Taleb Tawatha (or Twatha, , ; born ) is a former 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 lea ...

who plays 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 ...

. Tawatha started his career at

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 ...

, where he won

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 ...

title in 2011 and 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 ...

in 2016. He became an integral part of the club's defence, making 204 appearances over the course of seven seasons. In July 2016, Tawatha signed for German club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for a transfer fee of €1.5 million, and was part of the team that won the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

in 2018. In August 2019, he was released and two weeks later signed as a free agent with Bulgarian club

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

. A youth international for Israel from under-16 to under-21 level, Tawatha made his senior debut in 2011. He also holds a

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

ese citizenship.

Early life

Tawatha was born in

Jisr az-Zarqa Jisr az-Zarqa ( lit. ''The blue bridge'', ; often shortened as Jisr) is an Israeli Arab town on Israel's northern Mediterranean coastal plain. Located just north of Caesarea within the Haifa District, it achieved local council status in 1963. A ...

, Israel, to an Arab-Muslim family of

ese and

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

descent.

Career

Maccabi Haifa

Tawatha trained in the youth teams of

. In 2009 he made his debut appearance in the senior team. His break-through season was 2010/2011 in which he helped Maccabi Haifa to win the

championship, scored one goal and assisted five from his position as a left defender. Tawatha won the "Young Discovery Award" and was included in the MVP team of the season. In 2016 he won the Israeli State Cup with Maccabi Haifa.

Eintracht Frankfurt

In July 2016, Tawatha was signed by German club

for a transfer fee of 1.5 million Euros. On 19 May 2018, he won the

with Eintracht Frankfurt after they defeated

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

3–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 11 September 2019, Tawatha joined

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

side

as a free agent.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first.''

Honours

Maccabi Haifa *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2020–21, 2021–22 *

: 2015–16 *

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 ...

: 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 ...

Eintracht Frankfurt *

: 2017–18; runner-up: 2016–17 Ludogorets Razgrad *

: 2019–20

References

External links

*
Taleb Tawatha
at Maccabi Haifa Profile
Taleb Tawatha
at IFA National Profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Tawatha, Taleb 1992 births Living people Israeli men's footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Haifa District Arab-Israeli footballers Sudanese men's footballers Bedouin Israelis 21st-century Israeli sportsmen Israeli Muslims Israeli people of Sudanese descent Naturalized citizens of Sudan Sudanese Muslims Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Eintracht Frankfurt players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Bundesliga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Israel men's international footballers Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Germany Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Israel men's youth international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers