Idan Tal ( he, עידן טל; born 13 September 1975, in
Beersheba
Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
) is a former 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 ...
.
Tal was born in
Beersheba
Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
, Israel, and is Jewish. He lives in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, is married to Doreen, and has two children, Miron and Amit.
Club career
Tal started his career at
Hapoel Jerusalem FC, moving to
Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C.
Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...
midway through the
1996–97 season. He joined his next club,
Hapoel Tel Aviv FC
Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל תל אביב , ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Tel Aviv)'' is an Israeli football club based in Tel Aviv that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club's traditional hom ...
, in the same period of
1998–99, winning the
Israel State Cup with the side (its first title in 11 years).
In
1999–2000 Tal represented
CP Mérida
Club Polideportivo Mérida was a Spanish football team based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura.
Having played twice in La Liga ( 1995–96 and 1997–98), the club was dissolved in 2000, due to serious economic debts. Its ...
in Spain. Even though the
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
team finished in sixth position in the
second division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
, it would be relegated due to irregularities, and he returned to Maccabi Petah Tikva, playing a handful of games before changing teams – and countries – again, as he signed with
Everton in October 2000, appearing sparingly over the course of two 1/2 seasons.
In January 2003 Tal was released and returned to Spain, joining
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
side
Rayo Vallecano
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...
and
suffering another relegation, this time on the pitch. In the summer, he signed for
Maccabi Haifa FC.
On 9 November 2005, Tal received
French citizenship
French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nationality, ''jus sanguinis'' ( ...
, a process that took him five years to complete: his eligibility came through his wife Doreen, of
French descent. The fact that he had acquired a
European passport, along with his contract with Maccabi being due to expire at the end of the season, allowed him to renegotiate a return to Europe on a
free transfer, where he would not count as a foreign player. In July 2006 he left the
national champions
National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...
to return to England, signing with
Bolton Wanderers and sharing teams with compatriot
Tal Ben Haim
Tal Ben Haim (or Tal Ben Haim I, he, טל בן-חיים; born 31 March 1982) is an Israeli footballer who last played for Beitar Jerusalem. He can play at either centre back or right back. He has played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bolton Wanderers ...
.
During his sole
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
, as Bolton
qualified for the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
as seventh, Tal appeared almost exclusively
from the bench (12 out of his 16
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
appearances). He scored once, against
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
for
the season's
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
. In July 2007, at nearly 32, he was sold to
Beitar Jerusalem FC
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 Jeru ...
, signing a three-year contract worth
£246,000.
Tal returned to Hapoel Jerusalem in July 2011, agreeing to a three-year deal with the
second level outfit. On 26 October 2011 he revealed that, although he had signed a long-term contract, he would retire at the end of
the season if he did not achieve promotion to the top flight, which eventually happened yet Tal continues to play for Hapoel to this date. In April of the following year he was given a US$2000 fine and a month-long suspension by the club, after an argument with Hapoel manager
Michael Kadosh
Michael "Lufa" Kadosh ( he, מיכאל "לופא" קדוש; April 23, 1940 – April 29, 2014) was an Israeli footballer who also worked as the manager of Hapoel Jerusalem. .
Coaching career
On 30 June 2013 he was appointed the manager of Hapoel Jerusalem. On December he left the job due to poor results.
Statistics
International career
Tal earned 69 caps for the
Israeli national team during nine years, scoring five goals.
Honours
Team
*
Israeli League: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08
*
Israeli Cup: 1998–99, 2007–08, 2008–09
*
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 ...
: 2005–06, 2009–10
Individual
*Israeli Player of the Year: 2004–05
Israel – Player of the Year
at RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...
See also
* List of select Jewish association football (soccer) players
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tal, Idan
1975 births
Living people
Israeli Jews
Israeli footballers
Hapoel Jerusalem F.C. players
Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players
Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players
CP Mérida footballers
Everton F.C. players
Rayo Vallecano players
Maccabi Haifa F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Premier League players
Israel international footballers
Israeli expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in England
Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Israeli expatriate sportspeople in England
Israeli Premier League players
Footballers from Beersheba
People from Geva Binyamin
Israeli people of Iraqi-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent
Association football midfielders
People with acquired French citizenship
Israeli settlers
Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients