Eitan Tibi (or Eytan, ; born 16 November 1987) 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 as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

and the Israel national team.

Early life

Tibi was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, 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.

Club career

Tibi started his career in the youth teams of Beitar Haifa and

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. () is an Israeli professional football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. After winning their first championship in 1971, the club's golden period last ...

. In 2006–07 he signed for

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 ...

for four years at the age of 19. On his senior year with the club he could not break into the first team and in 2007–08 he was loaned to

Hapoel Ra'anana Hapoel Ra'anana Association Football Club (, ''Amutat Hapoel Ra'anana Mahleket Kaduregel'') is an Israeli football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to s ...

. In 2008–09 he was loaned again to HaKoach Ramat Gan. In 2009–10 Tibi returned to Beitar Jerusalem and played 21 league games with the club, before signing a two-years contract with the Belgian side

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. After just 9 games with the club and his inability to find a place in the starting lineup, he decided to return to Israel. In January 2011 Tibi signed a -year contract with

Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Football Club () known as Ironi Kiryat Shmona is a professional football club based in Kiryat Shmona, in the northern district of Israel. The club is a current member of the Israeli Premier League, and plays at the Iro ...

. In 2011–12 he was a key part in the historic championship title win of Ironi Kiryat Shmona, together with the

Toto Cup Al The Israel Toto Cup (, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League Ligat Ha'Al; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of these leagues a ...

win. At the end of that season he made his debut for the Israel national team against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 29 August 2012, Tibi signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

, after long negotiations with Ironi Kiryat Shmona owner Izi Sheratzky about the release-clause in his contract. With arbitration advice, it appeared the

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

300,000 release-clause was valid and Tibi was allowed to join Maccabi. He made his debut for the club on 3 September 2012, in the first gameweek of the season, against Maccabi Netanya. His remarkable form in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

made Tibi a vital part in the middle of defense for Maccabi, together with Carlos García, and he was lined-up 34 times in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

. He scored his first goal for Maccabi on 2 March 2013 in an away match against

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 ...

. In that season he won his second consecutive championship title and his first one with Maccabi Tel Aviv. On 17 July 2013, he made his first appearance in a

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

match, in the second qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

against

Győri ETO FC ETO FC Győr (''Egyetértés Torna Osztály Futball Club Győr''; ''Concordance Gymnastics Department Football Club of Győr'') or just ETO is a Hungarian professional football club from the city of Győr. They are best known for reaching the se ...

. Maccabi eventually qualified to the

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 ...

. Tibi started 2013–14 season extremely well, leading the club to a new Israeli Premier League record, after Maccabi Tel Aviv conceded its first goal of the season only in the 45th minute of the 7th gameweek. The previous record was held by

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli professional football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1962–63, 1965–66 and 1973–74, 2 ...

in 1998–99. He won the 2013–14 season's championship with Maccabi. In 2014–15, he won with Maccabi the third consecutive championship, this season he also won the State Cup and

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup (, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League Ligat ha'Al, Ligat Ha'Al; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of the ...

. In 2015–16, he qualified with Maccabi to the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. In the 2015–16 season in the Israeli Premier League, Tibi lost with Maccabi the championship to

. He signed a contract extension with Maccabi for three years in the end of the season.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

On 28 June 2021, Tibi signed for two years at

International career

In 2012 Tibi made his debut for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

. His form at his club,

, has made him a first-team regular, playing steadily for the national team under the lead of

Eli Guttman Israel "Eli" Guttman (or Gutman, ; born 24 February 1958) is an Israeli former football player and manager who most recently managed Maccabi Haifa, before officially announcing his retirement from the football world, stating health issues as the m ...

and maintaining good performances.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first.''

Honours

; Beitar Jerusalem *

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 ...

(1): 2006–07 ; Ironi Kiryat Shmona *

(1): 2011–12 *

(1): 2011–12 ; Maccabi Tel Aviv *

(5):

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019-20 * State Cup (2): 2014–15,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

(4): 2014–15, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020-21 *

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

(2):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

;Hapoel Be'er Sheva * State Cup (1): 2021–22, 2024–25 *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* * * *
Profile
on One.co.il {{DEFAULTSORT:Tibi, Eitan 1987 births Living people Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli men's footballers Israel men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. players Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan F.C. players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players Belgian Pro League players Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Footballers from Jerusalem 21st-century Israeli sportsmen