Sagiv Shalom YehezkelS. Yehezkel
''Soccerway''. Retrieved: 15 January 2024. (or Jehezkel, he, שגיב שלום יחזקאל; born 21 March 1995) is an 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 le ...

who most recently 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 ...

and winger for Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Antalyaspor and the Israel national team. In January 2024, Yehezkel was suspended and then sacked for making a gesture of support for Israeli hostages being held during the

2023 Israel–Hamas war } The ongoing armed conflict between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel military forces began on 7 October 2023, 50 years after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas's coordinated surprise offensive, codenamed "Al-Aqsa Fl ...

after he scored a goal against

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

Early and personal life

Yehezkel was born and raised in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...

, Israel, to a family of Israeli-Jewish descent.https://www.instagram.com/p/ChSYi0QsQcX/https://www.instagram.com/p/BO7BVCvB_Rh/https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIxbjrsJ1I/https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd-7PETM-1h/ He married his Israeli fiancée Elian ( Yosef) on 23 June 2022, in

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

Shoresh, Israel.https://mazaltov.walla.co.il/article/daily-bride/8075/ Their firstborn son was born in June 2023.https://www.instagram.com/p/CyDd9D4sEZy/

Club career

During his early career, Yehezkel played for

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 then Maccabi Tel Aviv, and had loan spells at

Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל עירוני קרית שמונה) known as Ironi Kiryat Shmona is an Israeli football club based in Kiryat Shmona. The club is a current member of the Israeli Pr ...

, Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and

MS Ashdod Moadon Sport Ashdod ( he, מועדון ספורט אשדוד, ''Sport Club Ashdod''), commonly referred to as MS Ashdod (, ''Mem Samekh Ashdod''), is an Israeli professional football club, playing in the port city of Ashdod. The unusual name o ...

before joining the latter in 2019. On 11 February 2021, Yehezkel transferred to Israeli Premier League club

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 ...

on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut for the side on 13 February 2021, when he was in the starting line-up in a 2–2 league draw away at Hapoel Haifa. Yehezkel signed with Turkish

club Antalyaspor on 15 September 2023, on a three-season contract running until 30 June 2026. Yehezkel made his debut with Antalyaspor just two days later, in an away league match against Fenerbahçe, coming on as a 54th minute substitute, and providing an assist for his new club's second equaliser. But after just four months with Antalyaspor, Yehezkel's contract was terminated early.

'100 days' incident

On 14 January 2024, Yehezkel scored a 68th minute goal in Antalyaspor's Süper Lig match against

. He celebrated by showing writing on a wrist bandage saying "100 days, 7-10", referring to the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas for 100 days since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. His actions were condemned by Turkey's Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç and the

Turkish Football Federation The Turkish Football Federation (; TFF) is the governing body of association football in Turkey. It was formed on 23 April 1923, and joined FIFA the same year and UEFA in 1962. It organizes the Turkey national football team, the Süper Lig, Turk ...

(TFF), and he was suspended by Antalyaspor, while the club's sponsor said his contract should be terminated. Israeli officials criticised Turkey's actions towards Yehezkel, who was arrested after the match for what Tunç called "the crime of publicly inciting public hatred and hostility due to his ugly action supporting the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza". According to local media, Yehezkel protested his innocence saying: "I did not do anything to provoke or provoke anyone. I am not a pro-war person.... The point I wanted to draw attention to was the end of the war." The player's goal celebration was initially shared on Antalyaspor social media accounts but was later removed. On 15 January 2024, after being detained overnight, Yehezkel appeared in court charged with incitement to hatred. After being released pending trial, Yehezkel and his family flew to Israel, arriving at

Ben Gurion Airport Ben Gurion International Airport, ; ar, مطار بن غوريون الدولي , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is the ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Antalyaspor sacked Yehezkel, accusing him of having "acted against the values of our country"; the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

confirmed Antalyaspor had sacked him, noting it was unclear if he faced prosecution if he returned to Turkey. The TFF had referred Yehezkel to the Professional Football Disciplinary Board for potential breaches of Article 42 of the Football Disciplinary Instruction, citing "ideological propaganda", for which an eight-match ban could be imposed and applied worldwide.

Honours

Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links