LORIK CANA

Lorik Cana ( born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian footballer, who currently plays for Sunderland as a defensive midfielder and the Albania national football team. He is also the 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 Marseille.

Paris Saint-Germain

He was invited over by Arsenal at the age of sixteen for a trial, but failed to attend because he was denied English passport.^[1] 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 2003–04 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.

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, Marseille. Since joining 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.

Sunderland

Cana joined Sunderland on a four-year contract for a fee of around £5 million on 24 July 2009.^[2] He was soon handed the team's captaincy by manager Steve Bruce,^[3] although Bruce later stated a captain had yet to be appointed.^[4] 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.^[5] He was appointed as Sunderland's captain for the 2009–10 season on 3 September.^[6]

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, after an altercation with Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy. His team conceded a late goal to lose 0–1 shortly after the dismissal. Since his first call-up to the team he has made 36 appearances and scored 1 goal for Albania.