Itzik Zohar
Encyclopedia
Itzik Zohar is a former Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i international footballer and television sports personality. Born in Bat Yam, Israel to a family of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

n extraction, he holds the distinction of scoring the first two goals for Israel
Israel national football team
The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association .Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate...

 in its first world cup qualifier in the UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 confederation on October 28, 1992. He is widely regarded as having been one of the best free kick
Direct free kick
A direct free kick is a method of restarting play in a game of association football following a foul. Unlike an indirect free kick, a goal may be scored directly against the opposing side without the ball having first touched another player.-Award:...

 takers in Israeli football
Football in Israel
Football is the most popular sport in Israel. Football as an organised sport first developed in the United Kingdom who controlled Israel during the days of the British Mandate. Israel will be hosting the UEFA U-21 Championship in 2013....

.

Biography

Zohar grew up in a ma'abara
Ma'abarot
The Ma'abarot were refugee absorption camps in Israel in the 1950s. The Ma'abarot were meant to provide accommodation for the large influx of Jewish refugees and new Olim arriving to the newly independent State of Israel, replacing the less habitable immigrant camps or tent cities...

(transit camp) on the border of Bat Yam and Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

, where the family's ramshackle hut was not even sufficient to protect them from the elements. Due to the unsavory conditions of the neighborhood, Zohar's father encouraged the children to play football in order to stay off the streets. His 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. In an interview with Iton Tel Aviv
Iton Tel Aviv
Iton Tel Aviv is a Tel Aviv, Israel based newspaper. The Hebrew language newspaper covers general news in Israel....

, Zohar claims that he spends lots of time with his children and has watched Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...

over 17 times. He is a religious Jew and a close friend of Ashdod's Rabbi Pinto. On December 9, 2007, Zohar was arrested for alleged tax evasion from 1988-2002. He was released on
Israeli new sheqel
The Israeli New Shekel is the currency of the State of Israel. The shekel is divided into 100 agorot...

1.8 million bail. In June 2008, Zohar was attacked on a main street in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 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.

Football career

A product of the Maccabi Jaffa youth system, both he and his brother, Avivi
Avivi Zohar
Avivi Zohar is an Israeli former footballer. He spent a large portion of his career with Maccabi Jaffa in Israel. At international level, Zohar was capped for the Israel national under-21 football team...

, became professional footballers. Itzik's professional debut was in a Liga Artzit
Liga Artzit
Liga Artzit was the third tier of Israeli football after the Premier League and Liga Leumit, and was run by the Israel Football Association.-Structure:...

 match with childhood club Maccabi Jaffa against Hakoah Ramat Gan which ended in a 0:0 draw. After finishing the season in ninth place, Zohar was bought by Maccabi Tel Aviv where he won his first top flight championship in the 1991-92 season. The transfer price was US $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

90,000, which was a rather large amount in Israeli football at the time. During his time at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Zohar played with Uri Malmilian
Uri Malmilian
Uri Malmilian is an Israeli former football player and current manager.-Early life and playing career:Born in the neighbourhood of Mamilla in Jerusalem, Israel, Malmilian had a memorable playing career in the Liga Leumit at Beitar Jerusalem. He is regarded as one the best Israeli players...

, who he credits for having taught him a lot. His debut was made for the Israel national football team
Israel national football team
The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association .Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate...

 in a friendly against the USSR
USSR national football team
The Soviet Union National Football Team was the national football team of the Soviet Union. It ceased to exist after the break up of the Union...

. Two months later, he scored his first international goal, also in a friendly, against Iceland
Iceland national football team
The Iceland national football team is the national football team of Iceland and is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland. It has never advanced to the finals of any major international competition....

. All this was just a warmup for his big national team break when Israel played its first world cup qualifier in the UEFA confederation. Although Israel lost to Austria
Austria national football team
The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association ....

 5-2, Zohar was able to celebrate a personal achievement as he scored Israel's first two goals as a full member of UEFA. Zohar added another piece of hardware (the Israel State Cup
Israel State Cup
The State Cup , is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israeli Football Association.The State Cup was first held in 1927–28 as the Palestine Cup...

) in 1993-94 before leaving Israel for Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 club Royal Antwerp. Zohar returned home though after he came down with jaundice
Jaundice
Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...

 and credits this for the reason why he didn't stay in Belgium. He then returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv where he took the "double".

After another league title, this time with Beitar Jerusalem in 1996-97, Zohar was sold to English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 club Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

 for £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

1,200,000 but quickly returned to Israel after failing to make an impression on the club. In a league match against Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

, Zohar stepped up to take a penalty kick in place of regular penalty kick taker, Bruce Dyer
Bruce Dyer
Bruce Antonio Dyer is an English former footballer who played as a striker.His career started in 1993 with Watford, before he became the country's first £1 million-teenager when he joined Crystal Palace in 1994. He spent five years with Palace, playing more than 100 games, and then another...

. His weakly hit shot cost Palace the win and so his reputation with the supporters was forever tainted. His dismal performances for Palace caused him to be voted by the fans as one of the top ten worst signings. After returning from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, he was signed by Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

, as a replacement for Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 Serhiy Kandaurov, who was sold to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

's Benfica. Haifa manager, Daniel Brailovsky
Daniel Brailovsky
- As a player :An attacking midfielder and striker, Brailovsky was born in Buenos Aires, and after playing amateur football at Jewish clubs, Brailovsky was brought to Montevideo for a trial at Peñarol. Under the guidance of coach Roque Máspoli, Brailovsky became part of the team that won the 1978...

 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.

Once recovered from injury, Zohar regained his fitness at Maccabi Herzliya before joining Maccabi Netanya. Zohar was an instant success and started to receive money off the pitch as a spokesperson for local brands. His career was dealt a setback when he was caught hurling racial slurs towards Tzafririm Holon
Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C.
Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C. is an Israeli football club based in the city of Holon. The club was founded in 1985 by a merger of Hapoel Holon and Tzafririm Holon.-Hapoel Holon:...

's Ziv Caveda
Ziv Caveda
Ziv Caveda is an Israeli professional football player. After not seeing much time at Hapoel Tel Aviv, Caveda transferred to Tzafririm Holon where he was an instant starter. His morale was dealt a lethal blow when he was taunted by Maccabi Netanya's Itzik Zohar in a league match.-External links:*...

 (an Israeli footballer of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n extraction). In his defense, he claimed that his comments were directed at Holon's Hamisi Amani-Dove
Hamisi Amani-Dove
Hamisi Amani-Dove is a retired American soccer player.-Youth:A graduate of Rutgers University, sixth all-time scoring leader at the University with thirty-two goals in seventy-two games, he was drafted by the MetroStars of Major League Soccer after college. He turned down the offer, opting to sign...

 (an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

). The event startled the Israel Football Association
Israel Football Association
The Israel Football Association , also known as IFA, is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes the football leagues, Israeli Premier League, Israeli State Cup, Toto Cup and the Israeli national football team. The association is based in Ramat Gan...

 which never had racism between players on the field and had no punishment system in place for it. Aside from receiving a one match ban and
Israeli new sheqel
The Israeli New Shekel is the currency of the State of Israel. The shekel is divided into 100 agorot...

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. After being released from his contract in Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

, club manager, Uri Malmilian
Uri Malmilian
Uri Malmilian is an Israeli former football player and current manager.-Early life and playing career:Born in the neighbourhood of Mamilla in Jerusalem, Israel, Malmilian had a memorable playing career in the Liga Leumit at Beitar Jerusalem. He is regarded as one the best Israeli players...

, 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
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

 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 F.C. Ashdod
F.C. Ashdod
F.C. Ashdod is an Israeli football club, playing in the port city of Ashdod. The unorthodox name of the team is the result of the union of two city rivals, Hapoel Ashdod and Maccabi Ironi Ashdod...

 was able to coax Zohar out of retirement. In 2003, he opened up a bar-restaurant, called Saga, in the Tel Aviv marina. At the time, it looked like things were working out again on the pitch, though he later announced his retirement for a second time before coming out of retirement for a second time to join 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 Gillette
Global Gillette
Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently used for safety razors, among other personal care products. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was one of several brands originally owned by The Gillette Company, a leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was...

, Careline and many other brands in Israel. He is a regular guest on the football wrapup show on Israel 10
Israel 10
Channel 10 , formerly known as Israel 10 is a commercial broadcasting television channel licensed in Israel. It operates under the auspices of the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority .-History:...

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

Beach football

On June 1, 2007 Zohar was in the starting line up of the first ever Israel national beach soccer team
Israel national beach soccer team
The Israel national beach soccer team represents Israel in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the IFA, the governing body for football in Israel.- History :...

 team. In his first competitive match, Zohar scored a goal as Israel beat their English counterparts by a score of 6-5 in Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

, Israel. He was originally going to be a part of the squad for the qualification round of the European beach football championship in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, but pulled out due to injury. Locally, Zohar represents the city of Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek...

 in Israel's inaugural beach football league.

Statistics

|-
|1987-88||Maccabi Jaffa||Liga Artzit
Liga Artzit
Liga Artzit was the third tier of Israeli football after the Premier League and Liga Leumit, and was run by the Israel Football Association.-Structure:...

||14||2||||||||||||||14||2
|-
|1988-89
Liga Leumit 1988-89
The 1988–89 Liga Leumit season began in September 1988 and ended in June 1989. After the first two rounds of matches the league split into two groups; a Championship group of six clubs and a Relegation group of eight clubs, who played the other clubs in their group once more.Maccabi Haifa won...

||rowspan="6"|Maccabi Tel Aviv||rowspan="6"|Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit is the second tier in the Israeli football league system below the Premier League.-Structure:There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the lowest-placed team are relegated to Liga Alef while the highest-placed team from Liga Alef are promoted in their place...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|1989-90
Liga Leumit 1989-90
The 1989–90 Liga Leumit season saw Bnei Yehuda won their first, and to date only title, whilst Hapoel Ramat Gan and Shimshon Tel Aviv were relegated to Liga Artzit...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|1990-91
Liga Leumit 1990-91
The 1990–91 Liga Leumit season began on October 1990 and ended on June 1991, with Maccabi Haifa winning the title.The regular season had each team play twice against each opponent...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|1991-92
Liga Leumit 1991-92
The 1991–92 Liga Leumit season began on 1991 and ended on 1992, with Maccabi Tel Aviv winning their seventeenth title.-Championship playoff:-Relegation playoff:-References:* RSSSF...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|1992-93
Liga Leumit 1992-93
The 1992–93 Liga Leumit, Israeli national soccer league season ended with Beitar Jerusalem winning the championship after being promoted in the previous season from Liga Artzit.-League standings:-References:* RSSSF...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|1993-94
Liga Leumit 1993-94
The 1993–94 Liga Leumit season began on 28 August 1993 and ended on 4 June 1994, with Maccabi Haifa winning their fifth title.That season saw one of the best teams in history of Israeli football, according to many pundits, when Maccabi Haifa managed to win the league without suffering a single...

||||||||||||||||||||
|-
179||28||||||||||||||179||28

|-
|1994-95||Royal Antwerp||First Division||24||6||-||-||-||-||-||-||24||6
24||6||||||||||||||24||6

|-
|1995-96
Liga Leumit 1995-96
The 1995–96 Liga Leumit season began on 26 August 1995 and ended on 18 May 1996, with Maccabi Tel Aviv win their second consecutive title.That season had two rounds, each team played the other teams twice...

||Maccabi Tel Aviv||rowspan="2"|Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit is the second tier in the Israeli football league system below the Premier League.-Structure:There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the lowest-placed team are relegated to Liga Alef while the highest-placed team from Liga Alef are promoted in their place...

||21||9||||||||||||||21||9
|-
|1996-97
Liga Leumit 1996-97
The 1996–97 Liga Leumit season saw Beitar Jerusalem win their third title. Hapoel Tayibe and Tzafririm Holon were relegated to Liga Artzit. Moti Kakun of Hapoel Petah Tikva was the league's top scorer with 20 goals.-Final table:-References:* RSSSF...

||Beitar Jerusalem||29||14||||||||||||||29||14
||||||||||||||||||

|-
|1997||Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

||First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

||6||0||0||0||3||0||0||0||9||0
6||0||0||0||3||0||0||0||9||0

|-
|1998||Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

||rowspan="2"|Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit
Liga Leumit is the second tier in the Israeli football league system below the Premier League.-Structure:There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the lowest-placed team are relegated to Liga Alef while the highest-placed team from Liga Alef are promoted in their place...

||10||4||3||2||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|1998-99||Maccabi Tel Aviv||7||2||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|1999||Maccabi Herzliya||rowspan="8"|Israeli Premier League||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2000||Maccabi Netanya||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2000-01||Maccabi Netanya||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2001||Maccabi Netanya||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2002||Beitar Jerusalem||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2002-03||Beitar Jerusalem||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2003-2004||F.C. Ashdod
F.C. Ashdod
F.C. Ashdod is an Israeli football club, playing in the port city of Ashdod. The unorthodox name of the team is the result of the union of two city rivals, Hapoel Ashdod and Maccabi Ironi Ashdod...

||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|2004-2005||Hapoel Nazareth Illit||3||0||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-
||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||

Honours

  • With Maccabi Tel Aviv:
    • Israeli Premier League (2): 1991-92, 1995–96
    • State Cup
      Israel State Cup
      The State Cup , is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israeli Football Association.The State Cup was first held in 1927–28 as the Palestine Cup...

       (2):
      1994, 1996
    • Toto Cup
      Toto Cup
      The Toto Cup is an association football tournament that exists separately in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Premier League and Liga Leumit....

       (2):
      1992-93, 1998–99
  • With Beitar Jerusalem:
    • Israeli Premier League (1): 1996-97
  • With Maccabi Haifa
    Maccabi Haifa F.C.
    Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

    :
    • State Cup
      Israel State Cup
      The State Cup , is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israeli Football Association.The State Cup was first held in 1927–28 as the Palestine Cup...

       (1):
      1998

See also

  • List of select Jewish football (association; soccer) players

External links

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