Shmuel Kozokin ( he, שמואל קוזוקין; born 16 November 1987) is an Israeli former

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 ...

. Kozokin was a defender. He won a gold medal with Team Israel at the

2005 Maccabiah Games The 17th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-17 ישראל תשס"ה), held in Israel, were an incarnation of the 'Jewish Olympics.' They attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games, including more than 900 representatives from the Un ...

. He played for the

Israel national under-19 football team Israel's national under-19 football team ( he, נבחרת הנוער של ישראל בכדורגל עד גיל 19), also known as Israel Under-19s or Israel U19s, is regarded as the feeder team for the Israel national under-21 football team. ...

, the

Israel national under-21 football team The Israel national under-21 football team ( he, הנבחרת הצעירה של ישראל בכדורגל) is the national under-21 football team of Israel and is controlled by the Israel Football Association (IFA). It is considered to be the feed ...

, the

Israel 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 ...

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 ...

Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל כפר סבא, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Kfar Saba'') is an Israeli football club based in Kfar Saba. The club competes in the Liga Leumit and plays home matches at Levita Stadiu ...

, and Ironi Beit Shemesh. Today he is a sport teacher in high school.

Biography

He was born in Moscow, Russia, in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in 1987. When he was four years old his family immigrated to

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 ...

and lives in

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

. At the age on nine he joined a football school, and at the age of 14 joined the youth team of

. He was part of the Israeli team at the

that won the football gold medal. He played for the

in 2005–06. With the youth team he won the 2005–06 Israeli youth-teams-cup, and he was brought up to the mature team. He was part of the mature squad, and at the same time played for the youth team, with whom he won the 2006–07 cup and championship, and was chosen youth player of the year. He was also part of the

that reached the

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

(though he did not play in the tournament itself). In the 2006–07 season, when the mature team won the state championship, he was mostly a bench player, but at the same time played for the youth team that won the state cup and championship, and was chosen youth player of the year. In the 2007–08 season when the team won both the state championship and the state cup he played in many games, especially at the end of the season. After that season he received a call to the

. From 2006-13 he played for

. In January 2013, Kozokin transferred to

. From 2013-15 he played for Ironi Beit Shemesh.

References

External links

About Kozokin from a fan site of Beitar Jerusalem

An interview with Kozokin after he was chosen youth player of the year 2007
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozokin, Shmuel 1987 births Living people Footballers from Moscow Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli footballers Association football defenders Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. players Competitors at the 2005 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in football Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Israel international footballers Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players People from Beit Shemesh Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent