Omri Gandelman

Gandelman was born in Hod HaSharon on May 16, 2000, and grew up in a family with a basketball background.[2][6] His father, Shmuel, played basketball in Israel’s top division, while his grandfather Rami was a prominent basketball coach in Jerusalem.[6] He played both basketball and football as a child before choosing football.[6] His early clubs included Hapoel Hod HaSharon, Maccabi Petah Tikva, Hapoel Ra’anana and Hapoel Petah Tikva.[6]

In November 2017, at the age of 17, he moved to Germany to join the youth team of Wehen Wiesbaden.[2][6] The move followed his participation in a Germany-focused development project; during his nearly year-long stay, he lived in Frankfurt and travelled about an hour and a half each morning to training.[7] Although offered a professional contract for the 2018–2019 season, he returned to Israel to complete his matriculation examinations and fulfill his military-service obligation.[2]

Gandelman joined Maccabi Netanya’s youth team in August 2018, scored eight goals and helped the side reach the State Cup final.[6] The following season, he captained the youth team while also becoming involved with the senior squad.[6] On February 24, 2020, he signed a four-year contract with the club.[6]

After a youth-team season in which he scored 11 goals as a defensive midfielder, Gandelman began establishing himself in Netanya’s senior side.[7] His early senior career involved several positions, including centre-back, left-back, defensive midfield and central midfield.[7] Under Raymond Atteveld, he became a regular starter, making 23 starts in his second senior season and scoring his first senior goal against Hapoel Kfar Saba.[7] Between 2019 and 2023, his responsibilities also extended into attacking positions, and he helped Netanya win the 2022–2023 Toto Cup.[2]

In August 2023, Netanya agreed to sell Gandelman to KAA Gent in Belgium, retaining a 15 percent share in a future sale.[8] He later described his initial adjustment at Gent as difficult, identifying differences between Belgian and Israeli football in pace, aggression and physicality.[9] By September 2024, he said he had settled in and identified the number-eight, or box-to-box midfield role, as his most comfortable position, despite his experience at centre-back and in defensive midfield.[9]

His most prolific single-match performance came in March 2024, when Gent defeated Charleroi 5–0.[3] Gandelman entered as a substitute in the 29th minute and scored four times between the 41st and 67th minutes, leaving 26 minutes between his first and fourth goals.[3] The performance gave him both his first career hat-trick and his first four-goal match.[3] The Spanish newspaper Marca called him “the best substitute in the world.”[2] At that point in the season, he had six Belgian league goals and three assists, as well as two goals in the Conference League group stage.[3]

By May 2024, Gandelman had recorded 13 goals and seven assists in 43 appearances across all competitions during his first season abroad.[10] Eleven of those goals came in the Belgian league and two in the Conference League.[10] By the end of 2024, he was the second-highest-scoring midfielder across Europe’s top 15 leagues, behind Cole Palmer.[2] His eventual Gent totals were 33 goals and 14 assists in 107 appearances.[2]

Gandelman joined Italy’s US Lecce in January 2026, signing a contract through summer 2029 with an option for a further year.[11] At the time of the move, he had scored seven goals in 18 Belgian league appearances that season, as well as a cup goal, and had registered an assist.[11] His debut goal against Udinese helped Lecce win 2–1 and end an eight-match winless run.[2] In the following match, a 2–0 away victory over Cagliari, he scored a header and received the Panini Player of the Match award.[2] Coach Eusebio Di Francesco praised his timing when attacking space and moving between the lines.[2] Gandelman described his objective as helping Lecce remain in the league.[2]

His first months at Lecce included two goals and an assist in the second half of the season, but knee problems disrupted his continuity.[12] By October 29, 2026, he had recovered and returned to training, although he had not appeared in Lecce’s two most recent matches.[12] During that period, he came on as a substitute for Israel against Ireland and nearly scored with a shot that struck the post.[12]

Gandelman began playing for Israel in World Cup qualifying in 2021 and also established himself in the under-21 team.[6] During the qualification campaign for the 2023 Under-21 European Championship, he was the team’s leading scorer, with three goals in seven matches.[13]

At the final tournament, he scored the decisive goal in Israel’s 1–0 victory over the Czech Republic, heading in an Oscar Gloukh cross in the 82nd minute.[4] The result secured second place in Group C and Israel’s first appearance in the competition’s knockout stages.[4] During the celebrations, Gandelman embraced his father, who had been waiting in the stands.[4]

Israel’s route through the tournament included a group-stage draw with Germany and a quarterfinal penalty-shootout victory over host Georgia.[14] The team reached the semifinals and qualified for the Paris Olympics, with qualification also dependent on England’s quarterfinal victory over Portugal.[14] It was Israel’s first qualification for Olympic football since the 1976 Montreal Games.[14]

In May 2024, Gandelman’s selection as an over-age player for the Olympic squad was confirmed.[10] Coach Guy Luzon credited him with a central role in the under-21 team’s qualification and its European Championship semifinal achievement.[10] Gandelman captained Israel’s under-23 side at the Paris Games.[5]

In Israel’s opening Olympic match, a 1–1 draw with Mali, a move involving Gloukh and Gandelman ended with Mali’s Hamidou Diallo putting the ball into his own net.[5] Gandelman said the match “could have gone either way” and that Israel had tried to win from the outset.[5] In the next match, against Paraguay, he headed in Israel’s equalizer in the 53rd minute.[15] The goal followed a corner that Paraguay’s goalkeeper dropped, with the ball reaching Gandelman after a touch from Israeli defender Stav Lemkin.[15] Israel ultimately lost 4–2, with Gloukh scoring its other goal.[15]

Gandelman scored his first senior international goal against France in a Nations League match on October 10, 2024.[16] France had taken the lead in the sixth minute of the match in Budapest, before Gandelman headed in a Gloukh delivery to make it 1–1.[17] France regained the lead in the 28th minute and added two late goals to win 4–1.[17] Gandelman described his first national-team goal as something he would not forget and said he was comfortable contributing wherever the coach placed him.[16]

In March 2026, he scored Israel’s equalizer in a 2–2 friendly draw with Georgia in Tbilisi.[18] Moving in from the right flank, he received another Gloukh pass and scored in the 63rd minute.[18] He played despite fractures and pain in his hand and said, “There’s no better feeling,” about scoring for the national team.[18]