Lorik Cana

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Lorik Cana
Personal information
Date of birth	27 July 1983 (1983-07-27) (age 26)
Place of birth	Pristina, Kosovo
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sunderland
Number	19
Youth career
2000–2002	Lausanne Paris Saint-Germain
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2005 2005–2009 2009–	Paris Saint-Germain Olympique Marseille Sunderland	069 (2) 122 (8) 022 (0)
National team2
2003–	Albania	036 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:02, 7 February 2010 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 27 October 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

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.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Paris Saint-Germain 1.2 Olympique Marseille 1.3 Sunderland 2 International career 3 Personal life 4 Honours 5 Career statistics 6 European statistics 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] 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 national football team after clashing with Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy.^{[citation needed]} Since his first call-up to the team he has made 36 appearances and scored 1 goal for Albania.

[edit] Personal life

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

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.

[edit] Honours

• Winner of the Coupe de France 2004 with Paris Saint-Germain
• Runner-up of Coupe de France in 2006 with Olympique de Marseille
• Runner-up of Coupe de France in 2007 with Olympique de Marseille
• AlbaniaSoccer.com player of the year 2006
• 2nd Albanian international to ever score a Champions League Group Stage goal after Besart Berisha
• Albanian football player of the year 2004,2005 and 2009

[edit] 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	Sunderland	England	Premier League	13	810	0	0

[edit] 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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lorik Cana career stats at Soccerbase
• Lorik Cana OM.net (French)
• Lorik Cana's Yahoo Profile
• KercovaSot (French)
• Lorik Cana French league stats at lfp.fr (French)

Preceded by Dean Whitehead

Sunderland captain 2009 -

Succeeded by Incumbent

v • d • e Sunderland A.F.C. – current squad 1 Gordon · 2 Bardsley · 3 McCartney · 4 Turner · 5 Ferdinand · 6 Hutton · 7 Zenden · 8 Malbranque · 9 Campbell · 10 Richardson · 11 Bent · 12 Mensah · 15 Noble · 16 Henderson · 17 Jones · 18 Meyler · 19 Cana · 20 Reid · 22 Da Silva · 24 Carson · 25 O'Donovan · 26 Reed · 27 Kilgallon · 28 Benjani · 30 Noble · 32 Fülöp · 33 Liddle · 39 Cattermole · Manager: Bruce