Đovani Roso ( it, Giovanni Rosso, he, ג'ובאני רוסו; born 17 November 1972) is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er, who holds

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

permanent residency Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...

. Played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who preferred to play on the center-right flank of the field. He finished his footballing career at

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. Roso is known in Israel for his technique and free kicks. In the media, his name is often italianized to Giovanni Rosso, due to its origins.

Early and personal life

Roso was born in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Social ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

(now in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

), in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family of seven children, whose grandfather was of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

origin. Roso also speaks fluent

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Roso resides in

with his second wife, an Israeli named Maya Fishel and their son. He also has a daughter from a previous relationship with Croatian sports journalist Mirta Šurjak, as well as a daughter from his first marriage to Morena.

Club career

Roso played for

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian amateur football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of ...

between 1994 and 1996 before moving to Israel. Roso enjoyed great success in the decade. He played for top teams in Israel, including a campaign in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

with

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

. He has been acknowledged as being among the very best foreign players to ever play in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. He is also known for his lively personality and prominent sense of humour. Roso's form in 2004 got him called up for

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, so he played for his birth country at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. It was only later, in 2005, that he finally obtained

. However he could never play for the Israeli national team, since he had already played for Croatia. His return to

was ruined by injuries. He only ended up playing four games in the Croatian first league during this stretch. He retired from club football in June 2009.

Later career

Roso appeared as the Pit Stop greeter during Leg 3 of Israeli reality TV show ''

HaMerotz LaMillion 2 ''HaMerotz LaMillion 2'' is the second season of '' HaMerotz LaMillion'' ( he, המירוץ למיליון, ''lit.'' The Race to the Million), an Israeli reality television game show based on the American series ''The Amazing Race''. The show's se ...

'' ('' The Amazing Race: Israel''), which took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In 2015, he participated in the Israeli docu-reality TV series ''Goalstar''. In 2019, he participated and won the Israeli reality TV show '' Survivor VIP'' (''Hisardut VIP'') that was broadcast on Channel 13. In 2017, he participated along with his wife Maya Fishel in the Israeli reality TV show ''Power Couple VIP'' (''Zug Menatze'ach VIP''). Roso was also used as a football commentator in several Israeli media outlets. He was appointed as a mental trainer for Israeli club

in 2019. As of 2020, Roso and his wife Maya Fishel host an Israeli

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

on Radio Haifa.

Honours

Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

: 1997 Hapoel Haifa * Israeli Championships: 1998–99 Maccabi Haifa * Israeli Championships: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05 *

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League ( Ligat Ha'Al), and the second division Liga Leumit. Fro ...

: 2001–02 Individual *Israeli Player of the Year: 1998–99, 2001–02

References

External links

*
Stats
at Maccabi Haifa {{DEFAULTSORT:Roso, Dovani 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Split, Croatia Croatian footballers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Croatian people of Italian descent Association football midfielders Croatia international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players Croatian First Football League players Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players HNK Hajduk Split players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players NK Zagreb players NK Zadar players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Israel Survivor (Israeli TV series) contestants Survivor (franchise) winners Israeli Christians Israeli Catholics Croatian Christians Croatian Catholics