Maor Bar Buzaglo (; born 14 January 1988) is an Israeli former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Early life

Buzaglo was born in

Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...

, Israel, to a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

family. He also holds a Portuguese passport, which eased his moved to some European football leagues.

Club career

Youth career

Buzaglo played for the youth clubs of

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

and

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

. In 2002, he went on trial to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and participated in a youth tournament. At this tournament he was scouted by

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

with whom he signed. After a year in France he returned to Israel joining

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

Hapoel Petah Tikva (loan)

Buzaglo played two matches for Maccabi Haifa, before being loaned out to

Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. () is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Petah Tikva, currently playing in Israeli Premier League. Its most successful period was throughout the 1950s and 1960s, in which the club won six League C ...

for the 2006–07 season. In 21 league matches for the club he scored five goals including a hat-trick against Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan in a 3–2 victory.

Bnei Sakhnin (loan)

Buzaglo spent the following 2007–08 season on loan at newly promoted club

Bnei Sakhnin Bnei Sakhnin F.C. (, , ) is an Israeli professional football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club among the Arab-Israeli clubs in the country, having won the State Cup in 2004. History Early years Bn ...

. He scored nine goals in the season while the club finished fourth in the league earning qualification for the opening rounds of the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

. He was named Discovery of the Year at the end of the season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 30 July 2008, Buzaglo left

and signed to a four-year contract with

after long negotiations between Haifa and his father (who is also his agent). In the last game of 2008–09 season Buzaglo tore his knee ligaments forcing him out of action for seven months. He returned midway through the 2009–10 season and went on to score 3 goals and assisting 5. He finished the 2010–11 season with four goals. At the end of the 2010–11 season he criticised the club publicly in an interview to the Israeli press which, along with his father's criticism, resulted in a misconduct fine and suspension from the club. On 26 June club owner

Mitchell Goldhar Mitchell Goldhar () is a Canadian billionaire and businessman. He owned SmartCentres, a firm that developed Walmart-anchored shopping malls in Canada and retains a significant ownership stake in its successor firm SmartCentres REIT. Since August 2 ...

announced that Buzaglo would no longer be part of the first-team's plans and instead be placed on the transfer list.

Standard Liège

On 19 August 2011, Buzaglo signed a two-year contract with Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

for a transfer fee of €440,000. In his first season with the club he made ten caps without any goals or assists. In his second and last season with the club he made 21 caps with a goal and two assists to his name.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

On 1 July 2013, Buzaglo signed a one-year contract with

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

, with option for two more years. In his first season at Be'er Sheva, he scored ten goals and assisted 14 becoming the highest assist provider of the 2013–14 season. On 15 September 2016, Buzaglo scored the second goal versus

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match, which lead to a 2–0 victory for his team (Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5–2 Inter Milan on aggregate).

Maccabi Haifa

In December 2017 Buzaglo re-injured one of his ACLs after a long period of recuperation, meaning that he would be unable to participate in the rest of the season as a

player.

Beitar Jerusalem

In August 2018, Buzaglo signed for

. Still not fully fit following the knee injury that had kept him out during the previous season, it was expected that he would be able to resume full training after a month. The transfer was subject to an agreement between the clubs that the contract would be cancelled if Buzaglo were to suffer a recurrence of the injury. He scored his first goal at

on 5 November 2018 with a free kick from 20 meters against

. On 21 May 2019, Buzaglo scored twice in a friendly match versus

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, at the

Teddy Stadium Teddy Stadium () is a sports stadium in Jerusalem. Two major Israeli football clubs currently use it as their home ground: Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem. The Israel national football team also uses it for select home matches. The stadi ...

of Jerusalem, where Beitar finished with a 2–1 win.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

On 29 June 2019, Buzaglo signed at

for two years.

Retirement

Buzaglo announced his retirement from playing in January 2022, aged 34.

International career

Buzaglo has represented his country from a very early age, from the

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

level to the senior team. At U19 level, Buzaglo scored 21 goals in 34 matches, including four goals in one game against Denmark in a Milk Cup match in 2007. For the Israel U21 team, Buzaglo scored three times in eight matches. Buzaglo made his senior international debut for the Israel national team against the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in a

EURO 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifier on 17 November 2007.

Personal life

Maor's father is Jacob Buzaglo a former Israeli footballer who played in the 70's and 80's for

, and

. Older brother Asi Buzaglo is also a former footballer, youngest brother Almog Buzaglo is an active player, and eldest brother Ohad Buzaglo is a football manager. Maor is married to Miran Nimni, Israeli former footballer

Avi Nimni Avi Nimni (; born 26 April 1972) is an Israeli former professional footballer and Maccabi Tel Aviv's highest ever scorer. He is regarded as one of Maccabi Tel Aviv's greatest players ever. Until 2006, he served as the captain of the Israel natio ...

's niece (as well as his former manager at Maccabi Tel Aviv). They had their first set of twins in 2012, and another set of twins in 2017.

Career statistics

Honours

Maccabi Haifa *

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

: 2005–06 Maccabi Tel Aviv * Toto cup top Division: 2008–09 Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions (, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champions and the winner of the late ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Toto cup top Division: 2016–17 Individual * Israeli Premier League Discovery of the Year: 2007–08 * Israeli Premier League Top Assist Provider: 2013–14 (14), 2014–15 (10)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buzaglo, Maor 1988 births Living people Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli Sephardi Jews Footballers from Holon Israeli men's footballers Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Standard Liège players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Israel men's international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Israel men's youth international footballers Belgian Pro League players Israeli Premier League players Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Men's association football midfielders Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent 21st-century Israeli sportsmen