Ofir Marciano

Ofir Meir Marciano (or Martziano,[1][2] Hebrew: אופיר מרציאנו‎; born 7 October 1989)[3] is an Israeli footballer, who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian and the Israel national team. Marciano has also played for Ashdod and Royal Excel Mouscron.

Ofir Marciano

Marciano playing for Israel in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Ofir Meir Marciano
Date of birth	7 October 1989
Place of birth	Ashdod, Israel
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Hibernian
Number	1
Youth career
1999–2008	Ashdod
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2017	Ashdod	139	(0)
2015–2016	→ Royal Excel Mouscron (loan)	6	(0)
2016–2017	→ Hibernian (loan)	21	(0)
2017–	Hibernian	95	(0)
National team^‡
2014–	Israel	20	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:50, 2 February 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:08, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Early life

Marciano was born in Ashdod, Israel, to a Sephardic Jewish family.[4][5]

Career

Club career

Marciano signed for Ashdod in 2008, and made over 120 league appearances for the Israeli club. On 7 July 2015, he signed a season-long loan deal with Belgian club Royal Excel Mouscron.[6]

In August 2016, he signed for Scottish club Hibernian on loan for the 2016–17 season,[7] although red tape held up his eligibility to play for the club.[8] Marciano said that he was sold on the move by fellow Israeli Nir Bitton, who plays for Celtic.[9] Following a three-week delay, it was announced on 26 August that Marciano had obtained his work permit after passing an English test.[10] He made his debut for the club on the following day, in a 4–0 win against Greenock Morton.[11] Marciano made 21 league appearances as Hibernian won the 2016–17 Scottish Championship, earning promotion to the Scottish Premiership.[12]

In June 2017, he signed a four-year deal with Hibernian.[13] Marciano was replaced in the team by Ross Laidlaw in September, missing one game due to observing Yom Kippur.[14] Marciano regained his place, but in June 2018 he underwent surgery on a finger injury.[15][16] This caused him to miss matches early in the 2018–19 season, which led to Hibs signing Hungarian goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.[15] Marciano resumed training in October 2018 and subsequently regained the starting position with Hibs.[17]

Chris Maxwell replaced Marciano as first choice early in the 2019–20 season,[18] but the Israeli regained his place during December 2019.[19]

International career

He made his international debut on 10 October 2014, as Israel won 2–1 against Cyprus in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.[20] Marciano was recalled to the Israel squad in November 2016,[21] but had to withdraw after suffering a knee injury in training.[22] He played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Spain in March 2017, but was at fault for the second goal of a 4–1 defeat.[23] Marciano was recalled to the national squad in March 2019,[17] and played in their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches in October.[18]

Personal life

Marciano is married to Israeli model Shelly Marciano (née Regev). They reside in Musselburgh, Scotland[24] and have a son named Sun.[25]

Career statistics

Club

As of 2 February 2021[26]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Ashdod	2009–10[27]	Israeli Premier League	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
	2010–11[27]	Israeli Premier League	9	0	—		—		—		9	0
	2011–12[27]	Israeli Premier League	35	0	—		—		—		35	0
	2012–13[27]	Israeli Premier League	32	0	—		3	0	—		35	0
	2013–14[27]	Israeli Premier League	28	0	1	0	—		—		29	0
	2014–15[27]	Israeli Premier League	33	0	2	0	5	0	—		40	0
	Total		139	0	3	0	8	0	0	0	150	0
Royal Excel Mouscron	2015–17[27]	Pro League	6	0	—		—		—		6	0
Hibernian (loan)	2016–17[28]	Scottish Championship	21	0	5	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	28	0
Hibernian	2017–18[29]	Scottish Premiership	34	0	1	0	4	0	—		39	0
	2018–19[30]	Scottish Premiership	20	0	3	0	0	0	—		23	0
	2019–20[31][note 1]	Scottish Premiership	19	0	5	0	2	0	—		26	0
	2020–21[32][note 1]	Scottish Premiership	22	0	0	0	3	0	—		25	0
	Total		95	0	9	0	9	0	0	0	113	0
Career total			260	0	17	0	17	0	2	0	296	0

1. Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup

International

Israel national team[33]
Year	Apps	Goals
2014	3	0
2015	7	0
2017	1	0
2019	4	0
2020	5	0
Total	20	0

Honours

Hibernian

• Scottish Championship: 2016–17[12]

Notes

1. One appearance in the 2019–20 Scottish Cup was in a match delayed until October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. http://www.playmakerstats.com/player.php?id=124997
2. http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/bio/_/id/193720/ofir-martziano
3. "Israeli Sports", Jewish Sports Review, Vol. 9, No. 11, Issue 107, p. 21, January/February 2015.
4. https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/sport/football/celtic-hibs-ofir-marciano-nir-15774917
5. https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/sport/football/ofir-marciano-turned-down-big-16178858
6. "New Ligioner: Marciano signed to Mouscron-Péruwelz". One. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
7. Temple, Alan (3 August 2016). "Hibs snap up Israel international goalkeeper Ofir Marciano ahead of Championship curtain-raiser". Deadline News. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
8. Hardie, David (16 August 2016). "Ross Laidlaw: I won't give up Hibs gloves without a fight". Edinburgh Evening News. Johnston Press. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
9. Haggerty, Anthony (27 August 2016). "Hibs stopper Ofir Marciano: Celtic star Nir Bitton sold me on a move to Scotland". Daily Record. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
10. Johnstone, Darren (26 August 2016). "Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano passes English test - but admits he cannot understand his team-mates". Deadline News. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
11. Mitchell, Paul (27 August 2016). "Hibernian 4-0 Greenock Morton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
12. "Hibernian 3–0 Queen of the South". BBC Sport. 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
13. "MARCIANO JOINS ON PERMANENT DEAL". www.hibernianfc.co.uk.
14. Davie, Scott (23 September 2017). "Ross County 0–1 Hibernian". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
15. Hardie, David (14 July 2018). "Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano facing another month out of action". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
16. Hardie, David (15 August 2018). "Ofir Marciano played through pain as Hibs chased Europa spot". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
17. McPartlin, Patrick (13 March 2019). "Ofir Marciano named in Israel squad for Euro 2020 qualifiers". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
18. McPartlin, Patrick (16 October 2019). "Ofir Marciano speaks to Israeli media on losing No.1 spot at Hibs". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
19. Brown, Anthony (12 December 2019). "Hibs' curious case of the three goalkeepers - who will take the No.1 spot long-term?". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
20. "Cyprus 1-2 Israel". European Football. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
21. Pilcher, Ross (7 November 2016). "Hibs' Ofir Marciano to miss Falkirk clash due to Israel call". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
22. Brown, Anthony (10 November 2016). "Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano sent for MRI scan after knee injury". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
23. Bell, Arch (24 March 2017). "Spain continue the reconquest". Marca. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
24. "Supermodel wife of Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano has fallen in love with Edinburgh". Edinburgh Evening News. 4 December 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
25. Revev Marciano, Shelly (9 June 2017). "MODEL❤️️ SHELLY REGEV MARCIANO on Instagram: "Feeling blessed 👼🏻It's a BOY 💙🙌🏻"". Instagram. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
26. Ofir Marciano at Soccerbase
27. Ofir Marciano at Soccerway. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
28. "Games played by Ofir Marciano in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
29. "Games played by Ofir Marciano in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
30. "Games played by Ofir Marciano in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
31. "Games played by Ofir Marciano in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
32. "Games played by Ofir Marciano in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
33. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Ofir Martziano". www.national-football-teams.com.