Nir Davidovich

Nir Davidovich was born on 17 December 1976 in Haifa, Israel. The footballer spent his entire career with Maccabi Haifa that’s why he’s considered to be the “symbol” of the club together with the veteran Yaniv Katan. Many people call him the successor of renowned goalkeeper Avi Ran, the club’s prodigy who died in a diving accident.

From 1986 to 1994 Nir trained at the youth academy of Maccabi Haifa. In 1994 the footballer was officially promoted to the main team. In 1996 he delivered outstanding performance in a game against Hapoel Petah Tikva when Maccabi kept 0-0 draw after three player of this team where sent off. A year later Nir became a first-choice goalkeeper instead of veteran keeper Bonni Ginzburg.

In 1998 Davidovich made his debut for the Israel national football team in 4-0 win over Turkey. In the same year the footballer won the Israeli cup after 2-0 win over Hapoel Jerusalem. In the next year the keeper was injured seriously and missed the whole season.

In the 2000/2001 campaign Nir won the Israeli championship together with Maccabi Haifa. He conceded only 28 goals which was the lowest figure among all the teams. In 2001 he suffered a knee injury in a match against Spain and was replaced at half-time. Davidovich missed most of the following season because of the injury.

In 2003 the player succeeded in 0-0 draw against Spanish side Valencia. After this match he received grade 10 in the Israeli press (only 7 footballers received the highest grade). Besides, the Spanish press nicknamed him “The Octopus”.

In the 2003/2004 campaign Maccabi Haifa won the Premier League, and Nir Davidovich was chosen as the most valuable player of the season. On 19 April 2009 the goalkeeper made his 300th appearance for Maccabi Haifa. In 2010 Davidovich conceded 16 goals in 35 league matches, breaking the national record.