Avraham "Avi" Ben-Chimol ( he, אבי בן-שימול; born May 22, 1985) is an Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for Maccabi Haifa of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. He was the Israeli Premier League Assists Leader in 2018 and 2019.

Early years

Ben-Chimol was born in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, he played for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) 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 ...

youth team, he also played for Ironi Tet high-school team and led them to win the state championship in 2003.

Professional career

Ben-Chimol started his professional career with

. In his first season with Maccabi, he won the Israeli League, Israeli Cup and Euroleague titles. On May 1, 2004, Ben-Chimol recorded 2 points and 1 assist in the

EuroLeague Final The EuroLeague Finals are the championship finals of the EuroLeague competition. The EuroLeague is the highest level tier, and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe. Title holders * ......1958 Rīgas ASK * 195 ...

match against Skipper Bologna. On August 6, 2009, Ben-Chimol signed with Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the 2009–10 season. On June 17, 2010, Ben-Chimol signed a two-year deal with Maccabi Haifa. On July 31, 2013, Ben-Chimol signed a two-year deal with

Bnei Herzliya Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...

. On October 14, 2014, Ben-Chimol signed with

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sports ...

for the 2014–15 season. On July 24, 2015, Ben-Chimol returned to Maccabi Rishon LeZion for a second stint, signing a two-year deal. That season, he helped Rishon LeZion to win the 2016 Israeli League Championship. On October 23, 2016, Ben-Chimol signed a one-year contract extension with Maccabi Rishon LeZion. In his fourth season with Rishon LeZion, Ben-Chimol participated in the Israeli League All-Star Game. He finished the season as the Israeli League Assists Leader by averaging 7.2 per game. On July 9, 2018, Ben-Chimol returned to Hapoel Eilat for a second stint, signing a two-year deal. He was again the Israeli Premier League Assists Leader in 2019. He averaged 7.2 points and 5.7 assists per game during the 2019-20 season. On August 19, 2020, Ben-Chimol signed one-year deal with Maccabi Haifa.

Israel national team

Ben-Chimol is a member of the

Israel national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 33rd in the ...

. On November 24, 2017, He made his first appearance for the senior team at the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification was the first FIBA Basketball World Cup, World Cup for which teams had to qualify for under the new qualification system. The process determined 31 out of the 32 teams that participated at the 2019 ...

in a match against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Ben-Chimol was a member of the Israeli National Under-20 team. he helped the team to reach the 2004 FIBA Europe Under-20 Finals, where they eventually lost to

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

References

External links

RealGM.com profile

Basket.co.il profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Chimol, Avi 1985 births Living people Hapoel Eilat basketball players Hapoel Gilboa Galil players Ironi Ramat Gan players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli men's basketball players Maccabi Ashdod B.C. players Maccabi Haifa B.C. players Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players People from Kfar Saba Point guards