Baruch Dego (or Barukh, he, ברוך דגו; born 28 March 1982) is an Ethiopian-born

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 ...

i former association

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 ...

, who played for the Israel national team.

Early life

Dego was born in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, to an Ethiopian-Jewish family. He immigrated to

in the 1990's, with his parents and younger brothers. His younger brother

Messay Dego Messay Dego ( he, מסאי דגו; born February 15, 1986) is an Ethiopian-born Israeli former association footballer and a manager, who played for the Israel U21 national team. Early life Dego was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian ...

is also a former association footballer, who played for the Israel U21 national team, and is currently the manager of

Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל כפר סבא, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Kfar Saba'') is an Israeli football club based in Kfar Saba. The club competes in the Liga Leumit and plays home matches at Levita Stadiu ...

Sports career

Dego initially played for Maccabi Ironi Ashdod In 2000-2001 he was transferred to

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 ...

, winning the championship and three national trophies. In 2004/05, he was the only player to score for Maccabi in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

group stage. He scored two goals against Ajax Amsterdam in the local win 2–1, one goal from penalty against Juventus (1–1) and another penalty goal at Bayern Munich (5–1 to Bayern). After spending 3 seasons with Hapoel Tel Aviv winning two more Israeli State Cup he moved to Maccabi Natanya which was coached by

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

He played one official match before being released and signing a two-year contract with F.C. Ashdod. He reunited with his former coach

Nir Klinger Nir Klinger ( he, ניר קלינגר; born 25 May 1966) is an Israeli football coach and former player. During the 1990s, Klinger served as Captain for Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national football team. He was the coach of Maccabi Tel ...

at Nea Salamis Famagusta FC. On 28 May Apollon Limassol announced that Dego
signed a two-year contract with the club. Dego reunited with his former

attack partner Aldo Adorno with whom he played with during the 2003–2004 season. On 6 July 2011, he joined Ironi Ramat HaSharon. He was released in the middle of the 2012–13 season, and signed a contract to play for Hapoel Rishon LeZion of Israel's second league until the end of the season, with the hope of helping them to move up a league to Israel's top league for the next season.

Honours

Club

;Maccabi Tel-Aviv *

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 ...

(1): 2002–03 * Israel State Cup (2): 2001, 2002 ;Hapoel Tel-aviv * Israel State Cup (3): 2005, 2006, 2007

Individual

* Footballer of the Year in Israel (1): 2003

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dego, Baruch 1982 births Living people Ethiopian Jews Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Citizens of Israel through Law of Return Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli footballers Israel international footballers Maccabi Ironi Ashdod F.C. players F.C. Ashdod players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Apollon Limassol FC players Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon F.C. players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players Hapoel Ashkelon F.C. players Israeli expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players Cypriot First Division players Footballers from Ashdod Israel under-21 international footballers Association football wingers People from Addis Ababa Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients