Itzik Zohar

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Itzik Zohar
Personal information
Full name Itzhak Zohar
יצחק זוהר
Date of birth (1970-10-31) 31 October 1970 (age 53)
Place of birth Bat Yam, Israel
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1978–1987 Maccabi Jaffa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1988 Maccabi Jaffa 14 (2)
1988–1994 Maccabi Tel Aviv 165 (26)
1994–1995
Royal Antwerp
 24 (6)
1995–1996 Maccabi Tel Aviv 21 (9)
1996–1997 Beitar Jerusalem 29 (14)
1997–1998 Crystal Palace 6 (0)
1998 Maccabi Haifa 10 (4)
1998–1999 Maccabi Tel Aviv 7 (2)
1999 Maccabi Herzliya 17 (2)
2000–2001 Maccabi Netanya 66 (29)
2002–2003 Beitar Jerusalem 45 (17)
2003–2004 F.C. Ashdod 12 (3)
2004–2005
Hapoel Nazareth Illit
 3 (0)
International career
1990–1991 Israel U21 2 (0)
1992–2001 Israel 31 (9)
2007–2008 Israel (beach soccer) 2 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Itzik Zohar (

free kick takers in Israeli football
.

Biography

Zohar grew up in a ma'abara (transit camp) on the border of Bat Yam and Jaffa, where the family's ramshackle hut was not even sufficient to protect them from the elements.[3] Due to the unsavory conditions of the neighborhood, Zohar's father encouraged the children to play football in order to stay off the streets.[1] His Tunisian-Jewish family was so poor, that often Zohar would find himself walking back from football practices because he could not afford the bus.

Zohar was married to Ilana for ten years and the couple have two children, Gavriel and Michael.

₪1.8 million bail.[5] In June 2008, Zohar was attacked on a main street in Tel Aviv by an unknown person; he was attacked with a broken bottle, and had to be treated with 52 stitches on the right side of his face. In January 2011, Zohar was attacked again in Tel Aviv while partying at a nightclub in the same method; an unknown person broke a bottle on his head which resulted in injuries in his head and hand.[6]

Football career

A product of the

Royal Antwerp. Zohar returned home though after he came down with jaundice and credits this for the reason why he didn't stay in Belgium.[9] He then returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv where he took the "double".[10]

After another league title, this time with Beitar Jerusalem in 1996-97, Zohar was sold to English club Crystal Palace for £1,200,000 but quickly returned to Israel after failing to make an impression at the club. In a league match against Southampton, Zohar stepped up to take a penalty kick in place of regular penalty kick taker, Bruce Dyer. His weakly hit shot cost Palace the win and so his reputation with the supporters was forever tainted.[11] His dismal performances for Palace caused him to be voted by the fans as one of the top ten worst signings. In April 2012 Talk Sport magazine rated Zohar as Crystal Palace's Worst Foreign player.[12] After returning from England, he was signed by Maccabi Haifa, as a replacement for Ukrainian midfielder Serhiy Kandaurov, who was sold to Portugal's Benfica. Haifa manager, Daniel Brailovsky was disappointed with Zohar's performances during practices and decided to let him languish on the bench during the season. After a falling out with Brailovsky, Zohar joined Maccabi Tel Aviv for his third stint but suffered an injury that saw him off the pitch for about 10 months. In retrospect, he later credited this injury to be the hardest part of his footballing career.[1]

Once recovered from injury, Zohar regained his fitness at

₪5,000 fine, Zohar was publicly lambasted for his words that shook up the football world in Israel that was in the middle of promoting racial equality in Israel.[14] After being released from his contract in Netanya, club manager, Uri Malmilian, left the club in protest. Zohar rejoined Beitar, where he was a central part of the club and helped steer the club away from the relegation
zone of the table. He continued there for another season after which he announced he was retiring from football.

Zohar began to look toward a life after football before

Hapoel Nazareth Illit
. It was a short lived return though as Zohar only managed three games before announcing on February 14, 2005 that he was hanging up his boots for good.

Acting career

After hanging up his boots, Zohar began to split his time between a number of different projects. Remaining a celebrity in Israel, he is the face of

Israel 10 as well as other sports related programmes. As an actor, he had a role on a television programme called, "The Show",[16] but it was canceled shortly after a couple of episodes.[17] On the side, he also dabbles in the Tel Aviv real estate market.[18]

Beach football

On June 1, 2007 Zohar was in the starting line up of the first ever Israel national beach soccer team.[19] In his first competitive match, Zohar scored a goal as Israel beat their English counterparts by a score of 6-5 in Netanya, Israel. He was originally going to be a part of the squad for the qualification round of the European beach football championship in Athens, Greece, but pulled out due to injury. Locally, Zohar represents the city of Rosh HaAyin in Israel's inaugural beach football league.

Statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Israel League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
1987-88
 Maccabi Jaffa Liga Artzit 14 2 — 14 2
1988-89
 Maccabi Tel Aviv Liga Leumit 24 1 2 0 4 1 — 30 2
1989-90
 22 2 2 0 5 1 — 27 3
1990-91
 31 7 3 0 5 0 — 39 7
1991-92
 32 14 6 2 4 1 — 44 17
1992-93
 32 13 4 2 6 3 2 0 44 18
1993-94
 37 22 4 4 4 0 1 0 47 26
Total Israel 179 61 21 8 28 6 3 0 231 75
Belgium League Belgian Cup League Cup Europe Total
1994-95
Royal Antwerp
First Division
 24 6 0 0 — 2 0 26 6
Total Belgium 24 6 0 0 2 0 26 6
Israel League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
1995-96
 Maccabi Tel Aviv Liga Leumit 21 9 4 1 3 0 2 0 30 10
1996-97
 Beitar Jerusalem 29 14 4 1 4 0 37 15
Total Israel 50 23 8 2 6 0
England League FA Cup
League Cup
 Europe Total
1997 Crystal Palace Premier League 6 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 9 0
Total England 6 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 9 0
Israel League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
1998
 Maccabi Haifa Liga Leumit 10 4 3 2 - - - - 13 6
1998-99
 Maccabi Tel Aviv 7 2 1 0 - - — 8 2
1999-00
 Maccabi Herzliya Israel Premier League 17 2 - - - - — 17 2
Maccabi Netanya 18 10 1 0 - - - - 19 10
2000-01
 33 14 - - - - - - 33 14
2001-02
 15 5 - - - - - - 15 5
Beitar Jerusalem 17 6 2 1 - - - - 19 7
2002-03
 28 11 - - 1 0 - - 29 11
2003-2004
 F.C. Ashdod 12 3 3 0 - - — 15 3
2004-05
Hapoel Nazareth Illit
 3 0 - - - - — 3 0
Total Israel 389 141 39 13 29 6 9 0 466 160
Total Belgium 24 6 0 0 0 0 2 0 26 6
Total England 6 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 9 0
Career total 419 147 39 13 32 6 11 0 501 166

Honours

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Abramov, Etti (2003-12-26). אני נהנה ושימותו הקנאים (in Hebrew). Iton Tel Aviv. Archived from the original on April 22, 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  2. ^ a b c זוהר הורחק ממשחק (in Hebrew). Ma'ariv. 2001-01-04. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  3. ^ a b Solomon, Na'ama (2006-03-03). "Prima Zohar". Iton Tel Aviv. Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  4. ^ פרסום ראשון: איציק ואילנה זוהר מתגרשים... (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  5. ^ "Soccer legend Itzik Zohar released after arrest for alleged tax evasion". The Jerusalem Post. 2007-12-11. Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
  6. ^ "Former soccer star Itzik Zohar stabbed at TA nightclub". The Jerusalem Post. 2011-01-03.
  7. ^ Up until 1999, the 2nd tier of Israeli football was the Liga Artzit; since then, it has been the Liga Leumit.
  8. ^ Up until 1999, the top division of Israeli football was the Liga Leumit; since then, it has been the Israeli Premier League.
  9. ^ a b Silver, Natalie (May 2008). "Icon - Itzik Zohar" (in Hebrew) (9). Maxim Magazine: 54–56. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ The "double" in Israeli football is when a person or club wins both the league title and a cup, either the Israel State Cup or Toto Cup.
  11. ^ Newman, Paul (1997-12-27). "Football: Palace left waiting after Zohar spots trouble". The Independent. Retrieved 2007-05-31. [dead link]
  12. ^ UuuuuTimor, Doron (2007-07-12). קבלו את סיפורי הסינדרלה של הכדורגל הישראלי (in Hebrew). One.co.il. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  13. Sunday Times
    . London. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  14. ^ Yaniv Hirmesh & Golan Bar Yosef (2000-12-21). פלאפון צינזרה את זוהר מפרסומת (in Hebrew). Yedioth Ahronoth. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  15. Ha'aretz. Archived from the original
    on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  16. ^ Halleli, Yifat (2006-02-27). דפקו לו ברז (in Hebrew). Ma'ariv. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  17. ^ Shiloni, Smadar (2006-03-12). ""The Show" יורדת מן המרקע" (in Hebrew). Yedioth Ahronoth. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  18. ^ Yamin, Guy (2005-11-01). "Pivko to bid on Ramat Aviv Gimmel site". Globes. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
  19. ^ נתניה: נבחרת ישראל הפתיעה נבחרת אנגליה 5:6 במסגרת כדורגל חופים (in Hebrew). Kan Naim. 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2007-06-08.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Itzik_Zohar&oldid=1196033426"