Shahar Nakav

Nakav made her first senior-team appearance in a match between Maccabi Kishronot Hadera and Maccabi Lee Be’er Sheva, covered in a report published on April 19, 2012.[3] In the second minute, Sahar Nissim sent her a long ball, and she was fouled in the penalty area; Arava Shahaf converted the resulting penalty.[3] The match finished 2–2, and Nakav was replaced by Chen Sabag in the 67th minute.[3]

In 2015, Nakav played in Israel’s opening Group A match against Sweden at the European Women’s Under-19 Championship in Lod.[2] Israel was hosting the tournament and participating for the first time.[2] Nakav received a second yellow card in the 80th minute, leaving Israel with ten players in a match that ended in a 3–0 defeat.[2][4]

By December 2023, Nakav was 26 years old, captained the senior women’s national team, and played at left back for M.S. Kiryat Gat, then leading Israel’s Premier League.[1] She had undergone surgery for a leg injury approximately four months earlier and had not fully recovered during the national team’s Nations League campaign.[1]

Israel competed in League C, the lowest tier of the UEFA Women’s Nations League, in a group with Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia.[1] The team finished first with five wins and one draw, recording a 21–2 goal difference and earning promotion to League B.[1] The campaign concluded in Hungary approximately a week before the December 2023 profile was published.[1]

On June 8, 2026, ahead of Israel’s final World Cup qualifying group match against Scotland, Nakav spoke about returning to the national team after a long absence.[5] She said she was excited to wear the national uniform again, had worked hard to return, and would give her full effort as long as she remained healthy.[5]

During the 2023 campaign, the national team learned that Naama Levy, daughter of team doctor Dr. Eilat Levi-Shahar, had been abducted to Gaza.[1] Under coach Erez Belfer, the players dedicated their tournament to raising awareness of the effort to bring her home.[1] Before each of the five matches remaining after October 7, out of six matches in total, they displayed Levy’s photograph and wore shirts bearing the words “Bring Them Home.”[1]

Nakav described the campaign as physically challenging because of her incomplete recovery, but said the circumstances gave the players extra energy.[1] She recalled that they “sang the anthem loudly, so everyone would hear,” and wanted their results to bring happiness to the country, including their team doctor and her abducted daughter.[1] In her account of the first match against Kazakhstan, Nakav said Israel requested a minute of silence for the victims, that the Kazakhstan players initially declined to stand, and that the Turkish referee required them to do so.[1]