Ergys Kaçe

Ergys Kaçe (born 8 July 1993) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for the Kosovo Superleague club Gjilani.

[5] Kaçe made his league debut for PAOK on 5 January 2011 during an away game against Panserraikos (1–1), coming on as a substitute for Stefanos Athanasiadis in the 68th minute.

[8] Soon enough, he was established in the starting eleven at Epanomi due to his consistent performances[9] and finished the season with 19 league appearances and 1 goal to his name against Panahaiki, in a home game which ended 6–1.

[17] His first match after the suspension came on 9 January 2014 against Iraklis for the Greek Football Cup where Kaçe came in as a substitute, taking the place of Alexandros Tziolis in the 76th minute.

[28] Eventually, due to player's effort, PAOK after Panathinaikos' improved financial bid for the Albanian international agreed to extent his loan until the summer of 2018-19 season.

[30] On 31 August 2019, the last day of the 2019 summer transfer window, Kace joined Superleague Greece side AEL on loan for the season.

[35] In early 2013, he cast doubt on this claim by refusing to be called up for Albania's friendly against Georgia and applying for Greek naturalization, and stating that he wanted to play for Greece.

[38] He debuted for the first time with Albania senior team on 7 June 2013 against Norway for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification by coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute in place of Emiljano Vila in a 1–1 draw.

[44] Also in the 3 other fixtures valids for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I against Denmark and Serbia in October 2014 and Armenia on 29 March 2015, Kaçe participated from on the bench as the coach Gianni De Biasi played in the starting eleven with other trio of central-midfielders, consisting Burim Kukeli, Taulant Xhaka and Amir Abrashi.

[45] On 13 June 2015 Kaçe scored a free-kick goal to give Albania the 1–0 victory over France in a Group I centralised friendly match.

[53] On 4 September 2013, Kaçe was involved in a political racist scandal after a photo of himself wearing a jersey with the symbol of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) was published on a Facebook page with his name.

[55] According to Albanian media sources, UEFA stated: "Don't mess with the player cause this isn't in your jurisdiction",[56] whereas Albania national football team's Gianni De Biasi spoke to PAOK's chairman Zisis Vryzas, whom he coached as manager of Perugia, and asked to leave the player in peace, blaming a misunderstanding for the situation.

[58] The head of the Albanian Football Association, Armand Duka, sent a letter to UEFA president Michel Platini claiming that the situation had been exaggerated.

Kaçe (in center) in action for Albania in March 2016.