The AC Milan sporting director Igli Tare spoke to Grida Duma for "Top Story," a program in which he revisited parts of his life, from leaving Albania to his years in Italy, first as a player and later as a director:
"I felt I would move from being a player to a coach, just as I felt during the communist era with my schoolmates, when we used to sit in 'Parku Rinia' and I always told them that one day they would see me in Serie A, in the Italian league. They always said I was crazy and didn’t believe me. Fifteen years later, I ran into a friend by chance who reminded me of this. I believe if you have a dream, you must fight for it and make it happen. I have a phrase I always use: 'What is the end for others is only the beginning for me.'"
What led you to leave Albania? Tare answered:
"The ideas of the 1990s. My desire to try my career outside Albania was… Perhaps over the years, it was a wrong choice, perhaps I took the longer path, because I could have had the best career in the national team."
How did you leave Albania?
"I went to Greece the first year. It was an experience full of ups and downs. I had the chance to see both the positives and negatives of the country I went to. The wild and ugly period of racist views toward Albanians. That is why I later chose to go to Germany, to enter the world of football. My adaptation was traumatic, I had no one, I was starting everything from scratch, or even from zero. With my bag on my shoulder, I went looking for a team where I could try out and they would give me a chance. I went one afternoon, in February or March, asked to train with them, and they told me I could stay. They even found me work."
Is it true that for the first 2-3 weeks of work you were ashamed and covered yourself to avoid being seen? Tare commented:
"I worked as a gardener. At first, I was very ashamed. The first two weeks in Germany, I thought if anyone recognized me, I would hide, I kept my eyes open only because I thought if someone looked at me, they would say, 'This is how he went from player to gardener.' We cleaned with the team, my colleagues, the work group, parks, flowers, trees. But after 2-3 weeks, I lived with pride, because I was doing nothing wrong except surviving and having a financial opportunity to help my family. That is the only job I did, I worked for six months, then I left and had the chance to try out for a big team in Germany at that time."
