Lior Refaelov (or Rafaelov, he, ליאור רפאלוב; born 26 April 1986) 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or as a winger for

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

. He began his career at

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) 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 Footbal ...

, where he won the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested ...

three times. In 2011, he transferred to Club Brugge for €2.5 million. With the Belgian side, he won two first division titles in 2016 and 2018 and scored the winning goal in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

final in 2015. Refaelov made his senior international debut in 2007, and has since earned 40

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scored 6 goals for the Israel national team.

Early and personal life

Refaelov was born in

Or Akiva Or Akiva ( he, אוֹר עֲקִיבָא) (''light of Akiva''–in memory of Rabbi Akiva who was tortured and killed at this locale) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, on the country's coastal plain. It is located just inland f ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, to Mountain Jewish (Kavkazim) parents who

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North ...

to Israel prior to his birth. He married his Israeli girlfriend Gal ( Aviv) in 2012.

Club career

In 1998, Refaelov began to play in

youth teams. In the 2002–03 season he moved up from the under-16 team to the youth team of the club, and scored in his first match against Neve Yossef. During the 2003–04 season he scored 7 goals in the youth team, lead it to the youth championship and won the best player award.

Maccabi Haifa

Refaelov scored his first goal in the senior during the 2005–06 season on a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

against Hapoel Nazareth Illit, a game which Haifa won 6–0. In the 2008–09 season, he finished with 9 goals as Maccabi Haifa won the Israeli league championship for the 11th time. At the conclusion of the 2010–11 season, he was voted 'Player of the Year' in the Israeli football.

Club Brugge

On 20 June 2011, Refaelov signed with

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

for a fee of €4 million euro and 15% from the next sale. In his first season with the Brugge he scored 7 goals and made 9 assists in all club competition as the club finished as runners-up in the Belgian league. In the next season, Refalov had a great form as he scored 12 goals and made 10 assists. In the 2013–14 season he scored 5 goals and made 14 assists and was one of the most valuable players of the club as they finished third in the league. On 6 November 2014, he scored a hat-trick as Brugge won 4–0 away to

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

to go top of their

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

group. On 22 March 2015, he scored with an added-time volley the winning goal in the

final, as Brugge defeated

for their first trophy in eight years. A year later he repeated the feat, scoring in the 2016 Belgian Cup Final, however this time around Club Brugge lost the final 1–2 to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

. That same season, he helped Club Brugge win their first league title in 11 years, making 15 league appearances as the club edged out Gent in the final days of the campaign.

Royal Antwerp

On 30 August 2018, Refaelov joined fellow Belgian First Division A side Royal Antwerp on an initial season-long loan. He scored his first goal for the club in a 5–1 league victory over

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

on 16 September. On 9 December, Refaelov netted twice in a 3–0 victory over Cercle Brugge K.S.V., moving within four points of league leaders Genk through 18 matches. In May 2019, Refaelov made his move to Antwerp permanent, signing a contract with the club until 2021. On 1 August 2020, Refaelov scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over his former team Club Brugge in the 2020 Belgian Cup Final. On 29 October 2020, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United ...

. In January 2021, he was awarded with the Belgian Golden Shoe for 2020. He became the third Antwerp player to win the Golden Boot and the first since

Wilfried Van Moer Wilfried van Moer (1 March 1945 – 24 August 2021) was a Belgian footballer who won the Belgian Golden Shoe three times, first in 1966 while at Antwerp then in 1969 and in 1970 while at Standard Liège. Prior to 1966 Van Moer played with ...

in 1966. Refaelov collected 271 points from the 196 ballots, ahead of Beerschot midfielder Raphael Holzhauser (187) and the prolific Genk striker Paul Onuachu (86).

Anderlecht

On 26 April 2021, it was announced that Refaelov would move to Belgian First Division A side

on 1 July, signing a two-year contract. On 5 December 2021, Refaelov scored a brace in a 3–2 home win against

International career

Refaelov represented Israel in the

2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the second edition of UEFA's UEFA European Under-17 Championship. Portugal hosted the championship, during 7–17 May. The format of the competition changed, and only 8 teams entered the competition ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, scoring his international youth side's only goal in the tournament in a 1–2 loss to England U-17 on 7 May 2003. As part of the Israel U-21, he won the Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament 2006. He made his debut for the Israeli senior national side in an friendly against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

on 22 August 2007, replacing Idan Tal for the last nine minutes of a 1–2 away defeat. His next appearance came in another friendly match on 27 May 2010, against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

at the Estadio Centenario in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern ...

; he scored the equaliser in a 1–4 away defeat. On 15 March 2022, Refaelov announced his retirement from the Israel national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Club

Maccabi Haifa *

: 2005–06, 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Israel Toto Cup (Ligat Ha'Al): 2005–06 Club Brugge *

: 2015–16, 2017–18 *

: 2014–15 Belgian Cup, 2014–15 * Belgian Super Cup: 2016 Royal Antwerp *Belgian Cup: 2019–20