Maxim "Max" Plakuschenko (, ; born January 4, 1996) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who plays 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

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 ...

. Born in Ukraine, he has represented Israel at youth level.

Early life

Plakuschenko was born in

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. At the age of 3, he immigrated to

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 ...

with his family and resided in the city of

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata () also spelled Qiryat Ata, is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of , 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. History The Early Bronze Age site at Kiryat Ata has been extensively excavated since 1990, reveal ...

Club career

By the age of 6, he began to play football in the youth division of

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 ...

. On 21 February 2015, he made his debut in the club's senior team, when he entered as a substitute in the 90th minute in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

. On 23 January 2019, he joined

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 ...

on a 3.5 year deal worth €150,000 per season In June 2023, Plakuschenko returned to Israel with

following a short spell in Hungary with

Budapest Honvéd Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

International career

Plakuschenko is capped as a youth International for Israel. In 2018 he was called up for the

Israel national football team The Israel national football team () represents Israel in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Israel Football Association. They have been members of the European Confederation UEFA since 1994. Israel qua ...

Honours

Club

;

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

(1): 2017–18 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions (, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champions and the winner of the late ...

(1): 2018–19

References