Thomas Strakosha

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

Early career

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 for 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 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 as a third choice 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, Strakosha was again on the bench as Lazio was defeat 4–0 by Juventus in the 2013 Supercoppa Italiana.

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 choice and being only an unused substitute for the 2013–14 season behind the strong challenge for the starting place between Berisha and Marchetti.

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 go gain more experience He was allocated squad number 12, and made his professional debut on 9 August 2015 in the 1–0 win against Pisa for the 2015–16 Coppa Italia second round. A week after his debut, Strashkosha played another Coppa Italia match, making several decisive saves and keeping his goal intact for 120 minutes as Salernitana won 1–0 against Chievo Verona to progress to the next round.

Strakosha made his league debut for Salernitana on 6 September 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.

The return

In July 2016, following the end of the loan, Strakosha returned to Lazio. With the injury of Marchetti and the departure of Berisha to Atalanta, Strakosha was able to make his Lazio debut on 20 September in the league match against Milan. Despite the 2–0 defeat, the performance of Strakosha was considered positive, being the best in the field for Lazio. Five days later, Starkosha collected his first Serie A clean-sheet only in his second appearance in the 2–0 home win against Empoli, which led the 1982 FIFA World Cup-winner Dino Zoff to praise him by saying: "I can not judge him with only two matches played, but, according to me, he performed well in both matches."

Youth teams

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.

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 Thomas, Foto Strakosha. Under coach of 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.

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.

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.

Senior team

Strakosha was called up to the senior Albania squad in August 2016 to face Morocco and Macedonia.

Thomas is the son of Foto Strakosha, former 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. He is the younger brother of Dhimitri Strakosha also a footballer who plays as a forward for Albanian club Himara.

Club

As of 20:28, 26 December 2016 (UTC)

Club

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 2012–13