Itay Shechter
 |
 |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Itay Menachem Shechter | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1998-2001 | Hapoel Haifa | ||
| 2001-2005 | Hapoel Nazareth Illit/Emek Izra'el | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2005–2006 | Hapoel Nazareth Illit | 27 | (3) |
| 2006-2009 | Maccabi Netanya | 83 | (21) |
| 2009-2011 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 45 | (26) |
| 2011- | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2005 | Israel U18 | 6 | (9) |
| 2005-2006 | Israel U19 | 16 | (6) |
| 2006-2008 | Israel U21 | 16 | (5) |
| 2009-present | Israel | 8 | (2) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 November 2010 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 October 2010 | |||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Israel
| ||
| Football | ||
| Maccabiah Games | ||
 |
2005 Maccabiah | Football |
Itay Menachem Shechter (Hebrew: איתי מנחם שכטר; born 22 February 1987) is an Israeli footballer currently playing for 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
Career
Shechter started his career in Hapoel Haifa youth team where in 1999-00 he won the Israeli Youth Cup being 13 years old.
One year later, Shechter moved to the youth club F.C. Emek Izra'el and helped the club promote in four seasons from the fourth league to the first league in youth football. Three years after moving to Emek Izra'el, the youth club was joined to the youth club of Hapoel Nazareth Illit, witch played in the Israeli Premier League at the same season, and the new club was re-named Hapoel Nazareth Illit/Emek Izra'el. Shechter was eventually promoted to the first team of Hapoel Nazareth Illit in the Israeli Premier League.
His first game in the Israeli Premier League was on 29 August 2005 during Nazareth Illit's 1-2 defeat to F.C. Ashdod, when he came on as a substitute. He scored his first goal in Nazareth Illit first team against Maccabi Netanya in a 3-1 lose in the Israeli Premier League, scoring the only goal for his club in this game.
Shechter has made 10 appearances for the Israel national under-21 football team, was capped several times at youth level. His first appearance in the U-21 team was on the losing side to Cyprus, losing 2-1 in a friendly game, Shechter scored the only goal for the Israeli team in this game.
In 2006 Shechter moved to Maccabi Netanya because he wanted to move to a bigger club than Nazareth Illit, who had just been relegated to Liga Leumit.
After 3 years with Maccabi Netanya on 23 July 2009 he moved for $500,000 to Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. where he will play till 2014.
He scored in his debut with Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. in UEFA Europa League 3-1 win against IFK Goteborg on the third qualifying round.
On August 18, 2010, Shechter made headlines during a UEFA Champions League playoff match against Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, when he celebrated a goal by pulling a crocheted Hapoel Tel Aviv yarmulke from his sock and placing it on his head, while covering his face in prayer at mid-field.[1] The display earned him a yellow card and garnered attention in Israel, where the gesture was widely interpreted as a triumphant gesture against the Nazi history of Austria’s past. This interpretation was questioned when it was discovered that the head covering was provided to him by a cancer patient and Hapoel Tel Aviv fan.
On July 7, 2011, Shecter's transfer to 1. FC Kaiserslautern from the Bundesliga was completed.
International career
He scored his first national goal on October 8, 2010, in the 2-1 loss against Croatia, and his second goal against Greece on October 12, 2010.
International goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 9, 2010 | Karaiskakis Stadium |  Greece |
1-2 | Lose | UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying |
| 2 | October 12, 2010 | Ramat Gan Stadium |  Croatia |
1-2 | Lose | UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying |
Statistics
Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2006–07||rowspan="3"|Maccabi Netanya||rowspan="3"|Israeli Premier League||30||7||1||0||8||0||2||0||41||7 |- |2007–08||24||7||4||2||3||0||2||0||33||9 |- |2008–09||29||7||4||0||3||0||2||0||38||7 |- |2009–10||rowspan="3"|Hapoel Tel Aviv||rowspan="3"|Israeli Premier League|||34||22||5||4||2||2||11||3||52||31 |- |2010–11||11||4||0||0||3||0||8||2||22||6 |- Template:Football player statistics end
Personal life
While playing for Maccabi Netanya, Shechter attended Torah classes twice a week.[2] Additionally, Shechter puts on Tefillin every morning as he believes that if he does not do so, he will have a bad day.[2]
Honours
- Israeli Premier League:
- Winner (1): 2009-10
- Runner-up (3): 2006-07, 2007–08, 2010–11
- Israel State Cup:
- Winner (2): 2010, 2011
Footnotes
- ^ Soclof, Adam (2010-08-22). "Soccer kipah stunt draws yellow card, Israeli attention". JTA. blogs.jta.org. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ a b Botz, Lee (2009-10-28). "איתי שכטר: "נולדתי למשחקים כאלה"". Yedioth Ahronoth (in Hebrew). Ynet.co.il. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
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External links
- League Stats at IFA
- National Team Stats at IFA
- National Football Teams
- 1987 births
- Living people
- People from North District (Israel)
- Israeli Jews
- Jewish footballers
- Israeli footballers
- Israel international footballers
- Hapoel Nazareth Illit F.C. players
- Maccabiah footballers of Israel
- Footballers at the 2005 Maccabiah Games
- Maccabi Netanya F.C. players
- Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players
- 1. FC Kaiserslautern players