Ilion Lika

Ilion Lika (born 17 May 1980) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and also is goalkeeping coach of Albanian club Tirana in the Albanian Superliga.

During his 19-year career span, Lika has played more than 500 matches on club level.

He began his professional career in 1999 with Dinamo Tirana, recording more than 200 appearances in all competitions before leaving for Elbasani in 2007.

Lika played for Dinamo Tirana from 1999 to June 2007.

He became a fan favourite during his time at Dinamo Tirana and was considered as being one of the best goalkeepers in the Albanian Superliga.

Lika was tested by the Danish side Odense BK but he wasn't offered a contract at the club.

He was also a member of the Albania national team between 2002 and 2010, earning 14 senior international caps.

His failed trial in Denmark paved the way for him to be transferred to the 2005–06 Albanian Superliga champions, Elbasani in August 2007 where he signed a 1-year contract.

He played just under 6 months in at Elbasani before looking for a new team.

It emerged in January that Tirana were interested in signing the Albanian international and that Lika had spoken to one of the club's owners about a possible switch back to the capital, however Lika himself quickly squashed these rumours insisting that he had never spoken to anyone about a move to Tirana and that it was all speculation.

He also had offers from abroad as well with Vorskla Poltava apparently leading the chase for the goalkeeper's signature, although he had other clubs from Turkey and the rest of Europe interested in him.

According to his agent, he was in contact with Vorskla Poltava and he stated that Lika had been offered a very good contract but it was still hard to accept because the location and the weather of Ukraine would have been a problem for Lika.

Even though he had turned down a move to Ukraine, Lika was still wanted by Tom Tomsk and Terek Grozny, both in Russia.

Both clubs had offered him a contract but Lika chose the one from Grozny side as it was "too hard" to refuse.

Lika moved for the first time aboard in January 2008 by joining Terek Grozny of Russian Premier League.

He completed his move to the club on 29 January 2008 and he signed a two-year contract worth $500,000.

During his presentation, Lika stated that one of the main reasons for his move was that he hoped to one day become the Albania national team's first choice goalkeeper.

Lika quickly became the club's 1st choice goalkeeper and put in many impressive performances throughout the 2008–09 season including one against CSKA Moscow where he impressed even the CSKA Moscow's coach with his performance, he also kept a clean sheet in the historic 1–0 victory over one of the biggest clubs in Russia.

He managed 9 clean sheets in 27 games during the 2008–09 season.

Following a very impressive first season in Russia, Lika has been offered to receive Chechenyan citizenship by the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

The president of Chechenya had expressed his desire for Lika to spend the rest of his career with Terek Grozny and had stated that he is a huge fan of the Albanian goalkeeper.

He also gave Lika a brand new Land Rover worth $110,000 as a present during the 2008–09 season.

In an interview with Ora News in Albania, Lika explained that if any of his teammates call him by his given name Ilion, then they will be fined by the club's owner and president of Chechenya, Ramzan Kadyrov who is one of Lika's biggest fans.

The president wanted the team and its supporters to call him Iljaz Lika instead of his official name, Ilion Lika.

The chairman and Lika formed a special relationship and understanding of each other based on their Islamic beliefs because according to Lika the chairman is a very religious man and after realising that Lika is a Muslim as well he has treated him differently from the other players.

Besides the Land Rover, he had also bought Lika a house in Chechenya.

Lika and the chairman have also travelled to Dubai on holiday together and they also went to Mecca and that is how they have built a much closer relationship.

He also says that he is treated like a king at the club and is a fan favourite already.

Lika suffered an injury that would keep him out of action for over five months in February 2009.

The vice-president of Terek Grozny announced that Lika would miss at least five months of football after damaging his Achilles tendon.

Terek Grozny quickly brought in a goalkeeper to take the injured Lika's place, that goalkeeper was Andriy Dikan and he was the club's main goalkeeper for the start of the 2009–10 season.

Lika spent five weeks rehabilitating in Macedonia in 2009 to try to get him back to full fitness.

On 1 December 2009, Lika left the club officially along with six other players.

All five others were foreign the Slovakian defender Radoslav Zabavnik, Brazilian defender Cléber Guedes de Lima and Romanians Florentin Petre, Andrei Margaritescu and Daniel Pancu; the players left for free after that the club decided to not renew their contracts.

He returned in Albania in January 2010, representing in quick succession Vllaznia Shkodër and Kastrioti Krujë before joining Tirana in the summer of that year where he went on to play for the next three years.

The injury meant that he missed the start of the Russian Premier League and also three crucial 2010 World Cup qualifiers and with first choice goalkeeper Arjan Beqaj already out for a lengthy period, this would have meant that Lika would have been the first choice keeper and would have been back in the squad after spending more than 2 years out of the national squad.

Lika returned in Albania in January 2010 now as a free agent, agreeing to a short-term contract with Albanian Superliga strugglers Vllaznia Shkodër.

He was placed only the team's third choice keeper behind veteran Armir Grimaj and youngster Olti Bishani, making his debut for the club on 23 January in the 2–1 loss at Shkumbini Peqin.

Five days later, Lika was released from his contract by the club president Valter Fushaj, with the goalkeeper being unhappy with his contract and clauses, thus becoming a free agent again.

In the following years, the now veteran goalie had spells again with Kastrioti Krujë and Tirana, before joining Flamurtari Vlorë in June 2014 where he played in the next two years.