Franco Israel Wibmer (born 22 April 2000) is a Uruguayan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club Sporting CP and the Uruguay national team.

Early life

Israel was born on 22 April 2000 in Nueva Helvecia, Colonia to a family of

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descent. He has one older brother named Alec, whom he lived with during his tenure with

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

. During his youth, Israel played basketball and football as a child, before opting for the latter, when the games of the two teams he represented began being scheduled on the same day. Along with his native Uruguayan passport, Israel also holds an Italian passport.

Club career

Early career

Israel started his football career in the youth ranks of local club Artesano, before joining Nacional's youth setup in 2016, moving subsequently to the city of

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. Having impressed in Nacional's

2018 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2018 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores ( es, Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20 2018) was the 4th edition of the U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''U-20 Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier under-20 club football ...

campaign, which they won, Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

decided to sign him on 17 August 2018, on a five-year deal for a transfer worth €2.2 million. He made his professional debut on 28 September 2020 in

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Giusepp ...

's 2–1 league win against

Pro Sesto Pro Sesto 1913 S.r.l. (formerly ''Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Nuova Pro Sesto'' and initially ''Associazione Calcio Pro Sesto'') is an association football club, based in Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy, Italy. Pro Sesto currently plays ...

. On 24 November,

the first team The First Team were the first players known to have played the sport of basketball, having been taught the game in 1891 by James Naismith, who is recognized as the inventor of the sport. The team comprised 18 players who were studying in Springf ...

's squad

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called up Israel for a

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match against Ferencváros; he was eventually called up three other times in the 2020–21 season.

Sporting CP

On 5 July 2022, Israel signed a five-year contract with Portuguese club Sporting CP for a fee of €650,000 for 60% of his economic rights. He made his competitive debut for club, on 4 October, in a Champions League away match against

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, where he replaced

Marcus Edwards Marcus Edwards (born 3 December 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. Born in England to an English father and a Greek Cypriot mother, he began his senior ...

early into first half, after starting goalkeeper

Antonio Adán Antonio Adán Garrido (; born 13 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. A youth product of Real Madrid, where he acted mainly as a backup, he spent most of his career with ...

was sent off; he conceded two goals as the match ended in a 4–1 loss. In the reverse fixture a week later, Israel made his first start, featuring in the 2–0 home loss against the same opponent.

International career

Israel is a former Uruguay youth international. He has represented Uruguay at several tournaments including the

2019 South American U-20 Championship The 2019 South American U-20 Championship was the 29th edition of the South American U-20 Championship ( es, CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-20, pt, CONMEBOL Sul-Americano Sub-20), the biennial international youth football championship organised by C ...

and

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

. In June 2023, Israel received his first call-up to the senior team for

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matches against

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and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. He made his debut on 14 June in a 4–1 win against Nicaragua.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Nacional U20 *

U-20 Copa Libertadores The Under-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (Portuguese and Spanish: CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20) is the international association football club competition for teams that play in CONMEBOL leagues. It was created by Manuel Burga Seoane and the Peruvian ...

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Uruguay U20 *

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nati ...

silver medal:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Israel, Franco 2000 births Living people People from Nueva Helvecia Footballers from Colonia Department Men's association football goalkeepers Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguayan people of German descent Uruguayan sportspeople of Italian descent Serie C players Primeira Liga players Juventus Next Gen players Sporting CP footballers South American Games silver medalists for Uruguay South American Games medalists in football Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal