Shimon Abuhatzira

Abuhatzira grew up in Netanya and developed as a footballer at the Nes Tubruk youth club.[5] He was the leading scorer in its youth setup before later becoming a leading scorer for Hapoel Petah Tikva.[5]

He grew up in a traditional family and said that he began becoming more religious during his years at Ironi Kiryat Shmona.[6] During a later period away from football, he attended religious study sessions.[6]

With Hapoel Petah Tikva in the 2008/09 season, Abuhatzira scored 14 league goals, sharing the league's top-scorer honor with Barak Itzhaki and Eliran Atar, who each finished with the same total.[1] In 2009, he moved from Petah Tikva to Larissa in Greece.[7][8]

The adjustment to Greece was difficult: Abuhatzira recalled arriving in an unfamiliar city without knowing the local language or, at that time, being able to speak English.[8] He later recalled, “I wanted to run away from there, to get on the first plane back to Israel.”[8] His wife encouraged him not to abandon their ambition, and he gradually settled in and came to appreciate the opportunity to play in Europe.[8]

Injuries disrupted his 2009/10 season at Larissa, during which he scored three goals in 12 appearances.[8] His opening four matches had brought two goals, an assist, and a penalty won, but further injuries were followed by surgery for an old groin problem, ending his season early.[8] In another injury during his time in Greece, a coffee cup fell and shattered in his hotel room before an away match; a shard cut his leg badly enough to require hospital treatment and stitches.[8] Larissa cited that injury to explain his absence, although he had already returned to training.[8]

By October 2011, Abuhatzira was scoring for Ironi Kiryat Shmona during a sustained unbeaten run.[9] On October 29, he contributed a goal in a 3–0 away victory over Hapoel Beersheba, the club's fourth consecutive league win and its eighth match without defeat.[9] On December 3, his penalty secured a 2–1 away victory over Hapoel Acre.[10] That result was Kiryat Shmona's seventh win in eight matches, extended its unbeaten streak to 12 games, and put it at the top of the Premier League standings for at least 48 hours.[10]

Abuhatzira was part of the Kiryat Shmona squad that won the Israeli championship in 2011/12.[3] He started the championship-clinching match on April 2, 2012, when the club secured the title with five rounds remaining.[3]

During Kiryat Shmona's European campaign in August 2012, Abuhatzira was expected to lead the attack against Neftci PFK in Champions League qualifying, with newly signed Hungarian striker Laszlo Lencse not expected to start.[11] Before the match, he said: “A win by any score-line will be good for us. We must make the most of our chances because that is something we struggled with in the previous round.”[11]

In the Champions League playoff first leg against BATE Borisov that August, Abuhatzira had two notable opportunities late in the first half of a 2–0 defeat.[12] Darko Tasevski put him through on goal in the 42nd minute, but he could not beat goalkeeper Andrei Gorbunov.[12] In first-half stoppage time, he again faced the goalkeeper but was denied by a last-ditch tackle.[12]

Back in domestic competition, he scored in stoppage time to complete a 2–0 away win over Bnei Yehuda in November 2012.[13] The result moved Kiryat Shmona into seventh place on 15 points, one point behind fourth-placed Bnei Yehuda.[13] He finished the 2012/13 league season with 15 goals.[14]

Abuhatzira also participated in Israel national-team training ahead of a friendly against Belarus in November 2012 and described representing Israel as a source of pride.[15]

In summer 2013, Abuhatzira joined Maccabi Haifa after his championship-winning spell at Kiryat Shmona, where he had also been the club's leading scorer.[16] His first goal of the season for Haifa came from an 80th-minute penalty in a 4–2 away win over Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium in November 2013.[17]

He also scored in Maccabi Haifa's first match at Sammy Ofer Stadium, a 4–2 Premier League victory over Bnei Sakhnin on September 15, 2014.[18] In the 58th minute, Ruben Rayos squared the ball for Abuhatzira to finish into an empty net from close range.[18]

In February 2015, Abuhatzira returned to Kiryat Shmona on loan until the end of the season.[19] After scoring once in 14 appearances for Haifa, he scored twice within the opening 26 minutes of a Kiryat Shmona win over Hapoel Petah Tikva.[19] On February 25, he scored with the final kick of the State Cup quarterfinal first leg against Maccabi Tel Aviv to secure a 1–1 draw for Kiryat Shmona, then the defending cup-holder.[4]

Abuhatzira scored four league goals in total for Maccabi Haifa, which released him in 2016.[16] After receiving four medical opinions finding him fit to return to football, he joined Beitar Jerusalem at the end of the 2015/16 season.[5] He made 14 appearances for Beitar and scored three goals before moving to Hapoel Ra'anana.[5]

At Ra'anana, his working relationship with coach Menachem Koretzki helped him regain form; a 2018 account recorded four goals in the five most recent matches it discussed.[5] By April 2018, he had reached 10 league goals for the season, his first double-digit league tally since scoring 15 for Kiryat Shmona in 2012/13.[14] At that point, he had scored 14 league goals overall for Ra'anana, including four against M.S. Ashdod.[14]

Playing again for Kiryat Shmona in January 2019, Abuhatzira headed in an Ismaeel Ryan cross to equalize against Hapoel Hadera, six minutes after Hadera had taken the lead.[20] Kiryat Shmona went on to win 3–1.[20] In August 2019, aged 32, he signed for second-division Ironi Ramat HaSharon, his seventh club.[2] On leaving Kiryat Shmona, he thanked owner Izzy Sheratzky and the club for what he called a wonderful period.[2]

In a 2018 interview, Abuhatzira advocated accommodating religious supporters when scheduling Saturday matches.[6] He opposed what he called secular coercion and urged discussion of arrangements that would work best for everyone.[6]

Abuhatzira's achievements include a shared league scoring title with Hapoel Petah Tikva and a championship with Ironi Kiryat Shmona.[1][3] His standing in Kiryat Shmona's history also rests on his goalscoring record: the club's team profile lists him as its all-time leading scorer in league matches, with 35 goals.[21] He was likewise described as the club's all-time leading scorer when he departed for Ramat HaSharon in 2019.[2]

During his pursuit of a move to Larissa in 2009, Abuhatzira traveled to Greece with his agent without informing Hapoel Petah Tikva.[7] Following a disciplinary hearing, the club fined him 60,000 shekels and suspended him from the season's final match.[7]

Accounts differ in how they describe Abuhatzira's heart-related health episode. A January 2018 account reported that he developed myocarditis in March 2014, was told not to play pending extensive heart examinations, and remained out of football for about a year and a half.[5] In a March 2018 interview, Abuhatzira said examinations by leading professors had shown that his heart was fine and objected to Maccabi Haifa creating a public image of him as a heart patient.[6] The two reports do not resolve the difference between the reported diagnosis and his description of his health.[5][6]