Imaye Taga (sometimes Amaya or Amiya, he, אמייה "אמיר" טגה, born 1 February 1985) is an Ethiopian-born Israeli former

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 le ...

who played for the Israel U21 national team, and currently serves as a member of the city council of

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel.

Biography

Imaye (Amir) Taga was born in Ethiopia to an Ethiopian-Jewish family. The family immigrated to Israel in 1991 during

Operation Solomon Operation Solomon ( he, מבצע שלמה, Mivtza Shlomo) was a covert Israeli military operation in May 24 to 25, 1991, to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Non-stop flights of 35 Israeli aircraft, including Israeli Air Force C-130s and El Al Bo ...

when he was 6 years old. On 11 August 2006 Amiya's younger brother Avi Taga was found dead by his eldest brother and the Israeli Police in Kiryat Ekron. Taga had been missing from home since Wednesday, 9 August 2006. Club officials went to visit the player at his family residence to console him during the traditional Jewish mourning period of the Shiva. In 2007 he changed his name back to his childhood name. "Imaye" in the

Amharic language Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic languages, Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic languages, Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara pe ...

means "a child".

Sports career

Taga attended the ORT boarding school in

where he was discovered by scouts of the local side - Maccabi Netanya. Taga grew up through the ranks at Netanya, he played throughout the youth system and made his debut for the senior side at the 2003–04 season. He played for six years in the first team. On July 28, 2010, he left Netanya and signed a two years contract with Hapoel Ashkelon. After two years spent in Ashkelon, Taga signed with

Hapoel Acre Hapoel Acre Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל עכו, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Akko'') is an Israeli football club based in Acre, Israel. The club currently plays in Liga Leumit. History Founded in 1946, the club dwelt i ...

on April 11, 2012. On July 5, 2015, after five years of playing outside of Netanya, Taga returned to play for his home club of Maccabi Netanya. After 2 seasons with Netanya, Taga retired from football as he ventured into local politics. Taga is regarded as local legend in Netanya as he played 186 games in all club competitions in a total of 8 years playing for Maccabi Netanya. On 28 February 2006, Taga made his debut for the Israel U-21s in a friendly game against Ukraine. On 11 October 2006, Taga scored the historic goal for Israel in the playoff game against France, which secured Israel's shock qualification to UEFA U-21 Championship 2007 with a 2–1 aggregate win. On 3 August 2010, Taga got called up for the senior national team for the first time in his career. He was about to win his first cap for the national team, but an injury prevented that from happening and Taga never played a single game for the national team.

Honours

* Toto Cup (Leumit): **Winner (1): 2004–05 * Liga Leumit: **Winner (1): 2016–17 **''Runner-up (1):'' 2004–05 * Israeli Premier League: **''Runner-up (2):'' 2006–07, 2007–08

Club career statistics

:''(correct as of 11.8.15)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taga, Imaye 1985 births Living people Ethiopian Jews Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Citizens of Israel through Law of Return Israeli Jews Israeli footballers Association football midfielders Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Hapoel Ashkelon F.C. players Hapoel Acre F.C. players Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players Footballers from Netanya Israel under-21 international footballers