Najwan Ghrayib (, ; born January 30, 1974) is an

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 ...

i former footballer and former manager of his hometown club

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Maccabi Akhi Nazareth Football Club (; ) is an Israeli football club based in Nazareth. The club is currently in the and plays at the Ilut Stadium in Ilut on the outskirts of the city. History The club was formed in 1968, and played in Liga ...

. Between 2009 and 2010, he was the assistant manager at Maccabi Ahi Nazareth to John Gregory, his former boss at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Club career

Israel

Ghrayib came up through the youth ranks at

, and finally got his debut in 1992 at the age of 18 playing for them in the

Liga Alef Liga Alef () is the third tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into two regional divisions, north and south. History League football began in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Howe ...

, the third tier of Israeli football. His consistently strong performances won him a move to

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 ...

side Maccabi Haifa in 1994, where he won the championship with them in his first season there. A short stint at Maccabi Petah Tikva in 1995 followed, after which he made another move to

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 1997.

England

After a successful season at Hapoel Haifa, Ghrayib received interest from English club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. He was set to join the team for the

1999–2000 FA Premier League The 1999–2000 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the FA Premier League, and Manchester United secured their sixth Premiership title. Like the previous season, they lost o ...

season, and even appeared on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

video game FA Premier League Stars as a Tottenham player, however his proposed transfer eventually fell through. That is when

decided to make an offer after club scout

Ross MacLaren Ross MacLaren, sometimes erroneously spelled McLaren, (born 14 April 1962) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Playing career MacLaren was born in Edinburgh. His league career in En ...

declared him to be the best left back he had ever seen. Aston Villa paid £1 million for his transfer but Ghrayib saw very little first-team action and was sold back to Hapoel Haifa for just £150,000 in February 2001.

Return to Israel

His return to Hapoel Haifa saw him spend another two years at the club before moving back to his boyhood club

for one season, winning promotion back to the

with them before moving again to Hapoel Petah Tikva. The 2004–05 season saw him return to

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 ...

before finishing out his career with

, retiring at the end of the 2005–06 season.

International career

Ghrayib made 18 appearances for the Israel national team. He started and scored the final goal in Israel's 5–0 victory over Austria in the qualification rounds for the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

tournament. The Israeli team finished second behind Spain in its qualifying group with 13 points, guaranteeing them a play-off against Denmark for a spot in the final tournament, which they had never reached before. Ghrayib did not play or make the 18-man squad for either of the two legs of the fixture as they lost by an aggregate score of 8–0.

Arab-Israeli identity

Ghrayib has generated controversy by speaking out publicly about the treatment afforded Arabs in Israel and his

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

heritage, an issue not normally discussed in Israeli media given the contentious nature of the subject matter. In one widely publicized interview with a local Haifa newspaper ('Kolbo' or 'Department' in English), he referred to then-Israeli Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

as a 'dog', 'coming from a party that hates Arabs', and compared him to former Iraqi dictator

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. The response of the Israeli public to this interview was indicative of what Shor, Eran, and Yonay (2011) describe as a "shut up and play" mentality; many of the responses to this interview were either that Ghrayib should not be commenting on politics as he was simply an athlete, or that he was simply an Arab, and "...all Arabs hate us sraelis..so deport him to Palestine!" Soon after, Ghrayib issued subsequent statements explaining that he was "just joking" and apologizing for anyone he had offended, despite some asserting that his views reflected those of the moderate Arab population in Israel.Shor, Eran and Yonay, Yuval(2011) ''Play and shut up: the silencing of Palestinian athletes in Israeli media'', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34: 2, 229 — 247, First published on: 10 September 2010 (iFirst)

Honours

: 1998–99, 2004–05 * State Cup: 1994–95 *

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 ...

: 2000–01

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghrayib, Najwan 1974 births Living people Arab citizens of Israel Israeli men's footballers Arab-Israeli footballers Premier League players Aston Villa F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Maccabi Akhi Nazareth F.C. players Israel men's international footballers Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Israeli expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from Nazareth Israeli football managers Maccabi Akhi Nazareth F.C. managers Hapoel Bnei Lod F.C. managers Men's association football defenders