Marco Balbul

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Personal information
Marco Balbul
Full name	Marco Balbul
Date of birth	July 13, 1967 (age 39)
Place of birth	, Israel
Position	Manager (former Defender)
Youth clubs
	Maccabi Haifa
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1998-2000 2000-2002	Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Haifa	3 (0)
National team**
	Israel	9 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 December 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 10 December 2006.

Marco Balbul, (born July 13, 1967), is a former Israeli football defender and currently works as a manager. He is generally known for being one of Maccabi Haifa's best homegrown products.

[edit] Early life

Marco is the last child of Jewish refugees from Egypt who arrived in Israel in 1950 and settled in Tirat Carmel. By age 5, Marco was excited to wake up every morning in order to play football against the big kids in his neighborhood. Four years later he asked to be accepted to the youth system of Maccabi Haifa. Reuven Held, a coach of one of the youth teams, immediately sent him to train in front of Lazar Steinberg, who allegedly said at that moment that both Marco Balbuland Ofer Mizrahi would play for the full squad.