Yossi Benayoun

Yossi Benayoun
יוסי שי בניון
Benayoun playing for Maccabi Haifa in 2015
Personal information
Full name Yossi Shai Benayoun[1]
Date of birth (1980-05-05) 5 May 1980 (age 44)[1]
Place of birth Dimona, Israel
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1989–1992 Hapoel Dimona
1992–1995 Hapoel Be'er Sheva
1995–1996 Ajax
1996–1997 Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–1998 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 25 (15)
1998–2002 Maccabi Haifa 130 (55)
2002–2005 Racing Santander 101 (20)
2005–2007 West Ham United 63 (8)
2007–2010 Liverpool 92 (18)
2010–2013 Chelsea 14 (1)
2011–2012Arsenal (loan) 19 (4)
2012West Ham United (loan) 6 (0)
2013–2014 Queens Park Rangers 16 (3)
2014–2016 Maccabi Haifa 55 (11)
2016–2017 Maccabi Tel Aviv 27 (1)
2017–2018 Beitar Jerusalem 14 (3)
2018–2019 Maccabi Petah Tikva 22 (7)
2019 Beitar Jerusalem 15 (0)
Total 599 (146)
International career
1995 Israel U16 30 (6)
1996–1997 Israel U18 8 (12)
1998–2001 Israel U21 11 (5)
1998–2017 Israel 102 (24[3])
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Yossi Shai Benayoun (Hebrew: יוסי שי בניון; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team.[4]

Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United, and later Liverpool. In 2010, he signed for Chelsea, where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa.

A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint third top scorer with 24 international goals.

Benayoun holds the position of sporting director for Beitar Jerusalem, the club that he last played for.[5]

  1. ^ a b "Yossi Benayoun". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Yossi Benayoun". Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Yossi Benayoun". National Football Teams.
  4. ^ "Top Israelis to Play in Europe". FootballExpress.co.uk. 24 May 2023.
  5. ^ Joshua Halickman (14 August 2019). "A complete culture change in Beitar Jerusalem". thejpost.com. Retrieved 10 September 2019.

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