“I changed a jersey with Eric Cantona, and then you wake up in a refugee camp,” Rudi Vata

Rudi Vata, the Albanian defender who played at Celtic under Liam Brady, Lou Macari and Tommy Burns across the early 1990s has revealed the incredible story of the night he became a refugee immediately after sharing a pitch with Eric Cantona, Jean Pieree Papin and Didier Deschamps.

“48 hours after playing in the Parc Des Princes against all those big stars – Deschamps, Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Platini – I changed a jersey with Eric Cantona, and then you wake up in a refugee camp, and you’re classified the same as any other refugee.

You don’t get any special treatment. You get the same food, the same kind of bed. The rules and regulations are the same for everybody.”

At 22 years of age others in a similar situation would perhaps see that as an end to a fledgeling football career but Vata always had a belief that he would make a career in the game.

“I never thought for one moment that I wasn’t going to make it. I could see I was thousands of miles away from making it, but somehow deep inside me I knew with my work, with my dedication, with my mentality I’m going to make it, and the opportunity will come.”

That opportunity came after then Celtic boss Liam Brady spotted Rudi Vata playing for his country against the Republic of Ireland in May 1992 and decided to bring him to Glasgow.

It was a dream move for Vata, but it didn’t come without its challenges.

“It was tough, but for me it was important to learn about Celtic, and the best people to tell you about Celtic were the Scottish boys. Paul McStay Peter Grant, John Collins, Joe Miller, Charlie Nicholas.

I was lucky in that aspect as I was hungry to know about the mentality of Celtic, and the mentality of winning, because I wanted to become a winner myself. So I learned a lot, which was very important to me at the time. That connection with the club was very natural.”

Rudi Vata was speaking with Tino at The Celtic Exchange Podcast on the release of his biography “Football, Freedom and Paradise!”, co-written with Gerard McDade.