Taleb Tawatha (or Twatha, ar, طالب طواطحه, he, טאלב טוואטחה; born ) is an

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 ...

i 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 defender 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

Bnei Sakhnin Bnei Sakhnin F.C. ( ar, اتحاد أبناء سخنين, he, איחוד בני סכנין, ''Ihud Bnei Sakhnin''; ''Ittihad Abna Sakhnin'', ) is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful clu ...

and 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 ...

. Tawatha started his career at

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 ...

, where he won

title in 2011 and the

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 ...

in 2016. He became an integral part of the club's defence, making 204 appearances over the course of seven seasons. In July 2016, Tawatha signed for German club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

for a transfer fee of €1.5 million, and was part of the team that won the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

in 2018. In August 2019, he was released and two weeks later signed as a free agent with Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad. A youth international for Israel from under-16 to under-21 level, Tawatha made his senior debut in 2011.

Early life

Tawatha was born in

Jisr az-Zarqa Jisr az-Zarqa ( ar, جِسْر الزَّرْقَاء lit. ''The blue bridge'', he, גִ'סְר א-זַּרְקָא; often shortened as Jisr) is an Israeli Arab town on Israel's northern Mediterranean coastal plain. Located just north of Caesare ...

, Israel, to an

Arab-Muslim Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...

family of

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese and

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

descent. He also holds

ese citizenship.

Career

Maccabi Haifa

Tawatha trained in the youth teams of

. In 2009 he made his debut appearance in the senior team. His break-through season was 2010/2011 in which he helped Maccabi Haifa to win the

championship, scored one goal and assisted five from his position as a left defender. Tawatha won the "Young Discovery Award" and was included in the MVP team of the season. In 2016 he won 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 involve ...

with Maccabi Haifa.

Eintracht Frankfurt

In July 2016, Tawatha was signed by German club

for a transfer fee of 1.5 million Euros. On 19 May 2018, he won the

with Eintracht Frankfurt after they defeated

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

3–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 11 September 2019, Tawatha joined

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

side Ludogorets Razgrad as a free agent.

Career statistics

:''(correct as of 1 June 2022)''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first.''

Honours

Maccabi Haifa *

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 ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *

: 2015–16 *

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. Fro ...

: 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 ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Eintracht Frankfurt *

: 2017–18; runner-up: 2016–17 Ludogorets Razgrad *

: 2019–20

References

External links

Taleb Tawatha
at Soccerway
Taleb Tawatha
at Maccabi Haifa Profile
Taleb Tawatha
at IFA National Profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Tawatha, Taleb 1992 births Living people Israeli men's footballers Footballers from Haifa District Arab-Israeli footballers Arab citizens of Israel Sudanese men's footballers Bedouin Israelis Israeli Muslims Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Eintracht Frankfurt players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Bundesliga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Israel men's international footballers Israeli expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Germany Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Israel men's youth international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Israeli people of Sudanese descent Men's association football defenders