Salim Tuama ( ar, سليم طعمه, he, סלים טועמה; born August 9, 1979) is an

Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

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 plays 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 ...

for Maccabi Sha'arayim. His former clubs include Hapoel Tel Aviv,

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

, Larissa, Hapoel Bnei Lod and the youth club Gadna Tel Aviv Yehuda. An Arab citizen of Israel, he has 13

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Israel national team.

Career

Tuama has lived his life in the city of Lod, but began his career using the facilities of the Gadna club due to the poor conditions of Lod's fields and football schools. Tuama became the hottest prospect in Israeli football in the 1998–99 season when he, along with Kfir Udi, Omri Afek, and

Pini Balili Pini Balili ( he, פִּינִי בַּלִילִי; born 18 June 1979) is an Israeli former football manager and former player. He was born in Jerusalem and is Jewish, of Turkish descent. Career Move back to Hapoel As a youngster, Balili grew ...

, all of whom had been chosen by Israeli manager

Dror Kashtan Dror Kashtan ( he, דרור קשטן, born 1 October 1944) is an Israeli former football player and manager. As a player, he represented the Israeli national team three times. As a manager, he took charge of numerous clubs as well as the Israel ...

, led Hapoel to their first State Cup title since 1983, followed by a double in the next season 1999–2000. He also played a main role in the historic appearance of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the quarter finals of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup where they were defeated by

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

. At the time it was believed that Hapoel was on its way to a golden age, but Kashtan left the club in 2004 to take a break from football. By then Tuama had moved on to Maccabi Petah Tikva, where they won the Toto Cup (an event staged each year by league level for a financial prize). He received his first big break the following season by signing with the Turkish club

(today, "Kayseri Erciyesspor"), where he filled in a disappointing season with little playing time. At the same time his old Hapoel teammate Balili had signed with

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

, a B league club he helped climb to the

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 ...

. In the same season he returned to Maccabi Petah Tikva to help them log in perhaps their most impressive finish, second place and a ticket to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. After a disappointing 2005–06 season with Maccabi Petah Tikva, after a great start in the UEFA Cup qualifiers, he signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv. On June 28, 2007, Toama had signed a three-year contract with

. Tuama left Belgium after two seasons at

, as he was injured for many parts of his second season there, and did not get many chances. He signed for Greek side Larissa and spent one season there, scoring two goals. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Tuama returned to Israel and signed, for the third time in his career, with then double holders Hapoel Tel Aviv. He scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over newly crowned

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

in the

Israeli 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 involv ...

final of 2010–11.

International goals

Honours

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 ...

(1): ** 1999–00 * State Cup (5): **1999, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2012 *

Toto Cup 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. F ...

(1): **2001–02 *

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...

(2): ** 2007–08, 2008–09 * Belgian Supercup (1): **

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Toto Cup Leumit (1): ** 2014-15

References

External links

Profile at One.co.il
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuama, Salim 1979 births Living people Arab-Israeli footballers Israeli Arab Christians Israeli footballers Israel international footballers Israeli expatriate footballers Gadna Tel Aviv Yehuda F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Kayserispor footballers Standard Liège players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Hapoel Bnei Lod F.C. players Maccabi Sha'arayim F.C. players Süper Lig players Israeli Premier League players Super League Greece players Belgian First Division A players Liga Leumit players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Belgium Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Greece Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Footballers from Lod Association football midfielders