.jpg) Benayoun playing for Maccabi Haifa in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Yossi Shai Benayoun[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 5 May 1980[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Dimona, Israel | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1992 | Hapoel Dimona | ||
| 1992–1995 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | ||
| 1995–1996 | Ajax | ||
| 1996–1997 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–1998 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 25 | (15) |
| 1998–2002 | Maccabi Haifa | 130 | (55) |
| 2002–2005 | Racing Santander | 101 | (20) |
| 2005–2007 | West Ham United | 63 | (8) |
| 2007–2010 | Liverpool | 92 | (18) |
| 2010–2013 | Chelsea | 14 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | → Arsenal (loan) | 19 | (4) |
| 2012 | → West Ham United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Queens Park Rangers | 16 | (3) |
| 2014–2016 | Maccabi Haifa | 55 | (11) |
| 2016–2017 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 27 | (1) |
| 2017–2018 | Beitar Jerusalem | 14 | (3) |
| 2018–2019 | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 22 | (7) |
| 2019 | Beitar Jerusalem | 15 | (0) |
| Total | 599 | (146) | |
| International career | |||
| 1995 | Israel U16 | 30 | (6) |
| 1996–1997 | Israel U18 | 8 | (12) |
| 1998–2001 | Israel U21 | 11 | (5) |
| 1998–2017 | Israel | 102 | (24[4]) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Yossi Shai Benayoun (Hebrew: יוסי שי בניון; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team.[5]
Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United, and later Liverpool. In 2010, he signed for Chelsea, where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa.
A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint third top scorer with 24 international goals.
Benayoun holds the position of sporting director for Beitar Jerusalem, the club that he last played for.[6]
- ^ "UEFA Europa League 2009/2010: Booking List Semi-Finals, Second Leg Match" (PDF). UEFA. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
- ^ "Yossi Benayoun". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ "Yossi Benayoun". Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Yossi Benayoun". National Football Teams.
- ^ "Top Israelis to Play in Europe". FootballExpress.co.uk. 24 May 2023.
- ^ Joshua Halickman (14 August 2019). "A complete culture change in Beitar Jerusalem". thejpost.com. Retrieved 10 September 2019.