Itzik Zohar

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Itzik Zohar
איציק זוהר
Personal information
Full name Itzhak Zohar
יצחק זוהר
Date of birth October 31, 1970 (1970-10-31) (age 37)
Place of birth    Flag of Israel Bat Yam, Israel
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Youth clubs
1978-1987 Flag of Israel Maccabi Jaffa
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1987-1988
1988-1994
1994-1995
1995-1996
1996-1997
1997
1998
1998-1999
1999
2000-2001
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005		 Maccabi Jaffa
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Royal Antwerp
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Beitar Jerusalem
Crystal Palace
Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Herzliya
Maccabi Netanya
Beitar Jerusalem
F.C. Ashdod
Hapoel Nazareth Illit		 0- 0(-)
0- 0(-)
24 0(6)
21 0(9)
29 (14)
06 0(0)
10 0(4)
07 0(2)
17 0(2)
65 (29)
45 (27)
12 0(3)
03 0(0)   
National team
1990-1991
1992-2001		 Israel U21
Israel		 02 0(0)
31 0(9)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Itzik Zohar (Hebrew: איציק זוהר‎; born October 31, 1970) is a former Israeli international football (soccer) player and currently a television sports personality. Born in Bat Yam, Israel[1] to a family of North African extraction,[2] he holds the distinction of scoring the first two goals for Israel in its first world cup qualifier in the UEFA confederation on October 28, 1992. He is widely regarded as having been one of the best free kick takers ever in Israeli football.[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

According to Zohar, he grew up in a ma'abara on the border of Bat Yam and Jaffa, where the family's ramshackle hut was not even sufficient to protect them from the elements.[4] 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 family was so poor, that often Zohar would find himself walking back from football practices because he could not afford the bus.

[edit] Playing career

A product of the Maccabi Jaffa youth system, both he and his brother, Avivi, became professional footballers. Itzik's professional debut was in a Liga Artzit[5] 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[6] championship in the 1991-92 season. The transfer price was US $90,000, which was a rather large amount in Israeli football at the time.[4] His debut was made for the Israel national football team in a friendly against the USSR. Two months later, he scored his first international goal, also in a friendly, against Iceland. 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 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) in 1993-94 before leaving Israel for Belgian club Royal Antwerp. It didn't take long before Zohar returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv where he took the "double".[7]

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 on 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.[8] His dismal performances for Palace caused him to be voted by the fans as one of the top ten worst signings.[3] 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 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's Ziv Caveda (an Israeli footballer of Ethiopian extraction).[2] In his defense, he claimed that his comments were directed at Holon's Hamisi Amani-Dove (an African American). [2] Aside from receiving a one match ban and ₪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.[9] 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 his was retiring from football.

Zohar began to look toward a life after football before F.C. Ashdod was able to coax Zohar out of retirement. In 2003, he opened up a bar-restaurant, called Saga, in the Tel Aviv marina.[1] 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.

[edit] Life after professional football

[edit] Zohar, the celeb

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, Careline and many other brands in Israel.[10] He is a regular guest on the football wrapup show on Israel 10 as well as other sports related programmes. As an actor he had a role on a television programme called, "The Show",[11] but it was canceled shortly after a couple of episodes.[12] On the side, he also dabbles in the Tel Aviv real estate market.[13]

His celebrity status in Israel has also gotten himself out of trouble for minor offenses. He was allegedly caught by police for employing a Filipino maid that didn't have a work permit. He was never charged or fined and the incident was swept under the rug.[1]

[edit] Beach Football

On June 1, 2007 Zohar was in the starting line up of the first ever Israeli national beach football team.[14] 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.

[edit] Personal life

Zohar was married to Ilana for ten years and the couple have two children together: Gavriel and Michael.[15] In an interview with Iton Tel Aviv, Zohar claims that he spends lots of time with his children and has watched Finding Nemo over 17 times. He is also somewhat of a religious man and is a close friend of Ashdod's Rabbi Pinto.[1] On December 9, 2007, Zohar was arrested for alleged tax evasion from 1988-2002. He was released on ₪1.8 million bail.[16]

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Abramov, Etti. "אני נהנה ושימותו הקנאים", Iton Tel Aviv, 2003-12-26. Retrieved on 2007-09-28. (Hebrew) 
  2. ^ a b c "זוהר הורחק ממשחק", Ma'ariv, 2001-01-04. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. (Hebrew) 
  3. ^ a b Timor, Doron. "קבלו את סיפורי הסינדרלה של הכדורגל הישראלי", One.co.il, 2007-07-12. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. (Hebrew) 
  4. ^ a b Solomon, Na'ama. "פרימה זוהר", Iton Tel Aviv, 2006-03-03. Retrieved on 2007-09-28. 
  5. ^ Up until 1999, the 2nd tier of Israeli football was the Liga Artzit; since then, it has been the Liga Leumit.
  6. ^ Up until 1999, the top division of Israeli football was the Liga Leumit; since then, it has been Ligat ha'Al.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Newman, Paul. "Football: Palace left waiting after Zohar spots trouble", The Independent, 1997-12-27. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  9. ^ "פלאפון צינזרה את זוהר מפרסומת", Yedioth Ahronoth, 2000-12-21. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. (Hebrew) 
  10. ^ Halutz, Doron. "A Men's Man", Ha'aretz. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  11. ^ Halleli, Yifat. "דפקו לו ברז", Ma'ariv, 2006-02-27. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. (Hebrew) 
  12. ^ Shiloni, Smadar. ""The Show" יורדת מן המרקע", Yedioth Ahronoth, 2006-03-12. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. (Hebrew) 
  13. ^ Yamin, Guy. "Pivko to bid on Ramat Aviv Gimmel site", Globes, 2005-11-01. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  14. ^ "נתניה: נבחרת ישראל הפתיעה נבחרת אנגליה 5:6 במסגרת כדורגל חופים", Kan Naim, 2007-06-01. Retrieved on 2007-06-08. (Hebrew) 
  15. ^ "פרסום ראשון: איציק ואילנה זוהר מתגרשים...", One.co.il, 2007-08-27. Retrieved on 2007-09-28. (Hebrew) 
  16. ^ "Soccer legend Itzik Zohar released after arrest for alleged tax evasion", The Jerusalem Post, 2007-12-11. Retrieved on 2007-12-11. 
  17. ^ Up until 1999, the top division of Israeli football was the Liga Leumit; since then, it has been Ligat ha'Al.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Zohar, Itzik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zohar, Itzhak
SHORT DESCRIPTION Football (soccer) player
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Tel Aviv, Israel
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages