Yoav Saffar (; September 30, 1975) is an Israeli former basketball player. He played the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

position. He was a member of the 2000 and 2001

Israeli Basketball Premier League Quintet The Israeli Basketball Premier League Quintet, or Israeli Basketball Super League Quintet, is an award given to the 5 best players of each season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top-tier level men's professional basketball le ...

Biography

Saffar was born in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

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 ...

. He is tall. He played for

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 ...

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball), and internationally in the Basketball Champions League. The ...

, Maccabi Raanana, and

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon (), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli basketball, and internationally in t ...

. In 2013, nine years after Saffar retired, he returned and played nine minutes for Holon in a game. He was a member of the 2000 and 2001

. Saffar was also a member of the

Israel men's national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA Men's World Ranking, FIBA World Ran ...

. He played in the 1996 FIBA European Championship for Men 22 and Under, 1999 FIBA European Championship for Men, 2001 FIBA European Championship for Men, and 2003 FIBA European Championship for Men. He earned a degree in business at the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

in 2010. Saffar then moved to

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. He owns SushiGami, a Japanese restaurant in the Sawgrass Mills Mall in

Sunrise, Florida Sunrise is a city in central-western Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 97,335 at the time of the 2020 census. History Early history In ...

. In 2015, he played for the

Miami Midnites The Miami Midnites are a professional minor league basketball team based in Miami, Florida. Established in 2014, the club was an affiliate of the Maccabi Haifa B.C. of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. The team is owned by Jeffrey Rosen (bus ...

, a professional minor league affiliate of

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 ...

, in the

Florida Basketball Association The Florida Basketball Association (FBA) is a semi-professional men's basketball sports league, league that began play in the fall of 2012 with teams in Orlando, Lake Wales, and Palm Beach Gardens. The commissioner of the FBA is former NBA playe ...

References

External links

"Mac. TA's Yoav Saffar Waits, for the Moment"
''Haaretz'', December 17, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saffar, Yoav 1975 births Living people Basketball players from Miami Hapoel Holon B.C. players Hapoel Galil Elyon players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli men's basketball players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players People from Jaffa Sportspeople from Tel Aviv District Wharton School alumni