Shavit Elimelech (; born 7 September 1971) 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 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 ...

goalkeeper. He started playing in the

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 League. His first game took place in 1988–89 in a game between Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's lead ...

. From 1988 to 1992 he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv's first team. In 1992, he transferred to Ironi Rishon LeZion and reached the final of the State Cup with this team in 1995–96. At the end of the 1996 season, Elimelech moved 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 ...

. With Hapoel Tel Aviv, he won three National Cups in (1999, 2000, 2006), one Championship in (2000) and one

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 ...

in (2002). During these seasons, Elimelech was acknowledged for his impressive one-on-one goalkeeping abilities and his success in stopping penalty kicks (both the 1999 and 2000 cups were obtained after penalty-shoot-outs, in which Elimelech stopped several opponent shots). Hapoel also reached the quarter-final of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

while Elimelech was in goal displaying impressive reflexes and shot stopping abilities. His most memorable performance during that season was in the 1–1 draw against Chelsea in London, a result which was enough for Hapoel to qualify to the next round, after winning the first match in Tel Aviv 2–0. In April 2007, Elimelech spoke out against the management at Hapoel Tel Aviv, where fans considered him a symbol of the club. In retaliation, Hapoel's management opted to suspend the keeper until the end of his contract. Elimelech was eventually released from his contract and he signed with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. His first game 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 ...

was on 18 January 1999 in a friendly match between Israel and

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which Israel won 7–0.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elimelech, Shavit 1971 births Living people Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli men's footballers Israel men's international footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Footballers from Tel Aviv Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Men's association football goalkeepers Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients