Tal Ben Haim

Tal Ben Haim is a footballer from Israel, born in 1982 in Rishon LeZion. He can play as centre back, right back or defender. Since 1998 he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, firstly with the reserves and in 2001 he joined the first squad. In 2002/03 he helped the team to win s Israeli Premier League title. In the summer of 2004 Ben Haim had a trial at Bolton Wanderers completed a move to England. He played for Bolton till 2007. During his spell he attracted attention of many football clubs and in June 2007 he switched to Chelsea on a four-year deal. In his first season he was used regularly because Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry were injured but when those recovered he fell out of favor. All in all during his season-long stay at Chelsea Ben Haim made 13 appearances.

On 30 July 2008 he moved to Manchester City but wasn’t given enough playing time, so spent major part of his stay on the bench. In February 2009 Ben Haim was sent on loan to Sunderland and till the end of the season he made five appearances.

At the end of August 2009 he signed for Portsmouth on a four-year deal. From July 2010 till January 2011 Ben Haim played for West Ham United on loan and then returned to Portsmouth. On 4 January 2013, Ben Haim signed for Queens Park Rangers but did not help the team to stay up in the Premier League. In the summer the Israeli switched for Standard Liege. A year later he moved to Charlton Athletic.

Since 2002 he represents the Israel national football team.