Ilion Lika

Ilion Lika was born on the 17^th May 1980. He is a footballer from Albania. He presently is playing the role of a goalkeeper for his club side, KF Tirana in the superliga of the country. The goalkeeper has played for the following teams; Dinamo Tirana, KS Elbasani and KS Kastrioti in the superliga of the country, and has recently played for FC Terek Grozny in Russia.

source of picture: en.wikipedia.org

Career

Lika played for KS Dinamo Tirana from the year 1999 to the year 2007. He was loved by the fans of the club when he was with Dinamo, and he was seen as one of the best goalkeepers in the superliga of the country. Lika wastested by the Danish club, Odense BK, though he was not signed to play for the team. His failed trial that took place in Denmark created the opportunity for the champions of the superliga, KS Elbasani to sign him in August 2007, he signed a year deal with the club. He played under 6 month with the club before he searched for a new team. KF Tirana showed interest in the goalkeeper in January and report also stated that Lika had spoken with the owner of the club to enhance a switch to the capital city of the country, meanwhile, Like himself quickly squashed the rumor and said that he never talked to anyone about a possible move to the capital city club of superliga, and that it was ll speculations. He had offers from international teams like Vorskla Poltava, who led the chase of the goalkeeper’s signature for the club, though he had so many other European clubs as well as Turkish Clubs that were interested in him. According to the footballer’s agent, he is currently with a contract with has been offered a good contract, though it was hard to accept because of the weather and location of the club, Ukraine.

Though he had turned down a move to Ukraine, Lika was still needed by Tom Tomsk and Terek Grozny, both in Russia. The both clubs offered him a contract to be with the club, but the deal that was presented by Terek Grozny was not easy to refuse and so he decided to make a move to the club, Grozny. He finished his move to the club on the 29^th January 2008 and he signed a 2-year deal with the club, worth of $500,000. He stated that the main reason of going to the club was to become the first choice keeper of the national team of his country. Quickly, he became the first goalkeeper of the cluband was very good on the pitch all through the 2008/09 season.

He got 9 clean sheets with the club out of the 27 games that he appeared for the club in the 2008/09 season. With the good season he had in Russia, Lika was handed an offer of a citizenship by the president of Chechenyan. The president of the Chechenyan expressed his desire for the player to finish his career in the club, Terek Gozny and has opined that he is a huge fan of the keeper. Ramzan Kadyrov, who is the president of the club handed a Land Rover car that is worth $110.000 as a gift to the goalkeeper in the 2008/09 season.

On the 1^st December 2009, Lika left the club with other 6 players from the club. All the other players are foreign players; Romanians Florentin Petre, Andrei Margaritescu and Daniel Pancu, Slovakian defender Radoslav Zabavnik and Brazilian defender Cléber. The players left the club on a free transfer after the club decided not to renew the contracts with the players.

After his contract has expired with KS Vllaznia Shkoder, the goalkeeper was handed a new offer to play for the Albanian side KS Kastrioti Kruje. He signed for the club on the 1^st February 2010, and he was there until the end of the season.