Meni Levi ( he, מני לוי; born August 6, 1980), is a retired

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 ...

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 as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Israeli football club

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 ...

. Levi started playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv from a young age, making his debut for the club as a substitute on January 1, 2000 against

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל חיפה, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1 ...

. He was considered to be a big prospect in 2001/2002 Israeli football and was named the discovery of the year. Levi scored his first goal in the

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 ...

on October 12, 2001, in the 90th minute of a match against Hapoel Petach Tikva in Bloomfield Stadium. On January 26, 2002 during an Israeli Premier 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 ...

Teddy Stadium Teddy Stadium ( he, אצטדיון טדי) is a sports stadium in the Malha neighborhood of Jerusalem. Three football teams currently use the stadium: Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Jerusalem, and the Israel national football team for select home mat ...

, Levi suddenly collapsed in the middle of the pitch, away from the run of play. A few moments later, he rose to his feet then collapsed again. He was treated at length on the pitch. Eventually the match was cancelled and Levi was taken to a hospital. Levi was treated for years in Beit Levinstein, and later returned to his family house in a

vegetative state A persistent vegetative state (PVS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative stat ...

. He is visited by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, players and management several times a year. Levi sometimes interacts with them with smiles, blinks and tears.Avi Nimni: It took me a long time to recover from Meni's collapse
on Walla!

retired the jersey number 12, Levi's number, as a tribute to him.

References

1980 births Living people Israeli footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Footballers from Tel Aviv Association football fullbacks People with disorders of consciousness {{Israel-bio-stub