Eliran Atar ( he, אלירן עטר; born 17 February 1987) is an 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 ...

who plays for Bnei Yehuda as a forward.

Early life

Atar was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

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 ...

, to a

Moroccan Jewish Moroccan Jews ( ar, اليهود المغاربة, al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba he, יהודים מרוקאים, Yehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews b ...

family.

Club career

Bnei Yehuda

On 7 February 2009, when playing for Bnei Yehuda, Atar scored from an overhead kick that was a candidate for the 2009 Puskás Award, though finishing fourth (i.e., the fourth most beautiful goal of that year). He became the top scorer of the 2008–09 Israeli Premier League season with 14 goals.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 7 May 2010, Atar signed a four-years contract with

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 ...

for a transfer fee of $1.2 million. On 26 August 2010 he was selected to the Player Of The Match with two amazing goals on the win 4–3 over PSG in the Europa League. Atar completed his first season with Maccabi as the club's top goalscorer with 18 league goals and 22 overall (all competitions) season goals. He attracts interest from

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

, 1. FC Nürnberg,

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

and Betis.

Reims

On 24 June Atar, signed a four-year deal with Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims.

Maccabi Haifa

On 15 January 2015, he signed a three half-year deal with

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 ...

side

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) 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 ...

International career

On 28 August 2010 Atar received his first call-up for the Israeli National Team squad for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualifiers against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

but was forced to withdrew himself from the squad due to an eye injury received in a league match against

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jerus ...

. In October 2012, Atar was called up again to Israeli squad before a double header 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

but yet again was released from the squad due to a lower back injury without making a national appearance. Atar, however, was able to make his debut in an

international friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

defeat against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, on 14 November 2012. On 12 November 2016, almost exactly four years later, Atar scored his first ever international goal for Israel in a

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. It was only his fourth cap since 2012 and Israel won 3-0.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Atar goal''.

Honours

Club

Maccabi Tel Aviv *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2018–19 *

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''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), and the second division Liga Leumit. F ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19 Maccabi Haifa * Israel State Cup: 2015–16

Individual

* FIFA Puskas Award 4th place: 2009 *

– 2008–09 Top Goalscorer 1st place (Joint) *

– 2010–11 Top Goalscorer 2nd place *

– 2012–13 Top Goalscorer 1st place * Footballer of the Year in Israel: 2012–13

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atar, Eliran 1987 births Living people Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli footballers Israel youth international footballers Israel international footballers Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Stade de Reims players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Ligue 1 players Israeli expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Israeli expatriate sportspeople in France Footballers from Tel Aviv Israeli people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Association football forwards Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients