Toto Adaruns Tamuz Temile (; born 1 April 1988) is a Nigerian-born Israeli former professional
footballer who played as a
forward.
Born in Nigeria, he grew up in Israel from infancy after his father, Nigerian footballer
Clement Temile, moved there. From 2006 to 2007, he made ten appearances for the
Israel national team, scoring twice.
Early life
Born in
Warri, Nigeria, his parents came to Israel in 1990, where his father, Nigerian footballer
Clement Temile, played professionally for
Beitar Netanya. His cousins
Omonigho Temile and
Frank Temile were also footballers. When Beitar Netanya ran into financial difficulties and was forced to stop paying salaries, his parents reverted to working various odd jobs. His parents left Israel in 1991 to try to find gainful employment in Nigeria or elsewhere, leaving Toto temporarily with a teammate of his father. When it became obvious that his parents were not coming back for him, Toto was
adopted (unofficially) by Israeli citizen Orit Tamuz who cared for him and raised him as her own child, which is where his
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
surname Tamuz derives from. Although it is unclear if he formally
converted to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...
, it was stated in a 2007
Ynetnews article that Tamuz was raised
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, attending the synagogue on
holidays
A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...
and performing
kiddush each Friday.
Club career
Tamuz started to play organised
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 ...
at
Hapoel Petah Tikva, where he made his professional debut during the
2005–06 Israeli Premier League in a match against
F.C. Ashdod. His debut made national headlines after he scored two goals during the match.
Beitar Jerusalem
Tamuz signed a deal with Ronen Katzav making him his agent. After declaring on numerous occasions that he was not interested in a big money contract, he ended up declaring his will to be transferred to
Beitar Jerusalem citing moves made by the management of the club.
After officially signing with Beitar, Tamuz had to apply for visas to the Netherlands and Romania to join the club for its training camps because he possessed an Israeli travel document and not an Israeli passport.
Tamuz won five titles as a Beitar Jerusalem player: two championships, two
State Cups and one
Toto Cup. On his way to win the Toto Cup, Tamuz scored five of Beitar Jerusalem's 15 goals in the 2009–10 Toto Cup.
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Tamuz signed for
Hapoel Tel Aviv in August 2010 for undisclosed fee. On 11 September, he scored on his league debut for Hapoel in a 2–2 draw with
Hapoel Acre.
Petrolul Ploiești
In February 2014, Tamuz signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to play for
Petrolul Ploiești. He scored his first goal on 2 March, against
Oțelul Galați, in
Liga I
Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...
. On 16 April, he scored a header in the semi-finals second leg in
Cupa României, against
Astra Giurgiu, but Petrolul lost 2–1 on aggregate.
On 7 August 2014, Tamuz scored the last goal of an eventual 4–1 win against
Viktoria Plzeň, in the
Europa League third qualifying round second leg. Tamuz also scored against
Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg of the play-off, but Petrolul lost the match 3–1. After a good season debut with Petrolul, he was called up to the
Israel national team to play in the
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. On 21 September, Tamuz scored a doppietta against
Steaua București, but unfortunately, Petrolul lost the match 3–2.
In July 2016, Tamuz signed a short-term deal with
China League One club
Hunan Billows. He scored two goals in ten league appearances for the club.
On 19 January 2017, Tamuz signed to
Hapoel Tel Aviv until the end of the season.
International career
Israeli citizenship
Though most of his formulative years were spent in Israel, Tamuz still did not carry full Israeli
citizenship
Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
. His legal status in Israel was indeterminable for many years until then Deputy Interior Minister
Ruhama Avraham granted him an Israeli A1 visa granting
temporary resident status for a term of three years. After petitioning to
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
, and given that he has no other citizenship, Tamuz received special permission to play on Israel national teams even though he still did not possess an Israeli passport, but only an Israeli
laissez-passer. After his temporary visa expired, Tamuz was unable to play for the Israel national team until he received full Israeli citizenship, a process which could take three years. The Israel Interior Office had refused attempts to fast-track his application. However, his eligibility was confirmed when his case was taken to the Israeli Supreme Court. After Tamuz began the formal naturalisation process, he was named in the Israeli squad for matches against
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
in March 2007. Three months later in 2007, Tamuz was granted full
Israeli citizenship along with
Roberto Colautti
Roberto Damián Colautti (; born 24 May 1982) is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. He began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Boca Juniors, Boca Juniors and j ...
(originally from Argentina), after their respective applications were approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs
Roni Bar-On
Roni Bar-On (; born 2 June 1948) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 2003 and 2011, and is also a former Finance Minister of Israel, Minister of Finance.
Biography
Bar-On was bo ...
.
Appearances for Israel
On 6 September 2006, Tamuz made his debut for
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 ...
at the age of 18, against
Andorra
Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...
in a
UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...
match (played at
Goffertstadion,
Nijmegen
Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...
, but classed as a home tie). He scored on his debut, and on 6 June 2007, and against the same opponents, he scored again.
[
]
Career statistics
:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tamuz goal.''
Honours
[
Beitar Jerusalem:
* Israeli Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08
*]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 ...
: 2007–08, 2008–09
* Toto Cup: 2009–10
Hapoel Tel Aviv:
* Israeli Premier League: runner-up 2010–11, 2011–12
*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 ...
: 2010–11, 2011–12
* Toto Cup: runner-up 2011–12
Individual
* Israeli Premier League top scorer: 2010–11 (21 goals)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamuz, Toto
1988 births
Living people
People from Warri
Israeli men's footballers
Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players
Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players
Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players
FC Ural Yekaterinburg players
FC Petrolul Ploiești players
Hunan Billows F.C. players
Israeli Premier League players
Liga I players
Russian Premier League players
Liga II players
China League One players
Israeli expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Romania
Expatriate men's footballers in Russia
Expatriate men's footballers in China
Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Romania
Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Russia
Israeli expatriate sportspeople in China
Israel men's international footballers
Israeli people of Nigerian descent
Israel men's under-21 international footballers
Naturalized citizens of Israel
Nigerian emigrants to Israel
Men's association football forwards
Toto
21st-century Israeli sportsmen