Ilion Lika - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Ilion Lika

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Born
1980 (44 years old)

Birth Place

Tirana, Albania

Position
Goalkeeper

Status
Active

Ethnicity

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Height
187 cm

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

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Sport

Soccer

Team
SK Tirana

2nd Team

League
Albanian Superliga

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No

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

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.

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

Lika was first approached to Albania senior team in January 2002 for the Bahrain Shoot Soccer Tournament, held at Riffa. He earned his first international cap on 10 January in the third match against the hosts, conceding three times as Albania lost 3–0; they finished in the third place tied on points with Macedonia but with better goal average.

Lika was the starting goalkeeper in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. He played seven matches in the Group 2, keeping no clean-sheets as Albania finished in 5th position.

Lika continued to be part of the team in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, where Albania was placed in Group G. He was called up for the opening two matches against Belarus and Romania in September 2006, starting in the opening match which ended in a 2–2 draw. Otto Barić then removed Lika from the team in March 2007 due to problems with his club Dinamo Tirana, as he was forced to become a free agent until the end of the season. Arjan Beqaj was used as the starting keeper with Isli Hidi as his backup. He returned to the national team in October 2007 after half a year absence for the match versus Slovenia due to an injury of Beqaj. Speaking about that, Lika stated return to the national team was an "indescribable joy".

Under new manager Arie Haan, Lika received another call-up in January 2008 for gathering between 14–23 January in Antalya, Turkey. He was the third goalkeeper in Albania's unsuccessful 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

Lika returned to the national team in February 2010 where he was named in the squad for the unofficial friendly versus Kosovo. He played as a substitute in the match which ended in a 3–2 win for Lika's side. It was his final call-up to the national team, as he was no longer part in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, with his spot occupied by youngster Samir Ujkani.

Lika is a practicing Muslim. He has also spoken out strongly against homosexuality, calling it "dangerous", as it violates the family.