Tomer Hemed

Hemed grew up in Kiryat Tivon and said he had been devoted to football since the age of eight.[6] He came through Maccabi Haifa’s youth system, where he met Beram Kayal as a child.[7][8] The two became longtime friends and later played together for both Brighton and Israel.[8]

Hemed and Kayal described Haifa’s academy as a setting in which children from Jewish, Christian and Muslim backgrounds mixed.[8] Their friendship continued while playing abroad; Kayal recalled an occasion when they shared a room and he tried to photograph Hemed while praying on the other side of the room, prompting Hemed to laugh.[8]

At 19, while struggling to establish himself in Maccabi Haifa’s first team, Hemed began working with mental coach Dan Valensi.[6] He later described their first meeting as the turning point in his career.[6] Hemed also recalled giving his first salary to his parents because they needed help paying for repairs to their car.[6]

Hemed made his first start for Maccabi Haifa’s senior team in the final round of the 2005/06 season, shortly after turning 19.[2] Before that match, he had accumulated only 21 minutes of senior-team playing time.[2] He scored his first senior goal and assisted Roberto Colautti in a 2–2 draw with Bnei Sakhnin.[2]

His development included loan spells away from Haifa, including periods at Bnei Yehuda and Maccabi Herzliya, before his eventual breakthrough with his childhood club.[6] He also played for Maccabi Ahi Nazareth, recalling in a later interview that Jewish players were welcomed at the Arab club.[8] He spoke positively about playing and forming friendships across religious backgrounds.[8] By the 2009 season preview, he was a 22-year-old striker regarded as ready for a breakthrough season.[7]

Working with Valensi, Hemed adopted a more structured approach to his professional development.[6] He said Valensi encouraged him to treat his career like a company, with defined goals and specialist staff.[6] Hemed increased his training from approximately six weekly sessions to between 12 and 15, adding individual work before team training and gym sessions afterward.[6] He set himself the goal of reaching European football by the age of 23.[6]

Returning to Maccabi Haifa for the 2010/11 season, Hemed became a regular starter after 14 rounds.[6] He scored 13 goals and supplied five assists as Haifa won the Israeli championship.[6] A retrospective of his career records 35 appearances during that breakthrough season.[2]

Hemed joined Mallorca in 2011, beginning a four-year period in Spain that also included Almería.[6][2] He recalled finding the pace and movement of Spanish training difficult at first and feeling exhausted by around the 60th minute of his early matches.[6] To adapt, he resumed individual gym and ball work, seeking to improve particular aspects of his game and rebuild his confidence.[6]

During his first Mallorca season, Hemed headed past Iker Casillas to give his team a 1–0 lead against Real Madrid.[2] Mallorca ultimately lost, with Gonzalo Higuaín and José Callejón scoring for Real Madrid.[2] In the opening match of the 2012/13 league season against Espanyol, played across the night of August 18 and 19, Hemed scored once in each half and therefore on two different calendar days.[2]

Across his time with Mallorca and Almería, Hemed scored 27 La Liga goals.[2] That total surpassed Haim Revivo’s previous record of 23 for an Israeli player in the Spanish top division.[2] Following Almería’s relegation, Hemed moved to Brighton in June 2015 for a reported fee of approximately €1.3 million.[9][5] Brighton manager Chris Hughton said he had followed Hemed for years and regarded his goalscoring ability as an important addition to the attack.[9]

Hemed scored 17 goals and supplied five assists in his first Brighton season, 2015/16.[10] In 2016/17, he recorded 14 goals and five assists across competitions, including 13 league goals, as Brighton secured promotion to the Premier League.[10][11] The club finished second in the Championship, with Hemed a key contributor to its promotion.[5]

Promotion had been Hemed’s stated target when he moved from Spain to the Championship.[12] Reflecting on the achievement in 2017, he described the previous season’s failure to go up as painful and said the team had concentrated on returning stronger.[12] He also said that playing abroad alongside Kayal, his friend since childhood, was special.[12] The pair had helped Brighton win promotion while also remaining teammates for Israel.[8]

By November 2017, Hemed had made 88 league appearances for Brighton and scored 30 league goals.[5] He renewed his contract that month, with the club retaining an option for an additional season after 2018/19.[11] At that stage, he had scored twice in the Premier League that season.[11] He also received a three-match suspension after being filmed stepping on DeAndre Yedlin during a match against Newcastle.[11]

In September 2018, Hemed was on loan at Queens Park Rangers.[13] His observance of Yom Kippur affected his participation in a match against Millwall: he began on the bench while fasting, ate after the fast ended and then entered the game in the second half.[13] Before the fast, he had posted a photograph of himself wearing a prayer shawl and phylacteries.[13] His subsequent English career also included Charlton Athletic before he moved to Wellington Phoenix in 2020.[10]

Hemed had been a member of Israel’s national team since 2011 and had recorded 17 goals in 37 appearances by the time of his move to Wellington Phoenix in November 2020.[4] One of his most productive international performances came on October 12, 2012, when he scored a hat trick in Israel’s 6–0 away victory over Luxembourg in qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[3]

The Luxembourg result was Israel’s first win of that qualifying campaign, following a defeat to Russia and a draw with Azerbaijan.[3] Hemed said afterward, “We came prepared, knowing there was no way back.”[3]

In March 2017, Hemed publicly criticized his national-team role after playing only the final 20 minutes against Spain.[14] He said he believed he should be Israel’s first-choice striker, having scored three goals across the preceding matches against Liechtenstein and Macedonia.[14] He was suspended from the national team following the interview.[14]

Hemed signed for Wellington Phoenix in November 2020, joining a New Zealand club competing in Australia’s A-League.[4] Explaining the move after playing in La Liga, the Premier League and the English Championship, he said that he and his family wanted “to do something more exciting, something special.”[4]

He scored 11 goals and supplied three assists in the 2020/21 season, with his 11 goals coming in the final 14 rounds.[10] In May 2021, he scored both Wellington goals in a 2–2 draw with Melbourne City, a result that kept the club in contention for a place in the league’s top tier.[15] He celebrated one goal by running toward supporters waving Israeli flags.[15] Hemed subsequently played for Western Sydney Wanderers, recording six goals and one assist in 2021/22.[10]

In 2022, Hemed returned to Israel after 11 years abroad and joined Hapoel Be’er Sheva.[16] In the Super Cup against Maccabi Haifa, he converted the decisive penalty in the shootout after a 1–1 draw.[17] Describing it as his first match back, he said, “After 11 years abroad it was great to be an important part of the victory.”[17]

After limited playing time at Be’er Sheva and the termination of his contract, Hemed returned to Maccabi Haifa in January 2024.[16] In a State Cup round-of-32 match against Hapoel Kfar Saba that month, he scored twice as Haifa won 6–3 after extra time.[18] His first goal was a penalty before halftime; his second, a header in the 71st minute, put Haifa ahead 3–2.[18] The return to Maccabi Haifa closed his playing career before his retirement later in 2024.[1]

Hemed’s playing achievements included an Israeli championship with Maccabi Haifa, Brighton’s promotion to the Premier League and an Israeli-player scoring record of 27 goals in La Liga.[6][2] His international career included 17 goals for Israel, among them the hat trick against Luxembourg during World Cup qualifying.[4][3]

After retiring from playing in 2024, Hemed joined Brighton’s academy as a mentor.[1] He said the club would provide a route through coaching courses and that he hoped to progress to managing an academy team, with the longer-term ambition of working with Brighton’s senior side.[1] In the mentor role, he took part in academy training and worked individually with players on and off the pitch.[1]

Hemed’s Israeli-flag celebrations during Wellington Phoenix’s May 2021 draw with Melbourne City drew A-League scrutiny as politically sensitive.[19] Phoenix general manager David Dome expected the club to be asked to explain the incident but did not anticipate punishment.[19] Dome said the celebration expressed a prayer for peace and that Hemed did not regard it as insensitive.[19]