Moldovan *ociation footballer (born 1987)

Artiom Gai*vici (born 22 April 1987) is a Moldovan *ociation footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Gai*vici has played for three clubs in Moldova as well as being capped by the Moldova national football team on six occasions. He has been described as Moldova's "most promising young goalkeeper". In December 2011, Gai*vici was also voted Moldova's best goalkeeper of 2011.

Contents

• 1 Club career
  • 1.1 Zimbru Chisinau
  • 1.2 FC Iskra-Stal
  • 1.3 Dacia Chişinău
• 2 International career
• 3 References

Club career

Zimbru Chisinau

Artiom began his career at Zimbru Chisinau in the 2005–06 season. Zimbru finished in second place in the Moldovan National Division in his first season in senior football, with Gai*vici playing in two of their twenty-eight league games. This lack of first-team action prompted the goalkeeper to move to FC Iskra-Stal, who had just been promoted from the Moldovan "A" Division. Gai*vici hoped that he would stand a better chance of becoming the club's first-choice goalkeeper than at Zimbru.

FC Iskra-Stal

FC Iskra-Stal finished in ninth place in the Moldovan National Division in 2006–07 season, but Gai*vici played a peripheral role. He made more of an impact in his second season at Iskra-Stal, 2007–08, making twelve appearances as the club finished in an improved sixth place. In 2008–09 both Gai*vici and Iskra-Stal improved again, with the goalkeeper playing in twenty-three of their thirty league games and cementing his place at the club's first choice goalkeeper. Iskra-Stal claimed third place in the Moldovan National Division, qualifying for the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League. Gai*vici made his debut in Europe in the 3-0 home loss to PFC Cherno More Varna of Bulgaria on 23 July 2009. He also played in the 1-0 away loss to Cherno More that saw Iskra-Stal crash out of the UEFA Europa League on aggregate. The following season, Iskra-Stal again qualified for the UEFA Europa League by finishing as 2009-10 Moldovan National Division runners-up. Artiom played in all but one of the club's thirty-three league matches. 2010–11 turned out to be Gai*vici's last for Iskra-Stal. After making twenty league appearances in the first half of the season, he left before the season's finish to join the league's eventual winners, FC Dacia Chişinău, signing a two-year contract with his new team. At the end of his spell at FC Iskra-Stal, Artiom had a record of just 55 goals conceded in 76 matches, a record that had attracted big teams such as Dacia.

Dacia Chişinău

Making his debut in a 2-0 win over FC Tiraspol on 26 February 2011, Gai*vici made a total of seven appearances in 2010–11 for Dacia as they won the Moldovan National Division. This championship win qualified the club for the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League, where they were drawn against FC Zestafoni of Georgia in the second qualifying round. Gai*vici played in both the away leg on 13 July 2011, where Dacia were beaten 3-0 in Zestafoni, and the home leg on 20 July where even a 2-0 victory was not enough for Dacia to progress to the next round as they were defeated on aggregate.

International career

Gai*vici made six appearances for Moldova U-17, making his debut on 17 September 2003 in a 4-3 win over Kazakhstan in a UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship qualifier. He also played twice for Moldova U-19 before graduating to the senior team.

Artiom made his senior debut for Moldova on 3 March 2010 against Kazakhstan in a friendly, coming on as a 90th-minute subs*ute with Moldova having already scored the only goal of the match. Gai*vici started his first senior game for Moldova in a 3-2 friendly loss to the United Arab Emirates on 29 May 2010. He had to wait over a year for his third senior cap, playing in the 2-0 home defeat to Hungary in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier on 6 September 2011. Gai*vici played the full ninety minutes after previously being an unused subs*ute in the 4-1 loss to Finland on 2 September. He was again an unused subs*ute in the 1-0 loss to the Netherlands on 7 October but played his fourth game for Moldova in the 4-0 hammering of San Marino on 11 October. Gai*vici then played the whole of the 2–0 friendly loss to Georgia on 11 November 2011.

Gai*vici made his first international appearance of 2012 in a 0-0 draw with Belarus on 29 February, replacing Stanislav Namasco at half-time.

References