Meirav Shamir (; born 18 January 1988) is an Israeli-American

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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. She has been a member of the Israel national team.

Early life

Shamir was born in

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. She grew up in the city of

, until her

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

moved with her to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

when she was two years old. Shamir started playing soccer when she was just four years old and as a young child her dream was "to play soccer collegiately and eventually play for the national team."

Club career

After competing with the United States side at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games (), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Poli ...

, Shamir was approached by the staff of the national team about joining them in their campaign to qualify for the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

. Shamir subsequently left

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

to join the national team and complete her degree at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

while playing for ASA Tel Aviv domestically. After 3 years in ASA Tel Aviv, taking three top league Championships and Israeli Cup, Shamir joined

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

of the Eredivisie (First League) in the Netherlands. After a successful two seasons with Telstar, Shamir made the move to Germany and signed with the 2nd Bundesliga club, 1. FC Lübars, also known as the club Hertha BSC. By FC Lübars, Shamir had a successful season. Her first 10 games, Shamir kept the 0, beating

Manuel Neuer Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for and captain (association football), captains club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munic ...

's record with most

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

without conceding a goal. She finished the season with 15 clean sheets in 20 games, and helping Lübars finish in first place and win the league. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, FC Lübars could not move up to the first league. Shamir signed with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

for the 2015–16. MSV also competes in the 2nd Bundesliga after being relegated from the 1st Bundesliga after the 2014–15 season.

International career

Shamir made her Israel national team debut in a 1–0 win on 24 October 2009 in a 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying match against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Ness Ziona Ness Ziona (, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a city in Central District (Israel), Central District, Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams (). Identification Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of the Arab ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile on the ASA Tel Aviv website (Hebrew)

1988 births Living people Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli women's footballers Jewish footballers Footballers from Netanya Women's association football goalkeepers Israel women's international footballers Ligat Nashim players Eredivisie (women) players 2. Frauen-Bundesliga players ASA Tel Aviv University players SC Telstar VVNH players MSV Duisburg (women) players Israeli emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States American women's soccer players Boston College Eagles women's soccer players Jewish American soccer players Maccabiah Games competitors for the United States Israeli expatriate women's footballers American expatriate women's soccer players Israeli expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate women's footballers in the Netherlands Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate women's soccer players in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Israeli sportswomen {{Israel-women-footy-bio-stub