Yiftach Ziv ( he, יפתח זיו; born July 9, 1995) is an Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

of the

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 ...

and the EuroLeague. Standing at , he plays at the point guard position.

Early life

Ziv was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

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 began playing basketball for the youth team of

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 his last season with Haifa's youth team, Ziv averaged 20 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals per game. Ziv led Haifa to the Youth League Semifinals and was named the Youth League MVP.

Professional career

Early career (2013–2015)

On September 10, 2013, Ziv started his professional career with Ironi Kiryat Ata, signing a two-year contract. Ziv played 9 games with the team, but didn't fit in with the

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

team and was released by request. Few days following his release, Ziv signed with another

club, Hapoel Kiryat Tiv'on, where he completed 2013-14 season with 5.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game. On September 9, 2014, Ziv returned to his former club

and signed a one-year contract. Ziv didn't get a lot of chances and played only 3.3 minutes per game. In January 2015, Ziv was loaned to Elitzur Ramle in order to gain additional experience. In his debut, Ziv recorded 15 points, took 5 rebounds and gave 5 assists in 32 minutes. He finished the season in Elitzur Ramle averaging 10.6 points, 1.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.

Bnei Herzliya (2015–2016)

On December 22, 2015, Ziv parted ways with Maccabi Haifa and joined Bnei Herzliya for the rest of the season. On April 16, 2016, Ziv recorded a then career-high 17 points, along with five assists and five steals in an 88–79 win over his former team

. He was subsequently named Israeli League Round 28 MVP. Ziv helped Herzliya to reach the 2016 Israeli League Playoffs as the seventh seed, but they eventually lost to

in the Quarterfinals.

Maccabi Ashdod (2016–2017)

On July 5, 2016, Ziv signed a one-year deal with

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sport ...

under head coach

Meir Tapiro Meir Tapiro ( he, מאיר טפירו), born March 28, 1975) is a former Israeli professional basketball player, and current CEO of Ironi Nes Ziona. Tapiro played at the point guard position. He was the 2002 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP. ...

. On October 17, 2016, Ziv recorded a career-high 23 points, shooting 5-of-7 from 3-point range, along with three assists and four steals in a 77–75 win over

Hapoel Gilboa Galil Hapoel Gilboa Galil ( he, הפועל גלבוע גליל) is a professional basketball club that is based in north-east Israel. The club plays its home game in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball) in a 2,250- ...

. Ziv made a breakthrough season with Ashdod averaging 7.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 24.9 minutes per game.

Ironi Nahariya (2017–2019)

On July 21, 2017, Ziv signed on a one-year contract with

Ironi Nahariya Ironi Nahariya Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל עירוני נהריה; ) known for sponsorship reasons as Ironi Rain Nahariya () is a professional basketball club based in city of Nahariya in northern Israel. The team plays in th ...

as a replacement for Niv Berkowitz. On March 2, 2018, Ziv participated in the Israeli League All-Star Game. On March 25, 2018, Ziv tied his career-high 23 points, shooting 8-of-14 from the field, along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals in an 86–95 loss to

. On July 9, 2018, Ziv signed a one-year contract extension with Nahariya. In 33 games played during the 2018–19 season, he averaged 10.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

Hapoel Gilboa Galil (2019–2021)

On August 14, 2019, Ziv signed with

for the 2019–20 season. In 2020-21 he was third in the Israel Basketball Premier League in steals per game (2.0).

Maccabi Tel Aviv (2021–present)

On July 4, 2021, Ziv signed a three-year (2+1) deal with

National team career

Ziv is a member of the Israel national basketball team. On September 13, 2018, he made his first appearance for the Israeli team in an 80–85 loss against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Ziv was also a member of the Israeli Under-18 and Under-20 national teams and participated at the

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北2 ...

References

External links

RealGM.com profile

Basket.co.il profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziv, Yiftach 1995 births Living people Bnei Hertzeliya basketball players Hapoel Gilboa Galil Elyon players Ironi Kiryat Ata players Ironi Nahariya players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli men's basketball players Maccabi Ashdod B.C. players Maccabi Haifa B.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players People from Haifa Point guards