Ran Ben Shimon ( he, רן בן שמעון; born 28 November 1970) is a former Israeli

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and the current manager of

F.C. Ashdod SC Ashdod ( he, מועדון ספורט אשדוד, ''Moadon Sport Ashdod'', lit. Sport Club Ashdod, mainly known in Israel by the semi-acronym name , ''Mem Samekh Ashdod'', lit. S.C. Ashdod) is an Israeli football club, playing in the port cit ...

Playing career

Ben Shimon was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

, Israel, to a Jewish family. In 1987, Ben Shimon began his professional career in Maccabi Petah Tikva senior side, where he played until the 1994–95 season, winning two Toto Cup Artzit trophies (then second division) and on his last season he won the Toto Cup Leumit (then the first division), after a 2–1 victory against Maccabi Tel Aviv, scoring the second goal for Maccabi Petah Tikva in an accurate free kick. Avram Grant, who managed Hapoel Haifa was interested in Ben Shimon in order the strengthening their defense. Maccabi Petah Tikva, headed by

Avi Luzon Avi is a given name, usually masculine, often a diminutive of Avram, Avraham, etc. It is sometimes feminine and a diminutive of the Hebrew spelling of Abigail. People with the given name include: * Avi (born 1937), Newbery award-winning America ...

were adamantly opposed. Robbie Shapira, then president of Hapoel Haifa and Avi Luzon agreed on an arbitrator. of which stated that no amount can release the player from Petah Tikva. Haifa was hardly surprised as Luzon was the one who picked the arbitrator. In the end, after Hapoel Haifa lost 4–1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Toto Cup, forcing Grant to look for defensive reinforcement, and Shapira agreed to buy Ben Shimon for 450,000 USD. The amount spent was also a significant for the new era in the Israeli football, which continued to struggle against Maccabi Haifa on players such as Tal Banin and Reuven Atar, and raised the bar on prices of players and their wages significantly. In Hapoel Haifa Ben Shimon became a leader, and then the captain in the 1999 League championship season guided under Eli Guttman. In 2001, he won the Toto Cup with Hapoel Haifa. Ben Shimon also had 34 appearances in the

Israeli national football team The Israel national football team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורגל, ) represents Israel in international football, and is governed by the Israel Football Association (IFA). Israel's national team is the direct successor of the M ...

. Ben Shimon also play in

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 ...

in the 2001–02 season and in Bnei Yehuda in the 2002–03 season before retired from active football.

Managerial career

After retiring from playing, he started coaching the youth team of Maccabi Tel Aviv and then as a manager at Hapoel Haifa. Ben Shimon did not continue after he failed in his efforts to promote the team to the Israeli Premier League. During 2006–07 season, he coached Ironi Kiryat Shmona and promote her from Liga Leumit to the Israeli Premier League for the first time in its history. Subsequent season, Ben Shimon led the team to third place in the league, which gave her a ticket to the UEFA Cup. In April 2008, following his success in Ironi Kiryat Shmona, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced on the picking Ben Shimon on its manager in the 2008–09 season. Before the start of the season there were great hopes in the tean, mainly due to highly purchases of players and the amount of money that was invested in the team by the owner Alex Shnaider. Nevertheless, the team did not produce good football and after just eight league rounds of which the team achieved only two victories, Maccabi Tel Aviv sacked Ben Shimon. On 12 April 2009, Ben Shimon returned as the manager of Ironi Kiryat Shmona after the resignation of Eli Cohen. and help guided the team to its first cup, the Toto Cup Leumit and also guided the team in the promotion to the Israeli Premier League. He also guided the team to win the

2010–11 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 ...

and the 2011–12 Toto Cup Al trophies and the

2011–12 Israeli Premier League The 2011–12 Israeli Premier League was the thirteenth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 70th season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 20 August 2011 and ended on 12 May 2012. Maccabi Haifa F.C., Maccabi Haifa were the defen ...

championship. Ben Shimon made a step on his managerial career outside Israel, as he was named manager of AEK Larnaca, in July 2012. He returned to Israel to take charge of

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 ...

in the summer of 2013. His first official games ended disappointingly, as Hapoel lost to Pandurii in the Europa League qualifiers.

Honours

As a player

;with Hapoel Haifa * Israeli football championships (1): 1998–99 *

Toto Cup Leumit 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. Fro ...

(First division) (1): 2000–01 ;with Maccabi Petah Tikva *

(First division) (1): 1994–95 * Toto Cup Artzit (Second division) (2): 1989–90, 1990–91

As a manager

;with Ironi Kiryat Shmona * Israeli football championships (1): 2011–12 * Liga Leumit (2): 2006–07, 2009–10 * Toto Cup Al (First division) (2):

, 2011–12 *

(Second division) (2): 2006–07, 2009–10 ;with Maccabi Petah Tikva * Toto Cup Al (First division) (1): 2015–16

Personal life

Ben Shimon's older brother Asi was also a footballer and they both played together in Maccabi Petah Tikva.

Managerial statistics

Managerial statistics are only as coach of the national football team of Cyprus, but managerial statistics as manager of the other clubs, are not available.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Shimon, Ran 1970 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli footballers Israeli football managers Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Haifa F.C. managers Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. managers AEK Larnaca FC managers Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. managers Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. managers Beitar Jerusalem F.C. managers Liga Leumit players Israeli Premier League players Footballers from Petah Tikva Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Israeli expatriate football managers in Cyprus Cyprus national football team managers Association football defenders Israel international footballers