Lawrence Ati-Zigi (born 29 November 1996) is a Ghanaian 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

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

and the Ghana national team. Ati-Zigi has represented Ghana at under-17 and

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

levels. He has been to two

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

(2019 and 2021) but featured in none. He made his debut for the Ghana national team in June 2018 in a friendly against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He was the starting goalkeeper in Ghana's

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

campaign.

Club career

Liefering

In January 2015, Ati-Zigi joined Red Bull Salzburg from Ghanaian feeder club

Red Bull Ghana Red Bull Ghana was a Ghanaian professional football club and academy based in Sogakope, South Tongu District, Ghana, which was founded in 2008 and abolished in 2014. The club was owned by Red Bull and last played in Division One League Zone 3B ...

. Ati-Zigi was immediately loaned out to

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

FC Liefering who play in the Austria 2. Liga. He joined other Ghanaian players including David Atanga and

Raphael Dwamena Raphael Dwamena (born 12 September 1995) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Austrian club Blau-Weiß Linz. Playing career Early years Born in Nkawkaw, Dwamena played and trained with the Red Bull Ghana developmen ...

.Ati-Zigi made his league debut for Liefering on 17 April 2015, when his club beat

TSV Hartberg TSV Hartberg, known as TSV Egger Glass Hartberg for sponsorship purposes, is an Austrian association football club based in Hartberg, founded in 1946, which is currently playing in the Austrian Bundesliga. History The club was founded on 29 Ap ...

4–1 at

Untersberg-Arena Untersberg-Arena is a football stadium in Grödig, Austria. It is home to SV Grödig and FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Austrian association football club, originally from Liefering, a section of Salzburg Salzburg (, ; liter ...

. After his debut, he went ahead to play in six consecutive league matches. At the end of his first season, he played six league matches with Liefering finishing in second place in the

2014–15 Austrian Football First League The 2014–15 Austrian Football First League was the 41st season of the Austrian second-level football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

. The following season, he featured in 16 out of 36 games as the club finished in fourth place in the

2015–16 Austrian Football First League The 2015–16 Austrian Football First League (German: ''Erste Liga'', also known as ''Sky Go Erste Liga'' due to sponsorship) was the 42nd season of the Austrian second-level football league. It began on 24 July 2015 and ended on 25 May 2016. Tea ...

. He also made the Red Bull Salzburg match day squad twice, due to that earned a medal as Salzburg won the

2015–16 Austrian Football Bundesliga The 2015–16 Austrian Football Bundesliga was the 104th season of top-tier football in Austria. Red Bull Salzburg were the defending champions. Division The Bundesliga is the highest division in Austrian football. Which took place in the 201 ...

. In his final season with Liefering, he played in 11 games to help the club secure a second place finish in the

2016–17 Austrian Football First League The 2016–17 Austrian Football First League (German: ''Erste Liga'', also known as ''Sky Go Erste Liga'' due to sponsorship) was the 43rd season of the Austrian second-level football league. It began on 22 July 2016 and ended on 26 May 2017. The ...

. In total he featured in 33 matches for Liefering in this two year stint.

Sochaux

In July 2017, Ati-Zigi joined French team

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Frenc ...

on a three-year deal reuniting with his former coach

Peter Zeidler Peter Zeidler (born 8 August 1962) is a German football manager who manages Swiss club St. Gallen. Coaching career Zeidler started his coaching career with VfR Aalen in 2002 and was appointed manager of 1. FC Nürnberg II three years later. Follo ...

from Liefering and Red Bull Salzburg. He made his club debut in the first round of the in a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

on 8 August 2017 against

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

which ended in a 3–1 loss. Over the season, he remained as the second choice goalkeeper behind Maxence Prévot being named in the match day squad for the 24 consecutive times. On 9 February 2019, seven months after signing for the club, he made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

debut against

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 58th minute for Prévot who sustained an injury; Ati-Zigi conceded two goals as Souchaux lost 3–0. Afterwards he kept the post for the next five league matches, keeping a clean sheet in one. At the end of his first season with Montbéliard side he had made 12 appearances. Out of the 12 appearances, four of those were in Coupe de France, for which he was the main goalkeeper. He helped the club to reach the round of 16 after three victories in the early stages, including saving a penalty in their 5–4 penalty shootout in the first round against

FC Saint-Louis Neuweg Football Club de Saint-Louis Neuweg is a French association football club founded in 1990. It is based in the town of Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin Saint-Louis (; gsw-FR, Sä-Louis; german: Sankt Ludwig) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in ...

and keeping a clean sheet in their round of 32 match against

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

which ended in 6–0. They were eliminated in the round of 16, after losing to defending champions PSG by 4–1. In the 2018–19 season, Ati-Zigi remained the second choice goalkeeper behind Prévot. He played his first league match of the season on 22 December 2018, keeping a clean sheet in their 1–0 over Lorient.

St. Gallen

On 16 January 2020, Ati-Zigi joined Swiss-club

on a two and half-year deal with his contract set to expire in June 2023. Ati-Zigi made his debut for the club against FC Lugano in a

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

match on 26 January, helping the club to a 3–1 victory. On 26 October 2020, in a league match against Lugano, Ati-Zigi was subjected to intense racist chants from the opponent's fan base. After the match, Lugano issued a statement and apology via social media to St. Gallen and Ati-Zigi stating – “We would like to apologize to FC St. Gallen and the player. There must be no place for racism. The club will do its best to find those responsible." On 14 September 2022, St. Gallen announced that Ati-Zigi had signed a new two-year contract that will keep him at the Swiss club until 2025. On 25 October 2022, Ati-Zigi played his 100th Swiss Super League match, in a 1–1 draw against Servette. Prior to that he had played his 100th match in all competitions against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

on 10 September.

International career

Ati-Zigi was a member of the Ghana national under-17 team in 2013 and he played for the team in the

2013 African U-17 Championship The 2013 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Morocco from 13 to 27 April. The top four teams qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Quali ...

. In 2015, he was promoted to the Ghana under-20 side. He earned a place in the final squad for the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. He started in all four games as Ghana was eliminated by

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

in the round of 16. On 23 August 2017, Ati-Zigi received his first call-up to the Ghana senior national team for the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

games against

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

on 1 and 5 September 2017. On 7 June 2018, Ati-Zigi made his senior national team debut for Ghana, starting and playing 90 minutes in a friendly match against

that ended in a 2–2 draw. Ati-Zigi was part of the Ghanaian team in the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

that was eliminated at the group stage of the competition. On 14 November 2022, Ati-Zigi was named in the 26-man squad for the

. Following injuries to Ghana's first and second choice goalkeepers, Joe Wollacott and Richard Ofori, with both missing out on the competition, he was set to be the first choice goalkeeper for the Black Stars. On 17 November, he manned the post for the Black Stars and kept a clean sheet in their 2–0 pre-world cup friendly match against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The start was his first start in over a year. On 24 November 2022, he made his world cup debut and started in Ghana’s opening group match of World Cup against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

which ended in a 3–2 loss to Ghana. In the season group game against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Ati-Zigi played the full time of the match and made several crucial saves which secured Ghana's first win at the 2022 World Cup by winning 3–2. His performance earned him positive reviews, ratings and commendations from football fans across the world.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 2015–16 St. Gallen *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

runners-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 Individual *

Player of the Round: (

Round 14 Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

, Round 23)

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season *

Player of the Month: November 2022 *

Best Player First Half of the season:

Team of the Season: 2022-23

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ati-Zigi, Lawrence 1996 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Ghana men's international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2. Liga (Austria) players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players FC Red Bull Salzburg players FC Liefering players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players FC St. Gallen players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 2022 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Tamale, Ghana 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players