Beram Kayal

Kayal was born in Jadida, near Acre, and has described himself as an Arab Israeli living in Israel.[6] In a 2018 interview, he recalled that his grandparents had been born in al-Birwa and said they were expelled from the village in 1948 before the family moved to Jadida.[6]

A Maccabi Haifa scout noticed Kayal at the age of nine while he was playing for a local team.[6] He initially chose a short spell with Hapoel Acre, partly because he did not know Hebrew and was apprehensive about leaving home; he subsequently joined Maccabi Haifa and stayed there until moving abroad.[6] As a young player, he undertook what he remembered as a six-hour journey between his village and training: a service taxi to Acre railway station, a train to Hof HaCarmel in Haifa, and a crossing of the coastal highway to the club’s Katzef training complex.[6]

At Maccabi Haifa’s academy, Kayal met Tomer Hemed, who would later become his Brighton teammate and fellow Israel international.[4] Kayal recalled an academy group drawn from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim backgrounds that felt like a family.[4] Their friendship continued through their professional careers, and the two later described their families as close as well.[4]

Kayal joined Maccabi Haifa’s senior team in 2006 and spent four years there before moving to Celtic.[7] He contributed to Haifa’s 2009 league championship, including scoring the goal against Maccabi Netanya that secured the title.[7] His time at Haifa also included participation in the Champions League group stage, a competition he would later play in with Celtic.[8]

He moved to Celtic in the summer of 2010.[2] Kayal later recalled suffering an injury in his third game for the club that kept him out for two months.[2] After returning against Rangers, he said, manager Neil Lennon selected him to start in a 2–0 victory, after which he began to build momentum.[2] Kayal also described becoming Celtic’s youngest non-Scottish captain, and he served as captain on several occasions during his time at the club.[2][8]

In the 2013 Champions League group stage, Kayal scored in Celtic’s 2–1 home victory over Ajax.[9] His shot from outside the penalty area in the 53rd minute doubled Celtic’s lead, possibly taking a deflection off Ajax defender Stefano Denswil.[9] Kayal later recalled suffering a broken leg after scoring against Ajax, one of several major injuries that interrupted his career.[2]

After four and a half seasons at Celtic, Kayal joined Brighton on a free transfer in January 2015.[10] There he was reunited with Hemed, with whom he had grown up at Maccabi Haifa.[4] Both players contributed to Brighton’s promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.[4][10] Kayal subsequently made 19 Premier League appearances in 2017/18 and 18 in the following season.[10]

His preparations for the 2017/18 season were disrupted by a broken fibula sustained in Brighton’s 3–2 home friendly defeat by Atlético Madrid in August 2017.[2][11] He underwent surgery, and manager Chris Hughton initially expected him to be absent for eight to ten weeks.[11] At the time, the operation was described as the eighth major surgery of his career.[11] Looking back in 2018, Kayal emphasized that he had nevertheless managed to play 19 matches after breaking his leg the previous year.[6]

By September 2018, Kayal had made 110 appearances and scored four goals for Brighton.[3] That month, the club extended his contract through June 2020, with Hughton praising his dependability and loyalty to the squad.[3] Kayal returned to the starting lineup and scored Brighton’s only goal in a 1–0 victory over Newcastle in October 2018.[6][10] He also served as Brighton captain on several occasions.[8]

Kayal’s international debut came in a 1–1 friendly against Northern Ireland on 12 August 2009.[12] His first goal for Israel came against Latvia in qualifying for Euro 2012.[12] In November 2018, he opened the scoring against Scotland in Glasgow with a curling long-range shot in the ninth minute of a Nations League match.[12][13] Israel ultimately lost 3–2, a result that secured Scotland a Euro 2020 playoff place and promotion in the Nations League.[13] Kayal’s final international appearance was an 11-minute substitute outing against Scotland in March 2021, and he retired from international football that year.[12]

In 2020, Kayal returned to Israel and chose to join Bnei Sakhnin.[2] Explaining that decision in a later interview, he said he wanted to contribute to the Arab community and show local children that they could reach the highest levels of football.[2] He recalled helping Sakhnin remain in the league in his first season and reach the upper playoff in his second.[2] Ahead of the 2022/23 season, he was the club’s captain and was described as its most significant player following the previous season’s qualification for the Championship Playoffs.[14] A preview of the 2023/24 season again identified him as captain and emphasized his veteran presence in midfield.[15] He also served for two years as the club’s professional manager.[1][2]

A serious knee injury at the beginning of the 2023/24 season led to another operation and rehabilitation.[1][2] Kayal announced his retirement from professional football in July 2025.[1] He explained that fear of another operation and the mental difficulty of returning to the field had contributed to his decision.[2] In reflecting on his career, he said he had undergone 14 operations, including treatment for an ankle fracture and torn ligament during his Celtic years and leg fractures at Celtic and Brighton.[2]

After retiring, Kayal began working in the Israel Football Association with young talent from Arab society.[5] At the time of his retirement, he was expected to join the youth national-team system under Boni Ginzburg and take on responsibility for developing football in Arab society and identifying talent.[1] In a 2026 interview, he encouraged Arab players entering the national team not to be afraid or ashamed to speak their language.[5]

Kayal’s career encompassed league championships in Israel and Scotland, Champions League group-stage appearances with Maccabi Haifa and Celtic, and promotion to the Premier League with Brighton.[7][8] His retirement announcement also listed two Scottish Cups, four Champions League campaigns, and three Europa League campaigns among his achievements.[1] Despite the repeated injuries and operations, he said he wanted to remember his career for its achievements and experiences rather than for the injury that preceded his retirement.[1][2]

His friendship with Hemed became a personal example through which he discussed Jewish-Arab coexistence.[4][5] In a 2018 interview, Kayal, an Arab Muslim, and Hemed, a Jewish Israeli, said that their different backgrounds had not affected their relationship.[4] Recalling a shared room, Kayal described praying on one side while Hemed was on the other and laughing when Kayal wanted to take a photograph; he emphasized their respect for each other’s religion.[4]

In 2017, Kayal contributed a video message to the London launch of the Team for Social Responsibility initiative, having missed the event while recovering from surgery for his broken leg.[16] The initiative promoted joint living among Jews, Arabs, and Israel’s communities.[16] Kayal expressed the hope that his friendship with Hemed could provide an example of Jews and Arabs—and people more broadly—getting along and respecting one another.[16] His later work in youth football extended his stated ambition to help children in the Arab community see a path toward the highest levels of the sport.[2][5]