Zurab Tsiskaridze (born 8 September 1986 in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

) is a Georgian

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 for

Vasalunds IF Vasalunds IF is a Swedish football club based in Solna, Stockholm. The club is affiliated with Stockholms Fotbollförbund. History Vasalund was formed in 1934 and play in the Swedish Third Division: Division 1 Norra. In 2002 the club merged with ...

Early life

Tsiskaridze was born in the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

prior to the breakup of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1991. During early childhood, he moved to Poland where he lived for 10 years in the city of Warsaw with his family. Later on he moved around the globe pursuing his professional career.

Career

Youth

He began his career 2004 in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

with the U-20 team with

Limeira Limeira is a city in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population is 308,482 (2020 est.) in an area of 581 km2. The elevation is 588 m. It is 154 km from São Paulo, the state capital, and 1011 km from ...

based club Associação Atlética Internacional and played then the first six months in 2005 with the U-20 side of Grêmio Recreativo Barueri. He earned himself a tryout with

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

before his senior year of high school, but was not offered a contract by the team, who advised him to play

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

. Instead, Tsiskaridze left school to pursue a professional soccer career, travelling to Brazil and France, among other countries.

Professional

Tsiskaridze spent time with the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and ...

reserves in 2007, but when offered the minimum salary contract, he decided to pursue his dream of playing in Europe. He spent eighteen months with the reserve and first team of

FC Sète FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

, and in 2008 played seven games in the French third division

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

. Tsiskaridze was signed by

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

side

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

in April 2009, after impressing Zinho and the coaching staff during an open tryout. Tsiskaridze had traveled all the way from France for the event. He played 18 games and scored one goal for Miami in his first season in the league. On 2 December 2009, he signed a one-year contract with

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

. On 19 October 2010, the Vancouver Whitecaps released Tsiskaridze, along with five fellow players, citing their need to purge certain players in preparation for their upcoming promotion to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. On 17 February 2011, he signed a new contract with Montreal Impact for the last season of the club in NASL, before the entry of the Impact in the MLS in 2012. After spending a season in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

he signed a short-term contract with Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

club

Jönköpings Södra IF Jönköpings Södra IF, also known as J-Södra IF, J-Södra or simply Jönköping, is a Swedish football club based in Jönköping. The club, founded in 1922, returned to the Swedish second division Superettan in 2018 after relegation from the 2 ...

in the summer of 2012. At the end of the season he extended his contract for one more year.

Personal life

He speaks 7 languages, and ironically,

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

isn't one of them, as he barely speaks it. He speaks

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, which he learnt from his stepdad;

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

;

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

;

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

;

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

; and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. His mother was a ballerina, while his father was an opera singer. He is relatives with the ballet dancer

Nikolay Tsiskaridze Nikolay Maximovich Tsiskaridze PAR (russian: Николай Максимович Цискаридзе; ka, ნიკოლოზ ცისკარიძე, ''Nik'oloz Cisk'aridze'') is a Georgian-Russian ballet dancer who had been a member of ...

. During the

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

, he moved to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

with his mum and stepdad, while his biological father moved to the United States. Later, he moved to live with his biological father, and graduated school in American.

Career stats

References

External links

*
Miami FC bio (miamifc.com)
*
Zurab Tsiskaridze
at Fotbolltransfers.com
Zurab Tsiskaridze
at Eurosport.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsiskaridze, Zourab 1986 births Living people Footballers from Tbilisi Footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate footballers from Georgia (country) American soccer players American expatriate soccer players Association football defenders Georgia (country) international footballers Soccer players from Virginia Legia Warsaw players Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira) players Grêmio Barueri Futebol players FC Sète 34 players Miami FC (2006) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Al-Hazem F.C. players Al-Jabalain FC players FC Amkar Perm players Jönköpings Södra IF players Zurab Tsiskaridze San Antonio Scorpions players FK Teplice players AFC Eskilstuna players Rovaniemen Palloseura players Vasalunds IF players Zurab Tsiskaridze USL First Division players Saudi Professional League players Saudi First Division League players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League players Czech First League players Allsvenskan players Russian Premier League players Superettan players Veikkausliiga players Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in the Czech Republic Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in France Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in the United States Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Poland Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Russia Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Finland Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Sweden Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Finland Expatriate footballers in Sweden