Đovani Roso (; born 17 November 1972) is a Croatian 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, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Aside from native Croatia, Roso notably played for a number of renowned Israeli clubs, where he became noted for his technique and free kicks.

Club career

Roso played for

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

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 (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

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

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

. His return to

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

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.

International career

He made his debut for

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in a November 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

away against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and earned a total of 19 caps, scoring 1 goal. His final international was a June 2004

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

game against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in Lisbon.

Post-playing career

Roso appeared as the Pit Stop greeter during Leg 3 of '' HaMerotz LaMillion 2'' ( "The Amazing Race: Israel"), which took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In 2015, he participated in the reality TV series "Goalstar". In 2019, he participated and won the reality TV series ''" Survivor VIP"'' that was broadcast on Channel 13 in Israel.

Personal life

Roso speaks fluent

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and is a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

Israeli citizen.

Honours

Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''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 involves clubs of all standards ...

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

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup (, ''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, Ligat Ha'Al; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of the ...

: 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 Footballers from Split, Croatia Croatian people of Italian descent Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players NK Zadar players NK Zagreb players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players HNK Hajduk Split players Croatian Football League players Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Survivor (Israeli TV series) contestants Survivor (franchise) winners Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients