Marcelo Elizaga
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marcelo Ramón Elizaga Ferrero | ||
| Date of birth | April 19, 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Morón, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1998 | Nueva Chicago | 98 | (0) |
| 1998–2000 | Lanús | 41 | (0) |
| 2000–2004 | Quilmes | 104 | (0) |
| 2005–2010 | Emelec | 223 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Deportivo Quito | 33 | (0) |
| Total | 502 | (0) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2007–2012 | Ecuador | 23 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 7 December 2009 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 16 May 2010 | |||
Marcelo Ramón Elizaga Ferrero (born April 19, 1972) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Deportivo Quito in the Ecuador Serie A and the Ecuador national team.
Elizaga started his career in 1992 for Nueva Chicago in the Argentine 2nd division. In 1998, he transferred to Club Atlético Lanús in the Primera Division Argentina.
In 2000, he joined Quilmes Atlético Club in the 2nd division and helped them gain promotion to the Primera. Since transferring to Emelec he has received awards including Goalkeeper of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009 from the Ecuadorian Championship.
Elizaga became a citizen of Ecuador after declaring his intention of playing in the international stage. He has also stated that he has a love for his new country.
Emelec
He arrived to Ecuador in 2004 as one of four foreign players signed by Emelec for that season. He immediately started showing great goalkeeping skills and despite or because Emelec's poor season he quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his performances for the club, and he won his first award of many for best goalkeeper of the year in Ecuador. He was ratified in the club for the next season and once again he became Emelec's best player helping the club avoid relegation for the second season in a row, and winning his second best goalkeeper of the year award in a row.
Six years later he remains in the club despite many opportunities to leave and he is its captain and fan favourite. He has openly declared his intentions of retiring playing for Emelec, but not before winning a title with the club, he was very close in 2006 when Emelec finished second behind El Nacional and in 2009 when they finished third in the Ecuadorian tournament.
In 2010, Elizaga helped Emelec to qualify to that year's final matches against LDU Quito, but controversially was sent to the bench in this two matches by the team's manager Jorge Luis Sampaoli. Emelec could not score more than two goals in the final match, so Liga won the championship (Emelec lost the away match 2–0, so had to win at least 2–0 to secure penalty definition, but only scored one goal).
On 30 December 2010, Elizaga left Emelec and signed with Deportivo Quito for one season, a transfer that was met with lot of surprise specially by Emelec's fans.[1]
In December 2011, Elizaga won the national championship with his new club Deportivo Quito, winning the title against his past team Emelec, playing the two finals and keeping a clean sheet.
