Suf Podgoreanu ( he, סוף פודגוראנו; born 20 January 2002) 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 plays as a winger or as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

, on loan from

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

. He represents both the Israel national under-21 team and the senior Israel national team.

Early life

Podgoreanu was born in

Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nbs ...

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 ...

, to a family of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

descent, and is of

Romanian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

descent on his father's side. Both his father Danny Podgoreanu and his grandfather played for the local

Hapoel Hapoel ( he, הפועל, lit. ''the worker'') is an Israeli Jewish sports association established in 1926 by the Histadrut Labor Federation. History During the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine period Hapoel had a bitter rivalry ...

clubs as well. He also holds a Romanian passport, on account of his Ashkenazi Jewish (Romanian-Jewish) ancestry, which eases the move to certain European football leagues.

Club career

Maccabi Haifa

Suf Podgoreanu came through the youth ranks of

, where he was a prolific goalscorer for the under-19s, before joining the first team during the 2019–20 season.

Roma

He moved to Italian side

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

at the of the season, joining their Primavera setup. After a season under Alberto De Rossi's management with 27 games, 3 goals and 6 assists, where he even joined the first team for a few games, he was transferred to their Serie A rival of

Spezia Calcio Spezia Calcio is a professional Association football, football club based in La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurni (or Hurny in some documents), who played for the early Crystal Palace am ...

Spezia

He made his debut for Italian side

on 19 September 2021, replacing Janis Antiste in a 2-1

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

away win.

Return to Maccabi Haifa

On 2 September 2022, Podgoreanu returned to

on loan with an option to buy.

International career

He has been a youth international for Israel since 2017. He also plays for the Israel U-21 since 2021. He was called up for the senior Israel national team in October 2021, during their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers - UEFA. Podgoreanu debuted for a full match with the senior team in a 3–2 home win for Israel against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

on 15 November 2021, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers - UEFA, where he had an assist as well.

References

External links

* 2002 births Living people Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli footballers Israel international footballers Israel youth international footballers Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Spezia Calcio players Israeli Premier League players Serie A players Footballers from Hadera Israeli expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Italy Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Israeli Jews Association football forwards {{Israel-footy-bio-stub