Yossi Benayoun

Yosef Shai "Yossi" Benayoun (, sometimes spelled Benayun, born on May 5, 1980 in Dimona, Israel) is an Israeli football (soccer) player with Liverpool F.C. of the English Premier League. Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder, occupying the space just behind the striker, and is known for being a virtuoso. In Israel he is nicknamed "The Kid" and he is the captain of the Israel national football team.

Club Career

Early Career

Jason Burt writing for The Independent described Benayoun's youth years thus; "aged nine and he was spotted as a footballing talent. Aged 11 and the talent was labelled a genius. By 13 his face appeared on the front of magazines in Israel." Benayoun started his career aged 9 with Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C.. To attend training he regularly hitchhiked the 60km roundtrip with his father.

Maccabi Haifa

After that season, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in a deal signed by Ya'akov Shahar (Maccabi Haifa's president) and Eli Zino (the former Be'er Sheva president), and it was agreed that the two clubs would share the profits from selling Benayoun to a European club.

Benayoun played for Maccabi Haifa for three seasons, scoring a total of 55 league goals, including two hat-tricks. He scored some of the most beautiful goals in the Israeli Premier League. One example, against FC Ashdod, saw Benayoun bounce the ball on his leg to pass over the opposing defenders and goalkeeper and score a magnificent goal. He is also known for the "spoon pass", where he arches the ball over the defenders to one of his team's strikers.
In 1998, under the guidance of Dusan Uhrin and Daniel Brailovsky, Benayoun and Haifa reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup, and he scored against Paris Saint-Germain and SV Ried.

In 1999, he confronted his manager Eli Cohen (football manager), when Benayoun allegedly refused to be substituted during a match. This incident, plus a bad month for the club, ultimately caused Cohen's resignation.

In the 2000/2001 season under the guidance of Avraham Grant, Benayoun led Haifa to a first championship after seven years and was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the season. The next season, Benayoun helped Maccabi Haifa win another championship, despite suffering from an injury in the beginning of the season. When he returned to play, he combined well with Giovanni Rosso, Raimondas Žutautas and Aiyegbeni Yakubu to win the championship.

Benayoun made 130 appearances for Maccabi, scoring 55 goals.

Racing Santander

In 2003, Benayoun moved to Racing de Santander in Spain, with his friends, Dudu Aouate, Omri Afek and Ilan Bachar, where he became one of the big stars of the club and one of its leading scorers during the 2004/2005 season. He made 101 appearances for Racing, scoring 21 goals.

His career at West Ham took off almost immediately, albeit amidst controversy surrounding his perceived shunning of Bolton Wanderers. He made his Premiership debut for West Ham on the opening day of the FA Premier League 2005-06 (13 August, 2005 against Blackburn Rovers F.C.) and he laid on passes for 2 of West Ham's goals in their 3-1 win. He went on to score his first Premiership goal for the club when he netted the closing goal in a 4-0 home victory over Aston Villa F.C. on 12 September, 2005. Under manager Alan Pardew the now 27 year old has flourished, producing skillful performances and goals on one of the worlds biggest football stages, including a notably stunning chip from the edge of the box against Fulham (Monday 23 January, 2006).

A player with exceptional flair, creativity and originality has proved many critics wrong by proving not only an invaluable goal assister in the rigours of the Premiership but also by popping up four times in his opening Premiership season. Once doubted for his outwardly meek physical appearance, Benayoun has surprised many with his body application even when faced with strong defenders as he has shown many times when out muscling defenders to score or set up chances. It is these attributes that have established his as one of the leading right sided players in the premiership. He also scored the goal that stopped West Ham's bitter rivals Spurs qualifying for the Champion's League with a last gasp goal on the last game of the season.

Benayoun played in the 125th FA Cup Final for West Ham against European Champions Liverpool F.C.. in which he displayed a fine performance. West Ham eventually lost to Liverpool after a penalty shoot out. The result was 3-3 after 120 minutes. Benayoun was seen in tears at the final whistle, which set him as a fan favourite for his outward display of passion.

Liverpool

Benayoun agreed a new five-year deal with West Ham in May 2007 but had not signed it when Liverpool F.C] confirmed in July 2007 that they had made an approach for him. West Ham rejected a £3 million bid from Liverpool, but Liverpool made an increased offer of £4.5 million.On 10 July, Israeli media reported that Benayoun's manager, Ronen Katsav, had agreed a deal with Liverpool which would mean Benayoun taking a lower pay than the £50,000 a week offered by West Ham in May. The BBC reported that West Ham had agreed a fee of £4 million with Liverpool and that the transfer was expected to be finalised on 11 July. On 12th July, Liverpool FC reported on their official website that the signing of Yossi Benayoun had been completed. He had signed a four-year contract in a reported £5 million deal. Benayoun was introduced as a Liverpool player along with Ryan Babel on 13 July, and was given the number 11 shirt. He failed to make the squad for the opening day game of the 2007-08 season against Aston Villa. He made his first competitive start for the club against Toulouse FC in the Champions league qualifier 3rd round 1st leg. He then came on as a substitute against Derby in the 6-0 win.

International Career

Benayoun was a member of the Israel U16 team that came third in the 1996 UEFA European Under-16 Championship.

He made his senior debut for Israel against Portugal national football team in November 1998.

During the Football World Cup 2006 qualifiers, Benayoun became the leading player of the Israel national football team after equalizing against Cyprus national football team at home (in a game that ended 2-1 to Israel) and scoring twice against Switzerland national football team. In the away game in Cyprus, Benayoun assisted the winning goal after Nir Davidovich saved a crucial penalty.