Thomas Strakosha

Thomas Strakosha

File:Thomas Strakosha01.jpg Strakosha playing for Albania U-21 in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Fotaq Strakosha
Date of birth	(1995-03-19) 19 March 1995
Place of birth	Athens, Greece
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Salernitana (on loan from Lazio)
Number	12
Youth career
2011–2012	Panionios
2012–2014	Lazio
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–	Lazio	0	(0)
2015–	→ Salernitana (loan)	11	(0)
International career‡
2012	Albania U17	1	(0)
2012–2014	Albania U19	6	(0)
2013	Albania U20	0	(0)
2013–	Albania U21	10	(0)
Medal record Lazio Winner Coppa Italia 2012–13 Runner-up Super Cup 2013 Runner-up Coppa Italia 2014–15
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 April 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2016

Thomas Fotaq Strakosha (born 19 March 1995) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Italian club Salernitana on loan from Lazio and the Albania national under-21 football team.

Club career

Early life and youth career

Strakosha's father Foto Strakosha was also a goalkeeper who played for various Albanian clubs and several Greek clubs, in addition to representing the Albanian national team in the years spanning, 1990–2005. Strakosha's parents, were originally from Memaliaj, Albania but Strakosha was born in Athens, Greece, because his father Foto was at the peak of his career playing for one of the greatest and most successful clubs in Greece, Olympiacos. Also Thomas has an elder brother Dhimitri Strakosha (born 26 October 1991) who is also a footballer and plays as a forward for Albanian club Himara.

Strakosha began his youth career in 2011 at Panionios, from where in the next year he was signed by Lazio for a fee of €75K. He became a regular starter at the primavera team and was a key player with the primavera team that won the 2012–13 Campionato Nazionale Primavera after beating in the final Atalanta Primavera 3–0.

Lazio

Following the departure of S.S. Lazio first team starter Juan Pablo Carrizo at Inter, in the second-half of the 2012–13 season, Strakosha gained entry with the first team of S.S. Lazio as a third choise behind Federico Marchetti and Albano Bizzarri. He participated with the team that won 2012–13 Coppa Italia by beating 0–1 the derby city rivals Roma on 26 May 2013. On 18 August 2013 he won the Runner-up Silver medal as he participated with Lazio in the 2013 Supercoppa Italiana 4–0 defeat against Juventus.

On 2 September 2013 Lazio sold Albano Bizzari to Genoa and at the same time bought the fellow Albanian goalkeeper, Etrit Berisha from Kalmar. This made Strakosha to stand still as a third choise and being only an unused substitute for the 2013–14 season behind the strong challenge for the starting place between Etrit Berisha and Federico Marchetti.

Strakosha played just one match with the first team of Lazio on 23 May 2014 against Levski Sofia finished in the 3–2 loss, where Strakosha was included in the starting line up and got substituted off in the 61st minute for the 4th choise Guido Guerreri as Marchetti and Berisha were not part of the team for this match. On 11 July 2014 sports direct of Lazio Igli Tare announced to have extended the contract with Strakosha until the 2019 year.

Strakosha was on the bench for the 2014–15 Coppa Italia final challenge against Juventus on 21 May 2015 where Lazio lost 2–1 in extra-time following a 97th minute goal by Alessandro Matri.

Loan to Salernitana

In July 2015, Lazio agreed to loan Strakosha to newly promoted Serie B side Salernitana.

At Salernitana, Strakosha managed to make his first senior debut, on 9 August 2015, playing the full 90-minutes in a match against Pisa in the 2015–16 Coppa Italia - 2nd round. He also kept a clean sheet to give his side a decisive 1–0 victory, thus qualifying for the 3rd round.

A week after his debut on 17 August 2015, Salernitana played against Serie A side, Chievo in the 3rd round of the Coppa Italia and beat them 1–0 after 120 minutes, where Strakosha played the full match and made some decisive saves during the entire game to help his side qualify for the next round.

On 6 September 2015 Strakosha made it his league debut for Salernitana in the opening 2015–16 Serie B match against Avellino where he managed to play the full 90-minutes match and his side won 3–1.

He was an unused substitute in the next Coppa Italia game on 1 December 2015 against Spezia as the coach Vincenzo Torrente gave the starting place to Pietro Terracciano; Salernitana eliminated from Coppa Italia losing the single-leg match 2–0.

International career

Strakosha was called up for the first time to Albania's U17 squad by coach Džemal Mustedanagic to participate in the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round. He was an unused substitute for all 3 matches, serving as second choice goalkeeper behind Aldo Teqja.

Albania U19

Strakosha was called up to the under-19 side that participated in the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification, coached by none other than former footballer and father of Strakosha Foto Strakosha. Under coach Foto Strakosha, Thomas played every minute of all 3 matches of the Group 7. Albania finished (4th) place, with Strakosha conceding in total 6 goals, despite Albania beating top of the table Belgium 3–1 with goals from Enis Gavazaj, Elvis Kabashi and Lorenc Shehaj.

In the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification, Strakosha again played every minute in all 3 matches of the Group 6, leaving behind Juventus Academies goalkeeper, Entonjo Elezaj.

Albania U20

Strakosha was called up to the U20 team by coach Skënder Gega for the 2013 Mediterranean Games football tournament, which began on 19 June, in Mersin, Turkey. However, Strakosha didn't participate in any match of the tournament.

Albania U21

Strakosha was selected for the Albania U21 side that took part in the 2015 UEFA Euro Under-21 qualification. He played in half of all Group 4 matches (4 of 8), as the 4 other matches were played by fellow goalkeepers, Aldo Teqja and Orestis Menka, who each played 2 matches.

Personal life

Thomas is the son of Foto Strakosha, former goalkeeper of the Albania national football team in years 1990–2005, now currently part of the technical staff of Olympiacos. He is the younger brother of Dhimitri Strakosha also a footballer who plays as a forward for Albanian club Himara.

Career statistics

Club

As of 17 April 2016

Season	Club	League country	League		League Cup		Europe		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2012–13	Lazio	Serie A	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0
2013–14			0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0
2014–15			0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0
Total			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015–16	Salernitana	Serie B	11	0	2	0	-	-	13	0
Total			11	0	2	0	0	0	13	0
Career total			11	0	2	0	0	0	13	0

Honours

Club

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 2012–13; runner-up: 2014–15
• Super Cup runner-up: 2013

External links

• Thomas Strakosha at Soccerway
• Thomas Strakosha – UEFA competition record