama Sport. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  47. ↑ De Biazi: Paradoks, tashmë nuk mjafton as vendi i tretë… Panorama Sport
  48. ↑ 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Preliminaries: Europe - Matches: Albania 1:2 (1:1) Iceland FIFA.com
  49. ↑ Albania vs. Lithuania (friendly) National-Football-Teams.com
  50. ↑ Albania vs. Malta - 5 March 2014 - Soccerway
  51. ↑
  52. 1 2 Alban Meha at National-Football-Teams.com
  53. ↑ Alban Meha - national football team player EU-football.info

External links

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