Bledar Kola

Bledar Kola (born 1 August 1972) is an Albanian retired football player.

Bledar Kola
Personal information
Full name Bledar Kola
Date of birth (1972-08-01) 1 August 1972
Place of birth Mirditë, Albania
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1989 Besëlidhja
1989–1990 Partizani 35 (6)
1990–1991 Elbasani 21 (1)
1991–1994 Panargiakos 77 (13)
1994–1996 Apollon Smyrnis 63 (10)
1996–2000 Panathinaikos 106 (10)
2001–2002 AEK Athens 11 (0)
2002–2003 Kallithea 16 (1)
2003–2004 Apollon Smyrnis 19 (2)
Total 348 (43)
National team
1990–2001 Albania 39 (6)
Teams managed
2010 AEK Athens (caretaker)
2012 Apollon Smyrnis
2014 Panargiakos
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Kola comes from Mirdita, but grew up in the city of Lezhë. He was an exemplary student. He started his career at Besëlidhja Lezhë, and then moved to Partizani Tirana. Later he moved to Greece where his playing career took off.

Playing career

Club

Kola spent most of his career playing for various clubs in the Greek Super League, including Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis, Panargiakos and AEK Athens .[1] In January 2003, Kola was sacked by Kallithea after failing a doping test.[2]

International

He made his debut for Albania in a December 1990 European Championship qualification match away against Spain and earned a total of 39 caps, scoring 6 goals.[3] His final international was a March 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification against England in Tirana.[4]

National team statistics
Albania national team
YearAppsGoals
199010
199110
199210
199300
199440
199530
199640
199752
199872
199961
200050
200121
Total396

Managerial career

Kola took temporary charge at AEK Athens in August 2010 and was named full-time manager of Apollon Smyrni in July 2012.[5] He also coached Panargiakos and was assistant at Panathinaikos and later to AEK manager Marinos Ouzounidis until they were both dismissed in 2019.[6]

Honours
AEK Athens
  • Greek Cup: 2002

References
  1. "Foreign Players in Greece since 1959/60". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  2. Drie 'Grieken' ook na tweede test positief – Voetbal International (in Dutch)
  3. "Albania – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  4. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  5. Bledar Kola, trajneri i Apollon Smirnit – Panorama (in Albanian)
  6. Refuzoi ofertën për Kombëtaren shqiptare, Bledar Kola mbetet “pa punë” në Greqi – Panorama (in Albanian)
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