Gianluca Zavarise (born July 28, 1986) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

retired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Club career

Zavarise began his career in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with Roman Tulis European Soccer School of Excellence and won the 2003 School Boy Award for the player of the season. In 2004, he left the Roman Tulis European Soccer School of Excellence to sign for Vancouver Olympics. After one year with Vancouver Olympics he was signed in July 2005 by Italian side

Calcio Montebelluna Calcio Montebelluna is an Italian association football club located in Montebelluna, Veneto. It currently plays in Serie D. History The club was founded in 1919 as ''U.S. Montebellunese''. Serie C2 From the season 1981–82 to 1986–87 i ...

. He played for half a year for

and was signed in February 2007 by

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

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club AC Belluno 1905. He made his first senior appearances for AC Belluno 1905 in the 2007–08 Serie D season. He left Italy and his club AC Belluno 1905 after a half season on January 30, 2008, to sign with German club

VfL Bochum II VfL Bochum II (also known as VfL Bochum Amateure, VfL Bochum U-21 or VfL Bochum U-23) is the reserve team of German football club VfL Bochum. The team has made two appearances in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, in 1984–85 and 2005–06. Sinc ...

. On May 1, 2010

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

confirmed that Zavarise had left the team at the end of the season. After the end of his contract with

he joined

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

club Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. On January 28, 2011

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

verified that Zavarise was one of three Canada national team trialists that were traveling to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

for preseason. On March 11, 2011 Toronto officially announced the signing of Zavarise. Zavarise made his debut for the team as a second half sub on March 19, 2011 against

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

, in which was the first all Canadian match-up in the league. Gianluca assisted

Maicon Santos Maicon dos Santos Corrêa (born 18 April 1984) is a retired Brazilian footballer who last played as a forward for Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the North American Soccer League. Career Maicon started his career at Madureira, where he was award ...

in the 74th minute, the game ended as a 4–2 away defeat for Toronto. Zavarise was waived by Toronto on November 23, 2011.

International career

Zavarise earned his first call-up for

on May 14, 2010 for the friendlies against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on May 24, 2010 and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

on May 29, 2010. He did not make an appearance against Argentina but did start in the 1–1 draw versus Venezuela.

Honours

Toronto FC

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

(1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zavarise, Gianluca 1986 births Living people Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players VfL Bochum II players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Toronto FC players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Soccer players from Burnaby Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece AC Belluno 1905 players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Calcio Montebelluna players Canada men's international soccer players Major League Soccer players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen