Ervin Skela (born 17 November 1976) is an Albanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and current assistant coach of French club Lens.
After beginning his career in Albania with Flamurtari Vlorë and Tirana, he moved to Germany in 1995, where he spent the bulk of his career and became known for his playmaking ability, set-piece technique and consistency. Skela featured extensively in both the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, most notably with Eintracht Frankfurt, playing a key role in their 2002–03 promotion, and later with clubs including Arminia Bielefeld, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and Energie Cottbus. He also had spells in Italy with Ascoli and in Poland with Arka Gdynia in 2011 when he announced initially retirement. After 3 years he came out of retirement playing amateur level with FC Hanau 93, retiring definitively at age of 43, after a career spanning more than two decades.
A key figure of the Albania national team throughout the 2000s, Skela earned 75 caps and scored 13 goals, making him one of Albania's most-capped players and among the national side's all-time leading scorers.
Club career
Early career Skela began playing football in his hometown of Vlorë, initially within the local sports school system, later joining the youth academy of Flamurtari Vlorë and gaining promotion at age 16 to the senior squad. He made his league debut during the 1992–93 Albanian championship and went on to register regular appearances in the top flight, playing 31 league matches and scoring 5 goals. In 1993, while still a teenager, he joined Tirana on a short loan spell, making 5 appearances before returning to Flamurtari later that season. Skela remained with Flamurtari until 1995, when he left Albania to pursue a professional career abroad.
Germany In January 1995, Skela moved abroad to Germany and signed with 1. FC Union Berlin, then competing in the Regionalliga, the third tier of German football. During his three-year spell with the club, he made 57 league appearances and scored eight goals, helping Union Berlin achieve top-five finishes in the division.
In July 1997, Skela joined Erzgebirge Aue and made his debut on 23 July in the opening round of the 1997–98 Regionalliga season, a 1–1 draw against VFC Plauen. He earned a place in the starting lineup by the fifth matchday and held the position for the remainder of the campaign.
Skela scored his first goal for the club on 14 September in a 2–2 draw with Hansa Rostock II. The result lifted Aue into the upper half of the table. One week later, he registered a brace in a 4–1 away win over SV Babelsberg 03. Aue briefly climbed as high as fourth place before a late-season dip in form saw the team finish seventh.
Skela ended the season with 33 league appearances, nearly 2,800 minutes played, and six goals.
In the following season, the 1998–99 Regionalliga, Skela retained his place in the starting XI and was an ever-present through the first nine matchweeks as Aue maintained a mid-table position. His playing time decreased later in the campaign, and he made only five further league appearances, scoring once against Dynamo Dresden.
Chemnitzer FC In 1999, Skela transferred to Chemnitzer FC, marking his first move to the 2. Bundesliga. He made his debut on 20 August 1999 in the second matchday of the 1999–2000 2. Bundesliga, entering as a substitute for the final 19 minutes in a match against Waldhof Mannheim. Over the next few matchdays, he established himself in the starting lineup.
Skela scored his first goal for Chemnitzer FC on 24 October 1999 in a 2–1 away win over Karlsruher SC during round nine of the campaign. He added further goals throughout the season and finished his first year at the club with 32 league appearances and eight goals. On 26 May 2000, in the decisive final match of the season against Tennis Borussia Berlin, Skela scored a crucial 14th-minute header that secured a 1–0 victory and guaranteed Chemnitzer FC's survival in the 2. Bundesliga after an 11th-place finish.
In the following season, the 2000–01 2. Bundesliga, Skela opened the campaign by scoring against Greuther Fürth, although Chemnitzer FC were defeated 4–1. During the first half of the season, he appeared in every league match, playing nearly all of the available minutes, contributing two goals and two assists. Chemnitzer FC, however, collected only nine points from their first 18 fixtures.
Waldhof Mannheim In the January 2000 transfer window, Skela transferred to Waldhof Mannheim, remaining in the same division, the 2. Bundesliga, and joining a side who were contenders for promotion. He made his debut on 26 January 2001 against then–runners-up FC St. Pauli, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 home win and receiving his fifth yellow card of the campaign, which led to a one-match suspension for the following fixture against 1. FC Nürnberg — the only match he missed for the entire season.
On 4 March 2001, he scored his first goal for Waldhof Mannheim in a 4–2 victory over Stuttgarter Kickers. Skela featured in all remaining matches of the season, frequently completing the full 90 minutes, and added two further goals in back-to-back fixtures in the final weeks of April 2001. Waldhof Mannheim finished the campaign in fourth place with 59 points, one behind rivals of FC St. Pauli, who secured the final promotion spot to the Bundesliga.
Eintracht Frankfurt In Summer 2001, Skela transferred to Eintracht Frankfurt. He went on to spend three years with the club, making 92 appearances and scoring 26 goals.
He made his debut for Eintracht on 6 August 2001 against his former side Waldhof Mannheim, playing 75 minutes in an eventual goalless draw. He immediately established himself as a starter, and in the following week scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over Schweinfurt 05. In the next two league fixtures he provided an assist in each match and being decisive scoring a brace in a 3–2 away victory against Karlsruher SC, a result that lifted Eintracht to first place in the standings. On 26 August he also scored the extra–time winner in a 1–0 DFB-Pokal victory over FC St. Pauli II to send Eintracht into the next round. Skela continued to contribute goals and assists throughout the campaign, finishing the season with 9 goals and 4 assists in 32 appearances as Eintracht Frankfurt ended the 2. Bundesliga season in seventh place.
Skela begun the new 2002–03 by initially appearing as a substitute. He scored on the 4–0 win against FC St. Pauli in the opening week of the championship. On 29 September 2002, Skela scored in the last minute for a 2–1 win over MSV Duisburg in his first league start of the season. Skela continued to deliver crucial goals throughout the campaign (often the only goals in narrow 1–0 or 1–1 results) and his contributions helped Eintracht remain often within the top three positions; eventually the club secured promotion to the Bundesliga on 25 May 2003 in the final matchday, after a 6–3 win, in which Skela played a pivotal role by scoring one goal and providing two assists, with Eintracht ranking third with 62 points, level with 1. FSV Mainz 05 but ahead on the head-to-head record. Skela ended the season with 11 goals in league and cup competitions, making him the team's top scorer.
Skela made his top–flight debut on 1 August 2003, scoring a historical goal in a 3–1 away defeat to Bayern Munich, becoming the first Albanian player to score against them. His goal, a long–range free-kick past goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was included in a Bundesliga compilation of top-10 goals scored in matches between the two clubs.
On 23 September 2003, Skela received a four–match suspension from the DFB Sports Court for "violent conduct following an unsporting action previously committed against him", after he was sent off for spitting at Thomas Riedl in the 6th matchday against 1. FC Kaiserslautern two days prior.
Throughout the 2003–04 Bundesliga season, he completed the full 90 minutes in every match he played, with the exception of only the final league match, in which he was substituted for the first time in the 76th minute. He also contributed with several goals and assists during a season in which Eintracht Frankfurt collected relatively few points; his second league goal of the campaign came on 29 November 2003 against VfL Wolfsburg, converting a penalty he had won himself in a 3–2 comeback victory after trailing 0–2. The following week, on 6 December 2003, he recorded both a goal and an assist against Hannover 96, scoring from another penalty in a 2–2 draw.
At the beginning of 2004, during the winter transfer window, Skela came close to a move to title contenders Bayer Leverkusen, where he had been offered a salary of €1.2 million per season, which would have been the highest of his career. However, the negotiations ultimately stalled, and Skela subsequently dismissed his agent over the failed transfer.
He began the year 2004 by scoring in the opening match of the second half of the season, netting from the penalty spot in a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich on 31 January. On 13 March 2004, in the round 24, he recorded both a goal and an assist in a 3–0 win over sixth-placed Schalke 04, a result that temporary lifted Eintracht Frankfurt to 13th and further clear of the relegation zone. He repeated the same in round 30, again scoring and assisting in a 3–0 win, a result that kept Eintracht Frankfurt—then second-from-bottom—in direct competition with their rivals to avoid relegation.
In total, Skela recorded eight goals and seven assists in the league, finishing as Eintracht Frankfurt's top scorer for the second consecutive season. Despite his contributions, Eintracht were ultimately relegated after finishing third from bottom in the final standings.
Arminia Bielefeld Skela joined Arminia Bielefeld for the 2004–05 season, becoming a regular starter throughout the campaign. He made 32 Bundesliga appearances, and a further five appearances and three goals in the DFB-Pokal. Although at the club for only one season, he left a lasting impression and was regarded as one of the most technically skilled players to have featured for the team.
He made his competitive debut for the club on 8 August 2004, playing the full 90 minutes in a goalless draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the opening match of the season.
On 4 December 2004, he provided the assist for Arminia's equalising goal in a 1–1 draw against Hansa Rostock. On 2 April 2005, in the 27th round of the season, he assisted the winning goal in the 1–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.
Arminia Bielefeld finished the Bundesliga season in 13th place with 40 points. In the DFB-Pokal, Skela scored a brace in the round of 16 during a 4–0 win over Karlsruher SC, as Arminia progressed until the semi-finals before being eliminated 2–0 by Bayern Munich.
Kaiserslautern In the summer of 2005 he moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He made his debut on 7 August 2005 in the opening round against Schalke 04, providing an assist in a 2–1 defeat. He scored his first goal for the club two weeks later, netting a last-minute winner in a 3–2 victory against 1. FC Köln.
Skela went on to appear in all 34 league matches of the campaign, scoring four goals, but was considered to have fallen short of expectations as Kaiserslautern were relegated at the end of the season, and Skela was subsequently released from his contract with the club, and subsequently joined Italian side Ascoli on a free transfer in 2006.
Ascoli Skela signed a one–year contract with Italian side Ascoli ahead of the 2006–07 Serie A season and made his debut on 9 September 2006. He did not establish himself in the starting lineup and had his contract mutually terminated in early January 2007. During his short spell with the club, he made seven appearances in all competitions without scoring.
Energie Cottbus