1. Altin Dode Lala was born on 18 November 1975 and is an Albanian former professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder, and former manager.
18 Facts About Altin Lala
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Altin Lala spent his entire playing career in Germany and represented the Albania national team.
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Altin Lala has 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.
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Altin Lala debuted for Albania in January 1998 during a friendly match and then participated in the friendly tournament 2000 Rothmans, helping his team to win the tournament.
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Altin Lala participated in overall seven qualifying tournaments of both UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup.
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Altin Lala led his team as a captain in the next qualifying tournaments of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2012 until 2011 before announcing his retirement from international football.
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Altin Lala was born in the capital of Albania, Tirana, to Dode and Pashke Altin Lala who are both originally from Puke.
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Altin Lala 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.
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Altin Lala's father wanted him to focus on his education ahead of sport, but eventually did sign up Lala to local side Dinamo Tirana.
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Altin Lala 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.
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Altin Lala eventually settled at a refugee camp in Fulda, where he joined local side Borussia Fulda's youth team.
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Altin Lala made three appearances for Bayern's reserve team before being forced to retire due to injury in October 2012.
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Altin Lala recorded 79 appearances for Albania national team and is currently the second highest in Albania's international history, being overtaken only by Lorik Cana in 2014.
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Altin Lala was ever-present in the whole tournament under coach Hafizi and Albania took two draws against hosts Malta and Latvia and lost to Georgia to end the tournament in the third place.
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Altin Lala participated in the next edition in 2000, helping his team to win the tournament.
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Altin Lala became the captain of Albania during the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, since Igli Tare was no longer capped by former manager Otto Baric.
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On 3 March 2014, Altin Lala was presented as assistant coach of Albania national football team by head coach Gianni De Biasi, replacing previous assistant Angelo Pereni.
18.
On 12 August 2014, Altin Lala was named as the Albania national under-19 football team coach, after the previous coach Foto Strakosha left to work for Olympiakos.