Fatmir Vata

Fatmir Vata (born 20 September 1971) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played primarily as an attacking midfielder. He began his footballing career with local side 31 Korriku, before moving to Tirana in 1991 where he would remain for two seasons before moving abroad. He joined Croatian club Orijent before moving to Samobor two years later in 1995, where he'd remain for three seasons. Vata joined Prva HNL side Slaven Belupo and spent one season with the club before moving to Vukovar '91. He joined newly promoted 2. Bundesliga and German side Waldhof Mannheim in January 2000 where he established himself in the first team and helped the side to a fourth-place finish in the 2000–01 2. Bundesliga, just one point behind automatic promotion.

Fatmir Vata
Personal information
Full name Fatmir Vata
Date of birth (1971-09-20) 20 September 1971
Place of birth Rrëshen, Albania
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1991 31 Korriku
1991–1993 Tirana
1993–1995 Orijent
1995–1998 Samobor 26+ (5+)
1998–1999 Slaven Belupo 11 (1)
1999 Vukovar '91 13 (2)
2000–2001 Waldhof Mannheim 47 (14)
2001–2007 Arminia Bielefeld 128 (19)
2007–2009 TuS Koblenz 44 (5)
2009–2010 Wuppertaler SV 15 (1)
2013–2015 FC 08 Boffzen ? (?)
2020– FC 08 Boffzen 0 (0)
National team
1996–2002 Albania 17 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Vata is best known for his time at Arminia Bielefeld, which he joined in 2001 and helped the club promotion to the Bundesliga in 2002. Despite suffering relegation back to 2. Bundesliga, he helped his side achieve promotion once again the following year. He left the club at the end of the 2006–07 season after 140 games and 20 goals, making him the current third-highest foreign appearance maker for the club. Vata moved to 2. Bundesliga side TuS Koblenz where he spent two years before joining 3. Liga side Wuppertaler SV in 2009, where he retired at the end of the 2009–10 season.

He came out of retirement to play for amateur side FC 08 Boffzen in 2013.

Club career

Vata was born in Rrëshen, Albania.[1]

In 2004, he became Albania's Footballer of the Year.[2][3]

In August 2009, Vata joined Wuppertaler SV from TuS Koblenz for the 2009–10 season on a free transfer.[2]

International career

He made his debut for Albania in an April 1996 friendly match against Bosnia and earned a total of 17 caps, scoring no goals.[4] His final international was an October 2002 European Championship qualification match against Russia.[5]

International statistics
Albania national team
YearAppsGoals
199640
199720
199800
199900
200020
200170
200220
Total170

Post-playing career

Following his retirement Vata worked as a coach for Hannover 96 and VfL Bochum.[3]

Honours
Individual

References
  1. "Fatmir Vata". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  2. "WSV verpflichtet Fatmir Vata". Westdeutsche Zeitung (in German). 27 August 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  3. "Der Fußball lässt ihn nicht los". Westfalen-Blatt (in German). 9 September 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  4. Hoxha, Florent; Mamrud, Roberto (11 December 2009). "Albania – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  5. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
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