Fabio Sakaj (born 2 February 1998) is an Italian-born Albanian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder and currently plays for Vis Artena in Serie D. He represents the Albania national under-21 team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fabio Sakaj | ||
| Date of birth | (1998-02-02) 2 February 1998 (age 24) | ||
| Place of birth | Alatri, Frosinone, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Vis Artena | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Virtus Pavullese | |||
| 0000–2016 | Modena | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2014–2017 | Modena | 11 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Racing Fondi | 4 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Pianese | 17 | (0) |
| 2019– | Vis Artena | 13 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 2016 | Albania U19 | 1 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Albania U21 | 0 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:13, 2 December 2019 (UTC) | |||
Sakaj was born in Alatri, a comune of province of Frosinone in the Italian region of the Lazio, to Albanian parents originally from Lezhë, Albania.[1] He started his football at the Virtus Pavullese, a small football team in the town of Pavullo Nel Frignano, in the Italian province of Modena.[2] He moved at Modena academy and in 2014 became part of the Primavera team under coach Simone Barone.[3]
Sakaj gained entry with the first team of Modena F.C. as he was included in the team by the coach Simone Pavan to participate in the match against Brescia on 3 March 2015.[4] Then he continued to participate regularly in 6 another matches, until he managed to make its debut against Virtus Entella on 11 April 2015 by coming on as a substitute in the stoppage time 90'+2 minute in place of Pablo Granoche.[5]
On 5 November 2017, Modena declared bankrupt after failing to pay player wages or stadium bills which brought about a player strike and a stadium lockout.[6] The club had not attended the previous three Serie C matches, including not attending the match against Santarcangelo Calcio; with a total of four matches not attended, the club were officially excluded from "Lega Pro" on 6 November.[7]
On 11 December 2017, he signed with Racing Fondi as a free agent.[8]
Sakaj received his first call up to the Albania national under-19 team by coach Arjan Bellaj for the friendly tournament Roma Caput Mundi from 29 February–4 March 2016.[9]
Sakaj received his first call up at Albania national under-21 football team by coach Alban Bushi for a gathering in Durrës, Albania from 18 to 25 January 2017.[10]
He received his first call up for the Albania under-20 side by coach Alban Bushi for the double friendly match against Azerbaijan U-21 on 21 & 26 January 2018.[11]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe[lower-alpha 1] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Modena | 2014–15 | Serie B | 4 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||||
| 2016–17 | Serie C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
| Racing Fondi | 2017–18 | Serie C | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
Dhe, pikërisht në Emilia nis aventura e Sakajt me topin, duke luajtur me Pavulezen, përpara se të kalojë te të rinjtë e Modenës, aty ku fërgohet nga Hernan Krespo, te Primavera, dhe më pas kalon te ekipi i parë.