Klemi Saban

Klemi Saban, (Hebrew: רחמים סבן‎; born February 17, 1980), is a retired Israeli football defender. Saban is mostly known for playing at Maccabi Netanya, there he played 6 years, captained the club and won over 200 caps in all club competitions.[1]

Klemi Saban
(Photo by Adrian Haisan)
Personal information
Full name Rahamin Saban
Date of birth (1980-02-17) February 17, 1980
Place of birth Netanya, Israel
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
Maccabi Netanya
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2001 Maccabi Netanya 70 (1)
2001–2004 Hapoel Tel Aviv 42 (2)
2004–2005 Hapoel Petah Tikva 32 (0)
2005–2006 Maccabi Haifa 26 (0)
2006–2007 Steaua Bucureşti 8 (0)
2007–2010 Maccabi Netanya 95 (0)
2010–2012 Maccabi Tel Aviv 31 (0)
2012–2013 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 18 (0)
2013–2014 Hapoel Acre 11 (0)
Total 334 (3)
National team‡
1999–2001 Israel U-21 11 (0)
2004–2010 Israel 25 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of Sep 10, 2010
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of September 10, 2008

Biography

Rahamim (Klemi) Saban was born in Netanya. His younger brother Avi is also a footballer who played in the lower divisions of Israeli football.[2] His father played at midfield for Beitar Netanya.[3]

Sports career

Saban began his career in Maccabi Netanya and then played for several teams - Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa- in Israel before joining Romanian club Steaua Bucureşti on June 28, 2006.

Saban was signed by Steaua Bucureşti in June 2006, and was set to become the first Israel to play in the Romanian Divizia A. But he ended up staying on the bench for Steaua's league opener and did not make his league debut until August 5, 2006. By then, Kobi Nachtailer had already become the first Israeli to play in the league because he started his club's (FC Vaslui) first match of the season.

His club debut came earlier though when he featured in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match against ND Gorica. Saban was responsible for Steaua's last goal of the match as he was tripped up in the penalty area and the official gave Steaua a penalty kick that sealed a 3-0 victory for them.

After one year in Romania Saban returned to Israel, to Maccabi Netanya and signed a four-year contract.

On June 2010 Saban signed a 2-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv for a transfer fee of $180,000.

Saban was a member of the Israel team for which he won 25 caps. He also won 11 caps in the Under 21 squad. He scored his first goal on 10 September 2008 against Moldova in the World Cup 2010 qualifier.

Honours

See also

References
  1. http://sports.walla.co.il/item/1513714
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-06-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://www.haaretz.co.il/sport/tapina/.premium-1.2856558
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