Arik Yanko (; born 21 December 1991) is an Israeli 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 plays for Hapoel Rishon LeZion.

Biography

Playing career

Arik Yanko starting playing youth football with

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 ...

. As a youth team player, Yanko cracked four teeth during a derby match against Maccabi but played out the entire match. This endeared him to the youth team staff who saw the young goalkeeper as having a strong character. Yanko made his league debut in a

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

match against Maccabi Petah Tikva on 4 April 2009 when he replaced Ben Luz in the 80th minute after back up goalkeeper Yaniv Mizrahi was red-carded. In October 2009, Yanko said that that moment was by far the most exciting moment of his career.

International career

Yanko represented Israel at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games (), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Poli ...

, winning a bronze medal. In 2013, Yanko was a part of Israel U21 squad.Competitions
UEFA

References

Footnotes

1991 births Living people Footballers from Rishon LeZion Israeli men's footballers Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan F.C. players Hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Maccabi Bnei Reineh F.C. players Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C. players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players Maccabiah Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for Israel Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Israel men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers 21st-century Israeli sportsmen {{Israel-footy-goalkeeper-stub