Geoffrey Angelo Rosario Galatà (born 6 March 1984) is a Dutch 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 a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Career

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

to an Italian father and a Dutch mother, Galatà started playing football for local clubs Blauw Wit and AFC. After some years, he joined the

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

youth academy. His professional career started at

Stormvogels Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the ...

, where he made his debut in the 2003–04 season. In the summer of 2008, his contract with Telstar expired and he left on a free to

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbrevia ...

. There, he initially played on an amateur basis, but on 17 November 2008, Galatà signed a professional contract until mid-2009. Three days later, he scored a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

against

AGOVV Apeldoorn AGOVV () is a Dutch association football club based in Apeldoorn. It was established on 25 February 1913. The club played in professional football from 1954 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2013. AGOVV's men's first squad plays in 2024–25 in the Derde ...

. In 2011, Galatà moved to

Sparta Nijkerk Voetbalvereniging Sparta Nijkerk, is an association football club from Nijkerk, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1931, is currently (season 2022–23) playing in the Derde Divisie. History In one of their most notable matches of recent memor ...

and a year later to

Quick Boys Quick Boys (Katwijkse Voetbal Vereniging Quick Boys) is an amateur football club from Katwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The club, established on 1 February 1920, is the second most successful amateur football club in the Netherlands, behind IJsselme ...

. From 2013 to 2016 he played for his former side, AFC. He announced his retirement on 11 May 2016 before a match against

Koninklijke HFC Koninklijke Haarlemsche Football Club (Royal Haarlem Football Club) is a football club based in Haarlem, Netherlands. It is the oldest existing club in Dutch football, founded by Pim Mulier in 1879. During the club's early years, the team only ...

, after suffering a series of knee injuries.

Honours

Club

FC Oss * Topklasse Sunday:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galata, Geoffrey 1984 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Dutch people of Italian descent Blauw-Wit Amsterdam players Amsterdamsche FC players AFC Ajax players SC Telstar players TOP Oss players Sparta Nijkerk players Quick Boys players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players