Laurent Franco Ciman (born 5 August 1985) is a Belgian former 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, rugb ...

who played as a defender. He currently serves as an assistant coach for

CF Montréal CF Montréal is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Montreal Impact (french: Impact de Montréal, links=no ...

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 Cana ...

Club career

Charleroi

Ciman began his career in the youth system of

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

and made his first team debut in 2004. His play with Charleroi attracted the interest of the top Belgian clubs.

Club Brugge

Ciman was transferred from

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in June 2008 and signed a three-year contract for the Belgian team, he was loaned to

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and larg ...

for the 2009–10 season.

Standard Liège

On 16 June 2010, he joined

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

on a four-year contract. Upon joining Standard, Ciman established him as a starter and helped the club capture the 2010–11 Belgian Cup. He made 194 appearances for the club, scoring eight goals, before leaving the club in the winter of 2015.

Montreal Impact

Ciman signed a three-year deal with

club Montreal Impact on 22 January 2015. In his first season with the team, he was named MLS Defender of the Year. In July 2016, he was included in the roster for the

2016 MLS All-Star Game The 2016 Major League Soccer All-Star Game, the 21st annual Major League Soccer All-Star Game, took place on July 28, 2016 (7:30 p.m. EDT, 4:30 p.m. local time) at Avaya Stadium, the home of the San Jose Earthquakes. The game was tele ...

LAFC

On 12 December 2017, Ciman was traded to MLS expansion side

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

in exchange for

Raheem Edwards Raheem Nathaniel Anfernee Edwards (born July 17, 1995) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a left winger or wing-back for LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Club career League1 Ontario In 2014, Edwards joined the new League1 ...

and

Jukka Raitala Jukka Raitala (born 15 September 1988) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays for Veikkausliiga club HJK. He usually plays as a left back in both his club side and the national team but can also operate as a right back or a central def ...

Dijon

On 28 August 2018, Ciman joined

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. ...

club

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

on a two-year contract. The transfer fee paid to LAFC was reported as $500,000. Just 4 months later, Ciman had his contract at Dijon terminated by mutual consent.

Toronto FC

On 27 December 2018, he returned to MLS, signing with

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. Following the 2020 season, Toronto chose not to renew his contract.

International career

Ciman was a member of the Belgian squad which came fourth at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

. Ciman also played for the National U21 side and was called up by national coach

Georges Leekens Georges Leekens (born 18 May 1949) is a Belgian football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of four national teams: the Belgian, Tunisian, Algerian and Hungarian national football teams. He also manage ...

for the friendly match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

on 19 May 2010, during which he made his debut. On 13 May 2014, Ciman was named in Belgium's squad for the 2014 World Cup. He was unused in the tournament, in which Belgium reached the quarter-finals. In the next major tournament,

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

he was also part of the squad. This time, he played in the opening game of the competition, a 2–0 defeat to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In May 2018, he was named as an alternate for Belgium’s

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army d ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Coaching career

On February 24, 2021

announced Ciman as a new assistant coach for the club.

Personal

Ciman is married to Diana and has two children, a daughter named Nina and a son named Achille. His daughter has autism, and he moved to Montreal in 2015, as the city had better supports for his daughter than his native Belgium. He continued to live in the city even while playing for Toronto. In 2020, Ciman obtained Canadian Permanent Residency status, allowing him to be counted as a domestic player for MLS purposes.

Career statistics

International

Source: :''Belgium score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ciman goal.''

Honours

Club Brugge * Bruges Matins: 2009 Standard Liège *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2010-11 Belgian Cup, 2010–11 Montreal Impact *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

: Runner-up 2014–15 Toronto FC *

MLS Eastern Conference The Eastern Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Western Conference. As of 2023, the Eastern Conference contains fifteen teams. The conference has produced sixteen Supporters' Shield champions and ten ML ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

: Runner-up

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* MLS Defender of the Year:

References

External links

Guardian Football
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciman, Laurent 1985 births Living people People from Farciennes Footballers from Hainaut (province) Belgian footballers Association football defenders R. Charleroi S.C. players Club Brugge KV players K.V. Kortrijk players Standard Liège players CF Montréal players Los Angeles FC players Dijon FCO players Toronto FC players Belgian Pro League players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Ligue 1 players Belgium under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers of Belgium Belgium international footballers Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in France Association football coaches CF Montréal non-playing staff