Gianfranco Gazzaniga Farías (born 22 November 1993) is an Argentine

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 Spanish club

Real Murcia CF Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Region of Murcia, Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF, Prime ...

. Despite being born in Ecuador, he also holds Argentine nationality.

Club career

Born in

Sucre Sucre () is the Capital city, capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the List of cities in Bolivia, 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . T ...

as his father was representing

Deportivo Cuenca Club Deportivo Cuenca is an Ecuadorian football club based in Cuenca. They currently play in the Serie A, the top-flight football league in the country, and is one of two clubs from Cuenca to have played in the top-flight (the other being LDU ...

, Gazzaniga moved to Spain in 2007, joining

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

's youth setup. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 9 October 2011, starting in a 2–1

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

away win against

CD Badajoz Club Deportivo Badajoz is a Spanish football team based in Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1905 and refounded in 2012, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, and holds home games at ''Estadio Nu ...

. Gazzaniga subsequently became a regular starter for Almería's B-side before leaving the club on 21 June 2017 and signing for fellow third division side

CD El Ejido Club Polideportivo El Ejido 1969 is a Spanish football club based in El Ejido, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1989 under the name of El Ejido Fútbol Sala (was only a futsal club until 2012), it currently plays in Segunda D ...

. On 9 July of the following year, he moved to

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

in the same category. Gazzaniga contributed with 20 appearances during the 2018–19 season, as his side returned to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

after three years. On 15 July 2019, he renewed his contract with ''Ponfe''. Initially a third-choice behind José Antonio Caro and Manu García, he made his professional debut on 14 January 2020 by starting in a 0–1 away loss against

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

. On 15 June 2021,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Gazzaniga signed for

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

side

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadi ...

. He was a first-choice as the club achieved promotion to the second division, but spent the 2023–24 season as a backup to Ander Cantero. On 28 June 2024, Gazzaniga agreed to a deal with

in the third division.

Personal life

Gazzaniga comes from a family of goalkeepers: his father

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

played professionally in Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia, while his older brother

Paulo Paulo is a Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, and Italian masculine given name equivalent to English Paul. Notable people with the name include: * Paulo Jr. * Paulo Jr. (footballer) *Paulo Almeida, Brazilian footballer *Paulo André Cren Benini (born 19 ...

built his career in England.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazzaniga, Gianfranco 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Sucre Argentine men's footballers Ecuadorian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Segunda División players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players UD Almería B players SD Ponferradina players Racing de Ferrol footballers Real Murcia CF players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain