Sean Goldberg (or Shon, ; born 13 June 1995) is an Israeli

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 center-back or as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

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 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 ...

and the Israel national team.

Early life

Goldberg was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

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 ...

, to a family of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

and of Italian-Jewish descent. He also holds an Italian passport, on account of his Italian-Jewish ancestry, which eases the move to certain European football leagues. He has graduated from the

Reichman University Reichman University () is Israel's only private university, located in Herzliya, Tel Aviv District. It was founded in 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC Herzliya, ) private college, before being rebranded in 2021. It receives n ...

(formerly the IDC Herzliya college) in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

, Israel, in May 2022, majoring in

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

Club career

Born in 1995, Goldberg started his football career with Israeli side

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 ...

youth team. On 1 July 2014, he was called up for

football team. On 26 October 2014, Goldberg made his senior

debut against Hapoel Acre, coming on as a substitute for Sheran Yeini at the 75th minute. Goldberg won the 2014–15 Toto Cup Al with Maccabi Tel Aviv. On February 3, 2015, Goldberg was loaned together with Ben Reichert to

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 ...

, as part of a deal in which Gili Vermouth was signed by Maccabi. On February 14, 2015, Goldberg made his debut for the club, coming in as a substitute in a 0–1 loss to

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

. He made nine appearances for the club in that season. On September 1, 2015, Goldberg moved to Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv on loan until the end of 2016-17 season. In May 2017 he won the

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 ...

with Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final. On September 4, 2017, he joined Beitar Jerusalem on loan for one season. A week later he made his debut for the club after coming in as a substitute in 2–1 victory over Maccabi Petah Tikva. Goldberg and Beitar finished the 2017–2018 season as the

runners-up after losing 1–3 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 the final. In the start of the 2018–19 season, Goldberg made a single appearance for

in the 2014–15 Toto Cup Al. On August 14, 2019, he was released from Maccabi Tel Aviv and signed with Hapoel Haifa for one season. On June 11, 2019, Goldberg signed with

. He made his debut for the club in the starting roster in a 1–1 draw against

KF Laçi Klubi i Futbollit Laçi is an Albanian professional football club based in Laç. The club competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is Laçi Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 2,271. Un ...

in the 2019–20 Europa League qualifiers, and assisted the goal which his team scored. In 2020 Goldberg extended his contract with the club for another season. On September 18 made the assist for his team's winning goal in a 2–1 victory against KF Laçi in the 2020–21 Europa League qualifiers, helping his team qualify to the next round. On June 10, 2021, Goldberg signed with

for 2 seasons. He made his debut for the club in a 0–2 loss to

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat () is a professional football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 as Lokomotiv Alma-Ata, they became Urozhay in 1955 and Kairat in 1956. ...

in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League qualifiers. On August 29 he made his league debut for the club in a 0–0 draw against Hapoel Hadera. At the end of the 2021–22 season he won the league championship and finished as runners-up in the

with Maccabi Haifa after losing to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the final.

International career

Goldberg was internationally capped for his native

at all the various youth teams: under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, and the under-21. On 17 March 2022, Goldberg was first called up to the Israel senior team, ahead of the friendly matches against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

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 ...

. On March 26, he made his senior debut for the Israel, opening in the 0–2 friendly away loss against

. Goldberg was selected as one of three overage players in Israel's squad to compete in the men's football tournament at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

.He was named the team's captain.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv *

: 2014–15 *

Israel 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; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of these leagues a ...

( Ligat Ha'Al): 2014–15 Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv *

: 2016–17 Maccabi Haifa *

: 2021–22, 2022-23 *

( Ligat Ha'Al): 2021–22 *

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 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Sean 1995 births Living people Footballers from Tel Aviv Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Italian Ashkenazi Jews Israeli men's footballers Italian men's footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Israeli people of Italian-Jewish descent Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Israel Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders Reichman University alumni Israel men's youth international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Israel men's international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Israeli sportsmen