What name comes to mind when you are asked who is the greatest football player in the history of the State of Israel? Common answers to this question include Roni Rosenthal, Eyal Berkowitz, Yossi Benayoun and Eran Zehavi – but none of them received the rare honor that Eli Ohana did. We used Claude to salute the giant player.
In 1986, after Argentina defeated Israel 7-2 in a friendly match, Diego Maradona declared a month later: "There is only one great Israeli footballer – and that is Eli Ohana." This is despite the fact that Ohana did not score either of our two goals in this game – it was Moshe Sinai and Uri Malmilian. But Maradona was only impressed by Ohana.
Ohana is included in the list of names that Israelis tend to bring up in response to the question we started with – but he did not achieve the same levels of fame, in Israel and especially abroad, that some of the others on the list received, and several others. His international career was quite short – 3 years with Belgian club KV Mechelen, and <> year with Portuguese Sporting Braga.
Ohana's attacking talent was reflected in the four goals he scored during Mechelen's successful 1987-88 season in the Cup Winners' Cup, earning him the prestigious Bravo Award as Europe's best under-21 potential player that year – a title he has picked up so far. Other titles came after Mechelen won the Super Cup in 1988 and the Belgian League Championship in 1989.
He was admired by team-mates and opponents alike for his grace and creativity on the ball – and despite some unpleasant incidents, such as his suspension from a 1989 World Cup qualifier against Australia, after making an obscene gesture against the Australians for making anti-Semitic comments in an interview with the media.
After stripping off the Israeli national team in 1997 and Beitar Jerusalem in 1999, Ohana served as coach of many teams, Bnei Yehuda and the under-19 youth team. Ahead of the 2015 elections, he joined the Jewish Home party – a move that drew so much criticism that after only three days he announced his resignation. In recent years he has served as a sports broadcaster and commentator for the sports channel and the Kan Public Broadcasting Corporation.
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