Itzik Zohar (Hebrew: איציק זוהר; born October 31, 1970) is an Israeli former international footballer and television sports personality.
Zohar grew up in a ma'abara (transit camp) on the border of Bat Yam and Jaffa, where the family's ramshackle hut was not even sufficient to protect them from the elements.
[3] Due to the unsavory conditions of the neighborhood, Zohar's father encouraged the children to play football in order to stay off the streets.
Itzik's professional debut was in a Liga Artzit[7] match with childhood club Maccabi Jaffa against Hakoah Ramat Gan which ended in a 0:0 draw.
All this was just a warmup for his big national team break when Israel played its first world cup qualifier in the UEFA confederation.
[12] After returning from England, he was signed by Maccabi Haifa, as a replacement for Ukrainian midfielder Serhiy Kandaurov, who was sold to Portugal's Benfica.
Haifa manager, Daniel Brailovsky was disappointed with Zohar's performances during practices and decided to let him languish on the bench during the season.
After a falling out with Brailovsky, Zohar joined Maccabi Tel Aviv for his third stint but suffered an injury that saw him off the pitch for about 10 months.
His career was dealt a setback when he was caught hurling racial slurs towards Tzafririm Holon's Ziv Caveda (an Israeli footballer of Ethiopian extraction).
[2] The event startled the Israel Football Association which never had racism between players on the field and had no punishment system in place for it.
He was originally going to be a part of the squad for the qualification round of the European beach football championship in Athens, Greece, but pulled out due to injury.