Herdi Prenga

Herdi Prenga
Personal information
Full name Herdi Besnik Prenga
Date of birth (1994-08-31) 31 August 1994
Place of birth Zadar, Croatia
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Lokomotiva Zagreb
Number 19
Youth career
2004–2013 Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2013–2015 Dinamo Zagreb 0 (0)
2013 → Sesvete (loan) 17 (1)
2014–2015 → Lokomotiva Zagreb (loan) 38 (1)
2015– Lokomotiva Zagreb 19 (1)
National team‡
2011 Croatia U17 3 (0)
2013 Croatia U19 1 (0)
2014 Croatia U21 0 (0)
2015– Albania U21 7 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 March 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2016

Herdi Besnik Prenga (born 31 August 1994) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Croatian club Lokomotiva Zagreb and the Albania national under-21 football team. He is the son of Besnik Prenga, former Albanian international footballer in years 1992–1994.[1]

Club career

Early career

Herdi Prenga was born in Zadar, Croatia from parents of Albanian descent originally from Mirditë. Also his father Besnik was a footballer and played for their descence national team Albania in years 1992–1994.[1] He started his youth career at GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy. In 2013 he became professional gaining entry with the first team of GNK Dinamo Zagreb.

Sesvete

In Summer 2013 Prenga was loaned out for 6 months to NK Sesvete in Druga HNL (2. HNL) for the first-half of the 2013–14 season.

2013–14 season

He made it his first senior debut with Sesvete on 17 August 2013 playing full 90-minutes in the opening match against Gorica, finished in a clean 3–0 victory.[2] He scored 1 goal during the season, concretly on 28 September 2013 in the 8th game week against Solin finished in the 2–0 victory where Prenga scored the opening goal in the 17th minute.[3] He became a regular and important player for the team as he played in total 17 matches out 19 all full 90-minutes and missed out just 2 matches due to the suspension for completing the number of yellow cards (3) exactly two times as he received in total 6 yellow cards.

Lokomotiva Zagreb

2013–14 season second-half

For the second half of the 2013–14 season, also another full season (in total for 1 year and a half), Prenga was loaned to Lokomotiva Zagreb this time in the major Prva HNL. He made it his professional debut with Lokomotiva Zagreb on 22 February 2014 against Hajduk Split coming on as a substitute in the 23rd minute in place of Dino Perić and the match finished in the 0–2 loss.[4] Then until the end the season he played 9 other matches all as a full 90-minutes and was as an unused substitute for 4 matches.

International career

Croatia

Prenga first was called-up at the Croatia national under-17 football team to participate in the 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round. He played every minute in the entire tournament.[5][6][7]

He was called up by the coach Dinko Jeličić at Croatia national under-19 football team to participate in the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite qualification. In the tournament Prenga played just one match against Poland on 7 June 2013, where he played as a starter and got substituted off in the 60th minute for Tomislav Kiš as the match finished in the 2–0 victory.[8]

Prenga was called up once at Croatia national under-21 football team by the coach Nenad Gračan for the match valid for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification against Latvia on 3 September 2014, where he remained on the bench for the entire match.[9]

Albania

In January 2015 Prenga declared to the Albanian media that he wish to continue his father's (Besnik Prenga) footsteps to wear red and black shirt of Albania and that it would be great honor for him. Given this, the Albania national under-21 football team coach Skënder Gega contacted the 20-year-old and his family. In February then, coach Skënder Gega announced to have sent an invitation to Prenga, declaring that he has seen him as a good reinforcement for the Albania U21 squad.[10]

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Prenga received his first official call-up by coach Skënder Gega for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification opening match against Liechtenstein on 28 March 2015.[11] However Prenga couldn't play in this match as he was ineligible due to the absence of respective documents.

Prenga was called up by a new appointed coach at the Albania U21, Redi Jupi, for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Israel & Portugal on 3 & 8 September 2015.[12] He made it his first competitive debut for Albania U21 on 3 September 2015 in a 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Israel playing the full 90-minutes match, which finished in the 1–1 draw.[13] Prenga played another full 90-minutes match against Portugal 5 days later but unable to avoid a 1–6 defeat.[14]

He scored his first international goal for Albania U21 on 29 March 2016 against Hungary U21 to give his side the important 2–1 victory in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification.[15]

Career statistics

Club

As of 23 March 2016 [16][17]
Season Club League country League League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2013–14 Sesvete Druga HNL 17100--171
Total 1710000171
2013–14 Lokomotiva Zagreb Croatian First League 10000--100
2014–15 28140--321
2015–16 1913020241
Total 5727020662
Career total 7437020833

International goals

Scores and results list Albania U21's goal tally first.
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1 28 March 2016 Elbasan Arena, Elbasan, Albania  Hungary 2–1 2–1 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

References

External links

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