Tal Ben Haim

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Tal Ben Haim
Personal information
Date of birth March 31, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth    Rishon Lezion, Israel
Height 1.80 m
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Bolton Wanderers
Number 26
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1998-2004
2004-present		 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Bolton Wanderers		 147 (2)
082 (1)   
National team2
1998-present Israel 022 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 17:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 17 April, 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Tal Ben Haim (Hebrew טל בן-חיים) (born March 31, 1982 in Rishon Lezion, Israel) is an Israeli footballer who currently plays for the English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers as a defender.

Ben Haim has been a regular for the Israeli national team. He has proven to be of extreme importance in Israel's latest successes in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

On October 20, 2005 for the UEFA cup match, away at Beşiktaş, Tal Ben Haim wore the captain's arm band and was praised by the regular team captain Jay Jay Okocha.

"Barb did a sterling role as captain and for someone still only learning his trade. He oozes great self-confidence and relishes the responsibility of captaining the side." (Source Jewish Telegraph Newspaper)

Arguably the greatest compliment to Barb Haim was when in December 2005, Ben Haim was touted by Chelsea manager José Mourinho following Bolton's impressive defensive display in the Premiership. Bolton manager Sam Allardyce responded by saying "Stephen is a vital member of our first team and is not available for transfer." Ben Haim's aerial ability and versatility along the back line are believed to have been the reason for Mourinho's interest.

Ben Haim has also been linked with several other Premiership clubs during his tenure in the North West.

In January 2007, with only 6 months left remaining on his current contract, there has been fervent speculation as to whether he will sign a new contract with the high flying Lancashire side in light of reported interest from Tottenham , Newcastle United, West Ham and Portsmouth.

[edit] Quotes

  • "We are ready for the French. This will be our toughest test to date, but we have already shown that we can mix it with them in Paris earlier on in the campaign by recording a goalless draw. They will find Tel Aviv quite intimidating and if we play to our strengths there is no reason why we can’t record a win. Israeli football is on a high at present and it would be a massive achievement if we were to reach the World Cup finals in Germany next summer. It’s been a long time since we were in a major tournament and the whole country has gone football crazy. Over 40,000 fans were at Ramat Gan on Saturday for the Ireland game and there were over 35,000 people in the ground two hours before kick off. If you have the confidence of the public you can see how dreams come true." - Tal Ben Haim March 30, 2004 before Israel vs. France
  • "He went down rather too easily but there is no getting away from the fact that Rooney pushed him in the face. If the referee had seen it he would have sent him off so he is pretty lucky to get away with it. If you look at it from Alex’s point of view it is a bit of play-acting. But he has put his hand in his face and pushed him." Sam Allardyce's view on the Tal Ben Haim vs. Wayne Rooney incident.
  • "I have seen the incident again on the monitor and it is embarrassing. Deary, deary me, he should be embarrassed about that. It was absolutely nothing. This sort of thing is creeping into our game." Alex Ferguson's view on the Tal Ben Haim vs. Wayne Rooney incident.
  • "It's part of the game... The most important thing is that Bolton Wanderers won." Ben Haim's reflecting on his public spat with Wanderers captain Jay Jay Okocha when Bolton were 3-0 up against West Ham, in a game Bolton eventually won 4-1.
  • "I don't think he'll move this month. He is likely to see out his contract and he'll be off and away in the summer."

"As a player you can use the rules and regulations and you can't blame him for that." Sam Allardyce's feelings about Ben Haim's future, during the 2007 January transfer.

[edit] Trivia

  • Ben Haim is also good friends with fellow Israeli footballer Yossi Benayoun and encouraged Benayoun to sign for Bolton in Summer 2005. Benayoun instead joined West Ham.
  • During the Israel vs. France match in World Cup 2006 qualifying, David Trézéguet took exception to a Ben Haim tackle and headbutted the Israeli at the cost of a red card. Israel went on to draw the game 1-1 against ten man France.
  • Tal means Dew in Hebrew. Literally, Ben Haim means Son of Life. However, the Hebrew word "Ben" also has several borrowed meanings, such as "one who has", "one who belongs to", etc. So a more precise translation would be "Belongs to Life", or "Has the virtue of living".

[edit] External links


Bolton Wanderers F.C. - Current Squad

1 Al Habsi | 2 Hunt | 4 Nolan | 5 Méïté | 6 Speed | 7 Stelios | 8 Campo | 9 Pedersen | 11 Gardner | 12 Walker | 14 Davies | 15 Thompson | 16 Andranik | 17 Fortune | 21 Diouf | 22 Jääskeläinen | 23 Tal | 24 O'Brien | 25 Faye | 26 Ben Haim | 27 César | 29 Harsányi | 31 Sinclair | 39 Anelka | 41 Fojut | 46 Jamieson | Manager: Allardyce
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