Rezart Dabulla

Rezart Dabulla (born 24 October 1979 in Tirana, nicknamed: Dabi^[1]) is an Albanian football player. He currently plays for KF Tirana in the Albanian Superliga. His main posision is centre-back but he can also play as a left full-back as well.

Career

Lushnja

Dabulla first made his professional debut with KS Lushnja in the Albanian First Division during the 1996-1997 season. He played for the club until the end of the 1998-1999 season where he was offered a move to Albania's biggest club, KF Tirana. Dabulla made the move to the capital at the age of just 19 after having broken into the Lushnja first team the previous season.

KF Tirana

The defender managed to find immediate success despite having to compete with players such as Nevil Dede, Alpin Gallo, Elvis Sina and Alban Tafaj.^[2] After nearly 200 appearances for the club, Dabulla decided to leave Tirana and join rivals KS Vllaznia Shkodër before the start of the Kategoria superiore 2006-07 season.

Vllaznia

German coach Ulrich Schulze was the man who made the possible as the Vllaznia coach was impressed by Dabulla's play and attitude. He was part of a defence that included homegrown players Admir Teli and Safet Osja and Montenegran Nikola Vukčević.^[3] After a season with Vllaznia Dabulla decided on a move to an ambitious KS Shkumbini Peqin side.

Lushnja

He was brought in to lead the defence alongside fellow experienced player Lorenc Pasha at his first ever club Lushnja. With Dabulla solid in defence for most of the season, Shkumbini managed a respectable 5th in the final league table which was seen as a success by most of the fans.^[4]

Return to Tirana

After a successful season with Shkumbini, Dabulla was put on many Albanian clubs wish list, one of those clubs was KF Tirana, where he had previously spent seven season. He was brought in by Bosnian coach Blaž Slišković and the new chairman of Tirana, Refik Halili to replace the gap in defence provided by the departures of Endrit Vrapi and Engert Bakalli to their rivals KF Elbasani and the retirement of legendary defender Gentian Hajdari. The 2008-2009 season proved to be a successful one for Debulla as he helped his side win the Albanian Superliga and reach the final of the Albanian Cup. He played most of the season at centre back alongside Tefik Osmani, but he did also fill in at left back when Nigerian defender Abraham Alechenwu was not available. He made 24 league appearances that season^[5] and helped Tirana win their 23rd league title in their history, more than any other club in Albania.

In the Albanian Cup 2008–09 Dabulla played in every round of the competition, including the first round draw against lower league side, KS Tërbuni Pukë in which Tirana drew.^[6] He also played in the next round in the 5-0 thrashing of his previous club Lushnja, a match in which striker Migen Memelli scored all 5 goals.^[7] Despite managerial changes at the club, Dabulla managed to get into the starting line-up for the final which was held at teuta Durres's home ground Stadioni Niko Dovana against Flamurtari Vlore. Dabulla opened the scoring to the match on the 42nd minute mark after he headed in a corner from captain Devis Mukaj. However, his foal was not enough as a late Flamurtari comeback meant that Tirana lost out narrowly on completing the inevitable double.^[8]

International career

Dabulla has also played for the Albanian National Team on five occasions from 1998 until 2004. In his early career he was also a member of the Albanian U-21 National Team where he played 2 official games. His first cap for the national team came on 10 February 1999 in a friendly against neighbouring country Macedonia. Dabulla was chosen for the first time in the national team by legendary Albanian coach Medin Zhega who was manager of Albania at the time. The match was a friendly played at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana in front of a crowd of just over 6,000. Dabulla came on as a substitute in the 65th minute of the game for Redi Jupi when the score was 1-0 to Albania. The match ended 2-0 to Albania and Dabulla played well on his international debut.^[9] His next international game came against Andorra in the Malta International Football Tournament 2000 on 6 February 2000. Once again under the guidance of Zhega Dabulla was picked for the game but this time he started the match and playde the full 90 minutes. He helped his team to a comfortable 3-0 victory against a weak Andorra side, with the goals coming from Edmond Dalipi, Rudi Vata and Roland Zajmi.^[10] Dabulla was part of the Albanian team that famously won the tournament in 2000 although he only played in 1 game out of a possible 3. Hs next game was a friendly played in San Diego, USA against Mexico. Dabulla once again started and played the entire 90 minutes, but this time Albania suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat. Albania fielded their so-called 'B' team for this fixture that included many uncapped players. Albania also had defender Ardit Beqiri sent off just before half time which made the job of getting any sort of result even more smaller.^[11] Dabulla had to wait for than a year for his next cap which was in Sofia against Bulgaria. Dabulla's involvement in the game was minimal as he only managed to come on as a substitute for Nevil Dede in the 90th minute. Albania lost the match 2-0 as a result of a Dimitar Berbatov brace in the opening 34 minutes.^[12] Just like his first international, his last was also against Macedonia, but unlike in 1999 this match was held in Prilep, Macedonia. Dabulla once again began the match on the substitutes bench for Albania before being brought on by German coach Hans-Peter Briegel in the 86th minute for Adrian Aliaj. The match ended 3-1 to Mcedonia which meant that his last taste of international football was very bitter.^[13]

National team statistics

^[14]

References