Maor Bar Buzaglo ( he, מאור בוזגלו; born 14 January 1988) is an Israeli former 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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early life

Buzaglo was born in

Karmiel Karmiel ( he, כַּרְמִיאֵל) is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, f ...

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

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

family. He also holds a Portuguese passport, which eased his moved to some European football leagues.

Club career

Youth career

Buzaglo played for the youth clubs of Maccabi Tel Aviv,

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

and

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 Jeru ...

. In 2002, he went on trial to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and participated in a youth tournament. At this tournament he was scouted by

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

with whom he signed. After a year in France he returned to Israel joining Maccabi Haifa.

Hapoel Petah Tikva (loan)

Buzaglo played two matches for Maccabi Haifa, before being loaned out to

Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, הפועל פתח תקווה) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva, currently playing in the Liga Leumit. Its most successful period was throughout the 1950s and 1960s, in which the club won ...

for the 2006–07 season. In 21 league matches for the club he scored five goals including a hat-trick against

Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan Hakoah Maccabi Amidar Ramat Gan Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל הכח מכבי עמידר רמת גן) is an Israeli football club based in Ramat Gan. The club is currently in Liga Alef South division and plays at the Winter Stadiu ...

in a 3–2 victory.

Bnei Sakhnin (loan)

Buzaglo spent the following 2007–08 season on loan at newly promoted club Bnei Sakhnin. He scored nine goals in the season while the club finished fourth in the league earning qualification for the opening rounds of the Intertoto Cup. He was named Discovery of the Year at the end of the season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 30 July 2008, Buzaglo left Maccabi Haifa and signed to a four-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv after long negotiations between Haifa and his father (who is also his agent). In the last game of 2008–09 season Buzaglo tore his knee ligaments forcing him out of action for seven months. He returned midway through the 2009–10 season and went on to score 3 goals and assisting 5. He finished the 2010–11 season with four goals. At the end of the 2010–11 season he criticised the club publicly in an interview to the Israeli press which, along with his father's criticism, resulted in a misconduct fine and suspension from the club. On 26 June club owner

Mitchell Goldhar Mitchell Goldhar is a Canadian billionaire and businessman. He owned SmartCentres, a firm that developed Walmart-anchored shopping malls in Canada, and retains a significant ownership stake in its successor firm SmartCentres REIT. Since August 2 ...

announced that Buzaglo would no longer be part of the first-team's plans and instead be placed on the transfer list.

Standard Liège

On 19 August 2011, Buzaglo signed a two-year contract with Belgian club Standard Liège for a transfer fee of €440,000. In his first season with the club he made ten caps without any goals or assists. In his second and last season with the club he made 21 caps with a goal and two assists to his name.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

On 1 July 2013, Buzaglo signed a one-year contract with

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The cl ...

, with option for two more years. In his first season at Be'er Sheva, he scored ten goals and assisted 14 becoming the highest assist provider of the 2013–14 season. On 15 September 2016, Buzaglo scored the second goal versus

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match, which lead to a 2–0 victory for his team (Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5–2 Inter Milan on aggregate).

Maccabi Haifa

In December 2017 Buzaglo re-injured one of his ACLs after a long period of recuperation, meaning that he would be unable to participate in the rest of the season as a Maccabi Haifa player.

Beitar Jerusalem

In August 2018, Buzaglo signed for

. Still not fully fit following the knee injury that had kept him out during the previous season, it was expected that he would be able to resume full training after a month. The transfer was subject to an agreement between the clubs that the contract would be cancelled if Buzaglo were to suffer a recurrence of the injury. He scored his first goal at

on 5 November 2018 with a free kick from 20 meters against Maccabi Haifa. On 21 May 2019, Buzaglo scored twice in a friendly match versus

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, at the Teddy Stadium of Jerusalem, where Beitar finished with a 2–1 win.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

On 29 June 2019, Buzaglo signed at

for two years.

Retirement

Buzaglo announced his retirement from playing in January 2022, aged 34.

International career

Buzaglo has represented his country from a very early age, from the U17 level to the senior team. At U19 level, Buzaglo scored 21 goals in 34 matches, including four goals in one game against Denmark in a Milk Cup match in 2007. For the Israel U21 team, Buzaglo scored three times in eight matches. Buzaglo made his senior international debut for the Israel national team against the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in a EURO 2008 qualifier on 17 November 2007.

Personal life

Maor's father is Jacob Buzaglo a former Israeli footballer who played in the 70's and 80's for

, and

. Older brother Asi Buzaglo is also a former footballer, youngest brother Almog Buzaglo is an active player, and eldest brother Ohad Buzaglo is a football manager. Maor is married to Miran Nimni, Israeli former footballer

Avi Nimni Avi Nimni ( he, אבי נמני; born 26 April 1972) is a former Israeli football player and Maccabi Tel Aviv's highest ever scorer. He is regarded as one of Maccabi Tel Aviv's greatest players ever. Until 2006, he served as the captain of the I ...

's niece (as well as his former manager at Maccabi Tel Aviv). They had their first set of twins in 2012, and another set of twins in 2017.

Career statistics

Honours

Maccabi Haifa * Israeli Premier League: 2005–06 Maccabi Tel Aviv * Toto cup top Division: 2008–09 Hapoel Be'er Sheva * Israeli Premier League: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions ( he, אלוף האלופים, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champion ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* Toto cup top Division: 2016–17 Individual * Israeli Premier League Discovery of the Year: 2007–08 * Israeli Premier League Top Assist Provider: 2013–14 (14), 2014–15 (10)

References

External links

* * * * * {{COI, date=March 2023 1988 births Living people Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Standard Liège players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Israel men's international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Israel men's youth international footballers Belgian Pro League players Israeli Premier League players Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Footballers from Karmiel Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli Mizrahi Jews Jewish men's footballers