Ilay Eliyau Elmkies (or Elmakayes, ; born ) 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

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 ...

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 Ironi Tiberias. He has been capped by the Israel national team.

Early and personal life

Elmkies was born and raised in

Nahariya Nahariya () is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. As of , the city had a population of . The city was founded in 1935 by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton River, Ga'aton (riv ...

, Israel, to an Israeli family of both

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jews, Jewish c ...

and

Sephardi 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 ...

(

French-Jewish The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsio ...

) descent. He also holds a French passport, on account of his Sephardi Jewish (French-Jewish) ancestors, which eases the move to certain European football leagues. Elmkies speaks

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and has quickly mastered

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. A film looking at the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

experience in the German village of

Hoffenheim Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191. History The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentioned ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

aired in 2018 at the Sinsheimer Citydome. He played a leading role, and provided commentary in all three languages.

Club career

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern for ...

youth product in Germany, Elmkies was promoted to the club's senior reserve team

1899 Hoffenheim II TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II is the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, based in Hoffenheim, Baden-Württemberg. The team has been playing in the tier four Regionalliga ...

in 2019.

International career

He also plays for the Israel national Under-21 team since 2019. Elmkies received his first call-up to the senior Israel national team in October 2019 ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers matches against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. He made his senior debut on 15 October 2019 in a home match against Latvia; he was substituted in the 76' minute, as his native Israel won 3–1. On 7 September 2020, he scored his first goal – an equalizer in the 91' minute for the senior Israeli squad in a

2020–21 UEFA Nations League The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League was the second season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from Septembe ...

home match against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, that ended in a 1–1 draw.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Elmkies goal''.

References

External links

* * 2000 births Living people Israeli Sephardi Jews Footballers from Nahariya Israeli men's footballers Israeli Mizrahi Jews 21st-century Israeli sportsmen TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players ADO Den Haag players Admira Wacker players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Ironi Tiberias F.C. players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players Eredivisie players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian Regionalliga players Israeli Premier League players Men's association football midfielders Israel men's international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Israel men's youth international footballers Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Germany Israeli expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Austria Israeli people of French-Jewish descent Naturalized citizens of France {{Israel-footy-midfielder-stub