Toto Tamuz

Toto Adaruns Tamuz Temile (Hebrew: טוטו אדיוראנס תמוז טמילה; born 1 April 1988) is a Nigerian-born Israeli former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Toto Tamuz
Tamuz playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2011
Personal information
Full name Toto Adaruns Tamuz Temile
Date of birth (1988-04-01) 1 April 1988
Place of birth Warri, Nigeria
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2002–2005 Hapoel Petah Tikva
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Hapoel Petah Tikva 28 (11)
2006–2010 Beitar Jerusalem 95 (33)
2010–2013 Hapoel Tel Aviv 88 (44)
2013 Ural Sverdlovsk 7 (0)
2014–2016 Petrolul Ploiești 50 (14)
2016 Hunan Billows 10 (2)
2017 Hapoel Tel Aviv 9 (1)
2018 Petrolul Ploiești 4 (0)
International career
2006 Israel U18 2 (0)
2006–2007 Israel U19 9 (4)
2006–2009 Israel U21 11 (3)
2006–2007[1] Israel 10 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Born in Nigeria, he grew up in Israel from infancy after his father, Nigerian footballer Clement Temile, moved there.[2][3] From 2006 to 2007, he made ten appearances for the Israeli national team, scoring twice.

Early life

Born in Warri, Nigeria, his parents came to Israel in 1990, where his father, Nigerian footballer Clement Temile, played professionally for Beitar Netanya. His cousins Omonigho Temile and Frank Temile were also footballers. When Beitar Netanya ran into financial difficulties and was forced to stop paying salaries, his parents reverted to working various odd jobs. His parents left Israel in 1991 to try to find gainful employment in Nigeria or elsewhere, leaving Toto temporarily with a teammate of his father. When it became obvious that his parents were not coming back for him, Toto was adopted (unofficially) by Israeli citizen Orit Tamuz who cared for him and raised him as her own child, which is where his Hebrew surname Tamuz derives from. Although it is unclear if he formally converted to Judaism, it was stated in a 2007 Ynetnews article that Tamuz was raised Jewish, attending the synagogue on holidays and performing kiddush each Friday.[4]

Club career

Tamuz started to play organised football at Hapoel Petah Tikva, where he made his professional debut during the 2005–06 Israeli Premier League in a match against F.C. Ashdod. His debut made national headlines after he scored two goals during the match.

Beitar Jerusalem

Tamuz signed a deal with Ronen Katzav making him his agent. After declaring on numerous occasions that he was not interested in a big money contract, he ended up declaring his will to be transferred to Beitar Jerusalem citing moves made by the management of the club.

After officially signing with Beitar, Tamuz had to apply for visas to the Netherlands and Romania[5] to join the club for its training camps because he possessed an Israeli travel document and not an Israeli passport.

Tamuz won five titles as a Beitar Jerusalem player: two championships, two State Cups and one Toto Cup. On his way to win the Toto Cup, Tamuz scored 5 of Beitar Jerusalem's 15 goals in the 2009–10 Toto Cup.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Tamuz signed for Hapoel Tel Aviv in August 2010 for undisclosed fee. On 11 September, he scored on his league debut for Hapoel in a 2–2 draw with Hapoel Acre.

Petrolul Ploiești

In February 2014, Tamuz signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to play for Petrolul Ploiești.[6] He scored his first goal on 2 March, against Oțelul Galați, in Liga I. On 16 April, he scored a header in the semi-finals second leg in Cupa României, against Astra Giurgiu, but Petrolul lost 2–1 on aggregate.[7]

On 7 August 2014, Tamuz scored the last goal of an eventual 4–1 win against Viktoria Plzeň, in the Europa League third qualifying round second leg.[8] Tamuz also scored against Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg of the play-off, but Petrolul lost the match 3–1. After a good season debut with Petrolul, he was called up to the Israel national team to play in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. On 21 September, Tamuz scored a doppietta against Steaua București, but unfortunately, Petrolul lost the match 3–2.

In July 2016, Tamuz signed a short-term deal with China League One club Hunan Billows. He scored two goals in ten league appearances for the club.

On 19 January 2017, Tamuz signed to Hapoel Tel Aviv until the end of the season.[9]

International career

Israeli citizenship

Though most of his formulative years were spent in Israel, Tamuz still did not carry full Israeli citizenship.[10] His legal status in Israel was indeterminable for many years until then Deputy Interior Minister Ruhama Avraham granted him an Israeli A1 visa granting temporary resident status for a term of three years. After petitioning to FIFA, and given that he has no other citizenship, Tamuz received special permission to play on Israeli national teams even though he still did not possess an Israeli passport, but only an Israeli laissez-passer.[11] After his temporary visa expired, Tamuz was unable to play for the Israeli national team until he received full Israeli citizenship, a process which could take three years. The Israel Interior Office had refused attempts to fast-track his application.[12] However, his eligibility was confirmed when his case was taken to the Israeli Supreme Court. After Tamuz began the formal naturalisation process, he was named in the Israeli squad for matches against England and Estonia in March 2007.[13] Three months later in 2007, Tamuz was granted full Israeli citizenship along with Roberto Colautti (originally from Argentina), after their respective applications were approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs Roni Bar-On.[14]

On 6 September 2006, Tamuz made his debut for Israel at the age of 18, against Andorra in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match (played at Goffertstadion, Nijmegen, but classed as a home tie). He scored on his debut, and on 6 June 2007, and against the same opponents, he scored again.[1]

International goals
Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tamuz goal.
List of international goals scored by Toto Tamuz
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 6 September 2006Goffertstadion, Nijmegen, Netherlands1 Andorra4–04–1UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2 6 June 2007Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella, Andorra6 Andorra1–02–0UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Honours

[1][15][16] Beitar Jerusalem:

Hapoel Tel Aviv:

Individual

References
  1. Toto Tamuz at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. David Sharrock (17 February 2007). "Striker without a state in walkout". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
  3. "Young guns fire Israeli ambitions". FIFA. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
  4. Beitar Jerusalem soccer star has one problem – he has no country Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, web.israelinsider.com. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  5. טוטו תמוז עלול להחמיץ את מחנה האימון (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 23 June 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  6. "Petrolul l-a transferat pe Toto Tamuz" (in Romanian). FC Petrolul Ploiești Official Website. 13 February 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  7. "Am ratat dramatic finala Cupei României!" [We dramatically missed the Romanian Cup final!]. FC Petrolul Ploiești (in Romanian). 16 April 2014. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014.
  8. "Petrolul and Hajduk heroics stun Europe". UEFA. 7 August 2014.
  9. "טוטו תמוז חתם בהפועל תל אביב עד תום העונה" (in Hebrew). One. 19 January 2017.
  10. בשעה טובה: טוטו תמוז קיבל תעודת זהות (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 27 December 2005. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  11. טוטו תמוז יכול לשחק בנבחרת ישראל (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 5 March 2006.
  12. When Saturday Comes, Shaul Adar, Toto Fiasco, issue 242
  13. Tamuz in Israel squad for England, Estonia games, FIFA.com, 13 March 2007
  14. Boker (2007), Bar-On approves citizenship for soccer players Tamuz and Colautti, Haaretz, 26 June. Accessed 9 July 2007.
  15. Toto Tamuz at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  16. Toto Tamuz at FootballDatabase.eu
  17. Toto Tamuz at WorldFootball.net
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