Klemi Saban, (; born February 17, 1980), is a retired

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

football defender 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 ...

. Saban is mostly known for playing at

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 ...

, there he played 6 years, captained the club and won over 200 caps in all club competitions.

Biography

Rahamim (Klemi) Saban was born in

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

. His younger brother

Avi Avi is a given name, usually masculine, often a diminutive of Avram (given name), Avram, Avraham, etc. It is sometimes feminine and a diminutive of the Hebrew spelling of Abigail (name), Abigail. People with the given name include: * Avi (author ...

is also a footballer who played in the lower divisions of Israeli football. His father played at midfield for Beitar Netanya.

Sports career

Saban began his career in

and then played for several teams –

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

- in

before joining

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n club Steaua București on June 28, 2006. Saban was signed by Steaua București in June 2006, and was set to become the first Israel to play in the Romanian Divizia A. But he ended up staying on the bench for Steaua's league opener and did not make his league debut until August 5, 2006. By then, Kobi Nachtailer had already become the first Israeli to play in the league because he started his club's (

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

) first match of the season. His club debut came earlier though when he featured in a

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 ...

qualifying match against

ND Gorica Nogometno društvo Gorica, commonly referred to as ND Gorica or simply Gorica, is a Slovenian football club based in Nova Gorica that competes in the Slovenian Second League, the second tier of Slovenian football. They are one of the most succ ...

. Saban was responsible for Steaua's last goal of the match as he was tripped up in the penalty area and the official gave Steaua a penalty kick that sealed a 3–0 victory for them. After one year in

Saban returned to Israel, to Maccabi Netanya and signed a four-year contract. In June 2010 Saban signed a two-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 ...

for a transfer fee of $180,000. Saban was a member of the

team for which he won 25 caps. He also won 11 caps in the Under 21 squad. He scored his first goal on 10 September 2008 against Moldova in the World Cup 2010 qualifier.

Honours

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 ...

**Winner (1): 2005–06 **''Runner-up (2):'' 2001–02, 2007–08 *

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 ...

**Winner (2): 2001–02, 2004–05 * Israeli Second Division **Winner (1): 1998–99 *

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

**''Runner-up (1):'' 2006–07

References

External links

* * 1980 births Living people Jewish Israeli sportspeople Footballers from Netanya Israeli men's footballers Israel men's international footballers Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players FCSB players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Hapoel Acre F.C. players Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Romania Israeli Premier League players Liga I players Israeli football managers Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. managers Beitar Tel Aviv Bat Yam F.C. managers F.C. Ashdod managers Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Men's association football defenders 21st-century Israeli sportsmen {{Israel-footy-defender-stub

Biography

Sports career

Honours

See also

References

External links