Eran Zahavi Biography | Eran Zahavi

Eran Zahavi is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or striker for Guangzhou R&F and for the Israel national football team.

Zahavi was named the Israeli Footballer of the Year twice (2013 and 2014), and finished as the top goalscorer three seasons in a row in the Israeli Premier League, in 2013–14 (29 goals, all-time club record), in 2014–15 (27 goals), and in 2015–16 (35 goals, all-time club and league record). In December 2014, Zahavi broke the Israeli Premier League record for scoring in consecutive appearances after he scored for the 18th game in a row. In 2016, he broke the Israeli league six-decade-old season scoring record, beating the 1954–55 record. He has been a senior international since 2010, earning 44 caps. He was named the 2017 Chinese Super League MVP.

Eran Zahavi Age

Eran Zahavi is 31 years old as of 2019. He was born on 25 July 1987, in Rishon LeZion, Israel

Eran Zahavi Family

Eran Zahavi’s mother’s name is unknown at this time and his father’s name is under review… We will continue to update information on Eran Zahavi’s parents.

Eran Zahavi Height

He has a height of 1.82 m tall

Eran Zahavi Background

Zahavi was born in Rishon Lezion, Israel, to a Jewish family. He started his youth career with Hapoel Tel Aviv. At the age of 16, he went to Ironi Rishon LeZion, in his hometown. Two years later, in 2005 he returned to Hapoel. He managed to get to the state cup final with his team but lost to Beitar Jerusalem F.C. after a penalty shootout; he scored the equalizer that led to extra time.

Eran Zahavi Image

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Eran Zahavi Career

A Hapoel Tel Aviv youth product, he was promoted into the first team in 2006 and won the Israel State Cup and the championship title after a dramatic match against the fierce rival Beitar Jerusalem in which Zahavi scored at the 92nd minute of extra time. Zahavi was reported to have garnered interest from clubs in Belgium during the 2009–10 season. Zahavi has a French passport, which would mean that he would not count as a foreigner in many European leagues.

In the 2010–11 season Zahavi became the top assister of the Israeli Premier League, providing 13 assists during the season.

Palermo
He signed a five-year deal with the Italian Serie A club, Palermo, before the beginning of the 2011–12 Serie A season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

In December 2012, towards the winter transfers window opening, Zahavi showed signs of returning to Israel. Following an agreement made by Palermo and Maccabi Tel Aviv, his former club Hapoel Tel Aviv was given seven days to make a bid on him due to the first-option clause in his contract, but it was not exploited. On 21 January 2013, after over a month of speculation in the media, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced his arrival, signing him on a three-and-a-half year contract for €250,000.

In a Tel Aviv derby on 3 November 2014, he scored a penalty to equalize the score at 1–1 in the first half but was then attacked by a pitch invader. On retaliating, he was sent off, prompting more pitch invasions which led to the match being abandoned.

At the beginning of the 2015–16 season, he was appointed as Maccabi’s new captain after former captain Sheran Yeini signed at Dutch football club Vitesse. On 5 August 2015, Zahavi scored two goals against Czech team Viktoria Plzeň in a 2–0 away victory in the second leg of the third qualifying round after Maccabi lost at home 2–1. On 19 August 2015, Zahavi scored a brace, including a 96th-minute equalizer, in a 2–2 draw against Swiss side Basel at St. Jakob-Park in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs. On 25 August, during the second leg at Bloomfield, he scored a 24th-minute equalizer as the match ended 1–1, a result that sent Maccabi to the Champions League group stage due to the away goals rule. Zahavi finished the Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round as the top goalscorer with 7 goals in 5 games. During the season Zahavi scored 35 league goals, in 36 league games, and set a new Israeli record for league goals in a single season. The previous record was set by the striker Nissim Elmaliach, who scored 30 goals in 26 league games during the 1954–55 season.

Guangzhou R&F
On 29 June 2016, Zahavi joined Guangzhou R&F of the Chinese Football League, making him the second Israeli player in China after Liron Zarko. The transfer deal will pay Zahavi a reported $12.5 million over two-and-a-half years. On 2 July, Zahavi made his debut coming on from the bench at the 60th minute playing against Shijiazhuang Ever Bright with the score a 1–1 draw. 15 minutes later he scored his first goal, and later on, he added an assist to lead his team to a 4–2 victory.

On 13 July, he scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes in the Chinese FA Cup match against Hebei China Fortune coming on from the bench in the second half and so helping R&F to a 3–0 win. On 18 October, during a league match against Hangzhou Greentown, Zahavi netted his second hat trick in an R&F jersey, propelling them to a 5–2 victory. He found the net in the 33rd, 55th, and 67th minutes of the match. Those goals gave him 16 goals in as many games for R&F, across all competitions. These scoring exploits quickly earned him the nickname “the King of Yuexiushan”.

Zahavi finished his first half-season for Guangzhou R&F with six goals in four Chinese FA Cup games and 11 league goals in 15 appearances. In December 2016, according to media reports, Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. offered $20 million for Zahavi, the highest transfer fee ever offered for an Israeli footballer. On 24 January 2017, Zahavi signed a renewed contract with Guangzhou R&F until the end of the 2020 season, for an estimated $7 million per season. On 23 July, in the league match against Yanbian Funde, he scored four goals and Guangzhou won 6–2. Zahavi finished the 2017 season with 27 league goals (one short of the league record) to win the CSL Golden Boot Award. He was also named the Most Valuable Player in the Chinese Super League, and selected in the CSL team of the year.

After Shanghai Greenland Shenhua failed to sign Zahavi in September 2017 for a transfer fee of $25 million, Zahavi renewed his contract with Guangzhou R&F in February 2018 for an estimated $10 million per season on a three-year contract. On 2 March, during round 1 of the 2018 CSL season, Zahavi scored a hat-trick and assisted one goal in the 5–4 away win against reigning champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao.

Eran Zahavi Career statistics

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