The names of former Israeli stars Ronny Rosenthal, Eyal Berkovic and Haim Revivo are known to any aficionado of European club football.
Today the class of 2005 is just beginning to make a name for itself in Europe with Yossi Benayoun, Tal Ben-Haim and Dudu Awat plying their trade in some of the top leagues.
Although the Israel national team is currently enjoying their most successful World Cup qualifying campaign in recent memory, Israeli club football has not yet reached the same levels. As a result the top Israeli players have been plucked from the Israeli league to play at a higher level on the continent.
Homesick but Talented
The best of the current crop is Yossi Benayoun who currently plays for West Ham United in the English Premiership. Benayoun’s football education started at the age of 15 at the Ajax academy in Holland, which has produced many outstanding players.
But he became homesick and returned to Israel after only one season. Benayoun became the shining talent over the next few years with Maccabi Haifa, helping them win many league titles and alerting the attention of Europe’s top scouts.
In 1998 the Israeli midfielder was snapped up by Racing Santander of Spain to help them survive in the very difficult Primera Liga. Benayoun did just that for three seasons. Although he was not a prolific goalscorer, it was rare that Santander scored a goal without Benayoun playing some part in the build up.
Looking for a new challenge, in the summer of 2005, Benayoun moved to West Ham of East London in the UK. West Ham manager Alan Pardew knew just what sort of player he signed Benayoun. "He has progressed every year at Santander with five, seven and nine goals," Pardew said. "We expect him to contribute with goals and assists."
Benayoun left behind at Santander, friend, compatriot and goal-keeper Dudu Awat. Awat, who fights for the Israeli number one jersey with Nir Davidovich, is the current number one at Santander. Also a French citizen, the keeper joined the Spanish club in 2003 but had to wait a year on the substitute bench and bide his time before gaining first team experience.
’Biggest name Since Berkovic’
The third Israeli player currently working in Europe is Tal Ben-Haim, who plays for Bolton Wanderers, also in the English Premiership. Ben-Haim signed for Bolton from Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2004 as a central defender which is quite a rarity for Israeli exports.
Ben-Haim also had to wait for his chance to become a regular in Bolton’s star-studded but ageing team. Bolton’s manager, Sam Allardyce, remarked that "Tal is the biggest name to come out of Israeli football since Eyal Berkovic. He has all the right attributes to make it in the Premiership."
It might take a while for any to achieve what Eli Ohana did in 1989, becoming the only Israeli ever to win a major European football competition but the current crop of players are young and eager for success in Europe.