Lorik Cana

After joining OM, he cemented his place in the starting XI and scored the winning goal in the first match between Marseille and his former club, PSG; Cana scored in the 78th minute via a header following a free-kick.

Lorik Agim Cana (born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional footballer.

In 1992 the entire family moved to Switzerland due to the Yugoslav Wars.

In 1997, Cana joined the local team Dardania Lausanne, an amateur football club founded by the Albanian community in Lausanne, coached by his father.

He played at Dardania until 2000, when he was spotted and signed by French club Paris Saint-Germain.

Cana had previously been invited to Arsenal in 2000 at the age of 16 for a trial, but failed to attend because he was denied a British visa.

Following that, it was Paris Saint-Germain which benefited by the situation and invited him for a week trial.

The Paris Saint-Germain Reserves coach Antoine Kombouaré was seduced by Cana's talent and Cana eventually signed a contract with Paris Saint-Germain.

At Paris Saint-Germain, he spent three years working through the ranks of the French club.

In his first season with PSG Reserves Cana made only 4 appearances.

In the next season 2001–02 he suffered a knee injury and made only 12 appearances where also scored his first goal.

Cana established himself as a regular part of the reserves team in his third season 2002–03 making 21 appearances and scoring a goal.

Cana played in the top divisions of France, England, Italy and Turkey, representing Paris Saint-Germain, Sunderland, Galatasaray, Lazio, FC Nantes and Olympique de Marseille as well as the Albania national team for which he held the appearance record for Albania's most capped player of all time, with 93 caps since he made his debut in 2003 until his retirement in 2016.

He used to play primarily as a defensive and central midfielder but later switched to centre-back.

He chose Albania and made his international debut in June 2003, at the age of 19.

In 2003 Cana was invited by the first team coach Luis Fernández invited him at training session and at the end of the season, with PSG having nothing to play for in the league, the Parisian coach took the opportunity to rotate his squad.

On 19 April Cana made his senior team debut against Nantes playing the full 90-minutes match and provided an assist for the only goal of his side which served to take a 1–1 draw.

In his senior debut for PSG, he was awarded the Man of the Match.

He went on to play in other 2 matches, 1 as a starter until half-time and 1 as the full 90-minutes.

During the 2003–04 season, he established himself as a starter under coach Vahid Halilhodžić and was associated with another young defensive midfielder, Modeste M'bami.

Despite their lack of experience, they played a big part in the club's good season, where Cana himself played in 32 games and scored one goal as the team won the Coupe de France and finished second in the Ligue 1, proving to be one of the most successful seasons of his career.

This was repeated the next season, when he also played 32 games for the Paris team and scored one goal.

He began his senior club career playing for Paris Saint-Germain, before signing with rivals Olympique de Marseille in 2004 whom he went on to captain.

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, however, 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 Marseille.

Cana concluded his first season at Marseille with 43 matches in all competitions, 28 full 90-minutes in league matches, 6 in cup, 1 in league cup and 8 in UEFA Cup 2005-06.

In 2009, Cana made his league debut for Sunderland becoming the first player of Albanian origin to play in the Premier League.

Later he joined Galatasaray, the most successful Turkish football club.

Two years later, Cana signed for Italian Serie A club Lazio where he spent four years.

Cana is Albania's most capped player of all time with 93 caps where he was named captain in 2011.

In 2015, Cana returned to France, where he started his career, signing a two-year contract with Nantes.

Cana was eligible to play for either Albania, Switzerland or France, as he held all three passports.

He participated in the first major international competition for Albania, the UEFA Euro 2016 held in France.

At the age of 16, Cana was invited to Arsenal for a trial, but failed to attend because he was denied a British visa.

After the end of the UEFA Euro 2016 Cana announced his retirement from football.

Lorik Cana was born in Pristina, Kosovo, from parents originally from Gjakova.

He is the son of Agim Cana, a former football player of FC Prishtina.

Cana watched every match of Pristina, since he was five years old and describes himself as an avid fan of the team.

Cana's father's experience in football inspired him to take up the sport.

He is currently the Grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 2017.