Alban Meha

Alban Meha

File:Meha, Alban SCP 13-14 WP.JPG Meha playing for Paderborn in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Alban Syla Meha
Date of birth	(1986-04-25) 25 April 1986
Place of birth	Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Al Nasr
Youth career
	TV Kemnat 1890
0000–1995	SV Esslingen
1995–2005	Stuttgarter Kickers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005	Stuttgarter Kickers II
2006–2007	VfL Kirchheim	54	(16)
2007–2010	SSV Reutlingen	84	(16)
2010–2011	Eintracht Trier	33	(15)
2011–2015	SC Paderborn	102	(26)
2015–2016	Konyaspor	23	(4)
2016–	Al Nasr	0	(0)
International career‡
2012–	Albania	7	(2)
Medal record SC Paderborn Runner-up 2. Bundesliga 2013–14
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 May 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 March 2014

Alban Syla Meha (born 26 April 1986) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as Midfielder for Arabian club Al Nasr and the Albania national team. He's known for his abilities of scoring long-rage goals and often compared with specialist of free kicks Juninho. Meha also is nicknamed Snaiper due to his reputation as a marksman with deadly accuracy from set pieces.

Early life and youth career

Meha was born in Kosovska Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia. Due to the Kosovo War, Meha's family migrated to Germany in 1991, and settled in Ostfildern. Alban is the grandchild of Tahir Meha, an Albanian rights activist, who resisted heroically together with his father against a large Yugoslav army and police force until they were killed in 1981.

In his youth, Meha joined the local side TV Kemnat 1890 and SV Esslingen. By the time Meha was nine years old, he joined Stuttgarter Kickers and remained in the junior side for ten years. When Meha was nineteen, he officially signed for the senior team.

His older brother Feriz Meha (* 1984) also was once a semi-professional footballer, playing fourth division football for VfL Kirchheim and SSV Reutlingen between 2007 and 2008. For Reutlingen both brothers even played together in one team.

Club career

Stuttgarter Kickers

In July 2005, Meha joined Stuttgarter Kickers' senior teams. However, he remained on the reserve squad and never made an appearance on the first team. In December 2005, during the winter break, Meha moved to VfL Kirchheim.

VfL Kirchheim

Meha played one and a half seasons at Kirchheim, making a total of 54 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He then moved to SSV Reutlingen.

SSV Reutlingen

Meha played three seasons at Reutlingen, making a total of 82 appearances and scoring 16 goals. He then moved to Eintracht Trier.

Eintracht Trier

Meha played one season for Eintracht Trier, making a total of 33 appearances, scoring 15 goals and providing 16 assists. He helped the club win the Rhineland Cup and helped the club come second in the Fußball-Regionalliga West. He then moved to SC Paderborn.

SC Paderborn

In 2011 Meha joined 2. Bundesliga side Paderborn and made an immediate impact on the team.

2011–12 season

He made 33 appearances for the club and scored five goals. Four of Meha's goals were scored from direct free kicks and one from long distance. He also made an impressive ten assists on his first season with the club. Paderborn reached fifth place, nine points shy from first.

2012–13 season

On 13 August 2012, Paderborn coach Stephan Schmidt declared that Meha is "an extremely important player for Paderborn". Meha had begun his second season well, scoring a goal from a penalty on his first match of the season against Hertha BSC and scoring a goal from a direct free kick against VfL Bochum on his second game of the season. After a pause of the 2012–13 season, he returned scoring in the start of the season second half, where on 10 February 2013, Meha scored in the 87th minute from a difficult angle to the top right hand corner of the goal to sign the 1–3 away victory against FC Ingolstadt. A week later, on 15 February 2013 Meha scored by penalty spot the last goal of the 2–0 victory in the 40th minute against Erzgebirge Aue, and also he participated in the opening goal, as he kicked a set piece Free-kick which was evitated by the Goalkeeper and then the ball was sent into the goal by Tobias Feisthammel in the 20th minute. Last goal of the 2012-13 season was scored on 3 May 2013 against Dynamo Dresden in the 2–1 away loss.

He finished season 2012–13 with a total of 26 appearances and six goals. Three goals were scored from penalties, two from free kicks and one goal against FC Ingolstadt. Meha also made five assists in his second season with Paderborn. His team Paderborn finished in the 12th place of the rank table.

2013–14 season

On 18 October 2013, he scored first goal of the 2013–14 season. Meha scored in the 54th minute the last goal of the 4–2 victory against FSV Frankfurt. On 8 December 2013 he scored two goals in the away victory 2–4 against Aalen, were Meha scored 1st in the 12th minute and last in the 72nd minute. He debuted in 2014 with a goal on 9 February 2014. He scored a free-kick goal in the 47th minute and gave victory to Paderborn in an away match against Köln (0–1). In next fixture match on 16 February 2014 against Arminia Bielefeld, he scored again a goal in the victory 4–0. He scored again for the 3rd consecutive game on 22 February 2014 against 1860 München, finished in a draw 2–2, were Meha scored second goal for 0–2 in the 18th minute. On 28 February, he scored two more goals in next match against VfL Bochum to help his team win the match 4–1. On 17 March 2014 Meha honoured as "player of the month february" and that for mading a spectaculary games, where he scored a total of 5 goals in 4 matches. Meha scored on 25 March 2014 against St. Pauli in the home victory 3–0. He continued his scoring form as on 4 April 2014 he scored an amazing free kick in a 1–2 loss against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Meha captained Paderborn team for the first time on 27 April 2014 in the match against Sandhausen finished in the victory 2–0 were he played full 90-minutes. On 4 May 2014 Meha returned scoring goals, as he scored in the away victory 0–2 over Erzgebirge Aue, were Meha scored the opening goal in the 35th minute. On the last day of the second division campaign, Paderborn came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over VfR Aalen, to secure automatic promotion to the Bundesliga, where they made history as they sealed their first ever promotion to the Bundesliga. Meha personally finished the 2013–14 season with a total of 26 appearances including 1 made in the German Cup, scoring in total 12 goals during campaign were he ranked as 6th place, equal with Charlison Benschop, Patrick Helmes and Torsten Mattuschka in the 2. Bundesliga all goalscorers. The peak of his success was when he was voted as the best player of the season for his team Paderborn, giving a special contribution in the team success of the promotion for the first time in their history.

On 1 August 2014 Meha suffered an injury during a friendly match against Maccabi Haifa and was forced undergo surgery, which according to doctors, would keep him from playing for 8 weeks until his recovery.

2014–15 season

Due to the injury of the previous season he missed out the start of the 2014–15 season for 5 weeks.

On 27 September 2014, Alban Meha debutted in the Bundesliga by playing in the 6th game week against Borussia Mönchengladbach, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute in place of Lukas Rupp in a 1–2 loss. On 2 November 2014 Meha scored his first goal for Paderborn in a 3–1 win at home to Hertha Berlin. He scored from a powerful strike from the edge of the penalty area. On 14 December 2014 Meha scored from the penalty spot to give his team the 1–1 draw against the 2nd ranking place Wolfsburg at their home. Meha scored a goal from freekick against Hannover 96 on 15 February 2015 to give his team the away 1–2 victory coming from behind of 1–0, as Hannover 96 had scored in the 66th minute with Marcelo Antônio Guedes Filho, then Srdjan Lakic of Paderborn scored the equalising 1–1 goal in the 72nd minute, before Meha scored in the 79th minute to secure the win. It was his first goal of 2015 and he played a full 90-minute match.

Konyaspor

Following the relegation of Paderborn to the 2. Bundesliga, on 9 June 2015, Meha moved to Turkish Süper Lig side Konyaspor on a free transfer. After having spent his entire previous career in Germany, the move to Turkey is his first abroad. He signed a one-year contract with Konyaspor, including a one-year extension option. According to media reports he earns up to €1 million per season.

Meha made it his Süper Lig debut on 16 August 2015 in the 2015–16 Süper Lig opening match against Akhisar Belediyespor playing the full 90-minutes match. He scored his first goal in the 3rd match on 29 August 2015 against the defending champiopns Galatasaray by a free-kick for the temporary 1–1 equaliser, but it turned out to be not enough as Galatasaray scored three more goals to take the 1–4 victory themselves. In the next match on 13 September 2015 Meha scored against Osmanlıspor in the 61st minute of the match to overturn the score 1–2 and to sign an away victory.

Al Nasr

Meha signed for Arabian club Al Nasr for an undisclosed fee and will earn €3,5 million in season.

International career

In summer 2012, Meha expressed his desire to play for Albania and that he had been in contact with national coach Gianni de Biasi. On 26 August, it was reported that Meha had received an invitation to play for Albania in the September match against Cyprus, valid for the qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2014. On 4 September 2012 he received the Albanian citizenship among fellow new upcoming at national team Burim Kukeli, to be able to play international game for Albania. On 7 September 2012, Meha made it his first international debut for Albania and led the Albanian midfield in the 3–1 victory against Cyprus, where he assisted the opening goal scored by Armando Sadiku. Because of his play-making abilities and strong set piece capabilities, he is viewed by Albanian fans as the replacement for the retired Ervin Skela. On 7 October 2012 Meha assisted a goal scored by Edgar Çani in the 1–2 loss against Iceland, valid for the qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2014. On 26 March 2013, Meha scored first goal for Albania against Lithuania in the victory 4-1. The second international goal came a year later, on 5 March 2014 where he scored an amazing volley from 40 metres in a 2–0 win over Malta.

International goals

Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	26 March 2013	Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania	Lithuania	1–0	4–1	Friendly match
2.	5 March 2014	Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, Albania	Malta	2–0	2–0	Friendly match

Career statistics

Club

As of 13 September 2015

Season	Club	League country	League		League Cup		Europe		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2007–08	Reutlingen	Regionalliga Süd	28	1	-	-	-	-	28	1
2008–09			29	3	-	-	-	-	29	3
2009–10			27	12	-	-	-	-	27	12
Total			84	16	0	0	0	0	87	16
2010–11	Eintracht Trier	Regionalliga West	33	15	1	0	-	-	34	15
Total			33	15	1	0	0	0	34	15
2011–12	Paderborn	2. Bundesliga	33	5	2	1	-	-	35	6
2012–13			26	6	1	1	-	-	27	7
2013–14			24	12	1	0	-	-	25	12
2014–15		Bundesliga	18	3	0	0	-	-	18	3
Total			102	26	4	2	0	0	106	28
2015–16	Konyaspor	Süper Lig	4	2	0	0	-	-	4	2
Total			4	2	0	0	0	0	4	2
Career total			220	59	5	2	0	0	224	61

International

As of 5 March 2014

Albania national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2012	3	0
2013	2	1
2014	1	1
2015	0	0
Total	6	2

Honours

Club

Paderborn

• 2. Bundesliga Runner-up: 2013–14

External links

• Alban Meha profile at Fussballdaten
• Alban Meha at National-Football-Teams.com
• Alban Meha at Soccerway