Cana played in the top divisions of France, England, Italy and Turkey, representing Paris Saint-Germain, Sunderland, Galatasaray, Lazio, FC Nantes and Olympique de Marseille as well as the Albania national team for which he held the appearance record for Albania's most capped player of all time, with 93 caps since he made his debut in 2003 until his retirement in 2016.

[1] He began his senior club career playing for Paris Saint-Germain, before signing with rivals Olympique de Marseille in 2004 whom he went on to captain.

Cana had previously been invited to Arsenal in 2000 at the age of 16 for a trial, but failed to attend because he was denied a British visa.

On 19 April Cana made his senior team debut against Nantes playing the full 90-minutes match and provided an assist for the only goal of his side which served to take a 1–1 draw.

[7] During the 2003–04 season, he established himself as a starter under coach Vahid Halilhodžić and was associated with another young defensive midfielder, Modeste M'bami.

Marseille recorded 60 league points, an improvement on previous seasons and finished 5th in rank granting a place in the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

They only drew one more match, and in a winner-takes-all final group game they lost 4–0 to Liverpool, coming third in the Champions League Group A table,[11] thus qualifying for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup final phase, in which Marseille passed the third round with Cana playing the full 90-minutes in both legs against Spartak Moscow.

[12] Similar to his previous 2 years at Marseille, Cana began the new season under new management as the club was now being led by the Belgian Eric Gerets.

[22] His first score-sheet contributions came on his 7th Lazio appearance later on 10 December versus Lecce, netting the second of the match only one minute after coming on in an eventual 2–3 away win.

[24] Cana hit form following the return, winning a place in the starting lineup, also thanks to Lazio's players being haunted with injuries and suspensions.

[26] On 23 February 2013, Cana made a great performance in the 2012–13 Europa League round of 16 2–0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach which earned him a place at UEFA's best XI of the week.

He also made 5 cup appearances, including the final as Lazio beat city rivals Roma to win the trophy for the 6th time.

[30] Cana scored his second of the campaign later on 2 March 2014, an early goal via a bicycle kick, as Lazio won 1–0 at Fiorentina.

[32] Cana struggled for minutes in the 2014–15 season due to rivality with newly signed defenders Stefan de Vrij and Santiago Gentiletti.

After four years in Italy with Lazio, on 31 August 2015, Cana returned to the French Ligue 1, signing a two-year contract with Nantes.

[2] His choice was Albania and joined the team in early 2003 after receiving the Albanian cititzenship[41] and subsequently an invitation by then coach Hans-Peter Briegel.

Cana's international debut occurred on 11 June 2003 at the age of 19, appearing as a substitute in the Euro 2004 qualifying match versus Switzerland, finished in a 3–2 away loss.

[43] Cana was switched to centre-back in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification due to absence Geri Çipi.

He was a regular starter under Hans-Peter Briegel and performed well, missing only matchday 8 against Georgia due to the yellow card suspension, despite Albania finishing 5th in Group 2.

Cana returned to the field on 17 November in the match against Belarus where he provided an assist for Erjon Bogdani's temporary equaliser.

Cana continued to be a regular starter in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, collecting 720 minutes from 8 matches as Albania finished Group 1 in 5th place, leaving behind only Malta.

[54] After the end of the Euro 2012 qualification campaign in October 2011, Altin Lala and Ervin Skela retired from international football, thus making Cana the regular captain of Albania.

[59][60] Cana was included in the best XI of the players that missed out at the 2014 FIFA World Cup final stages because of failing to qualify with their national team.

[61] Cana started the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign by playing the full 90 minutes[62] in an historical 1–0 away victory against Portugal.

[65] The fan had previously hit Bekim Balaj with a chair, bit Cana's finger and tried to cut it with his teeth.

[66] After the match, Cana, along with Taulant Xhaka, were declared honorary citizens from the mayor of the city of Mitrovica, Kosovo, for the bravery shown in protecting national symbols.

[68] In the last qualifying match versus Armenia, Albania had only one way to secure direct qualification and that was to win at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium.

He was booked early on for a foul on Blerim Džemaili before becoming the first player to be sent off in the tournament just before half-time, receiving his marching orders after handling the ball outside the box.

[74] He got returned to play as a substitute for Migjen Basha in the 83rd minute against Romania in an Albania's historical 1–0 win with a goal scored by Armando Sadiku.

[80][82] In an interview, Cana stated that archeology is one of his biggest interests and that he plans to work in the Albanology field after his footballing career after pursuing a university degree in history.