Maor Bouzaglo shed tears: "Football is like an organ in your body that you will tear from me"

Buzaglo, 34, hung up his shoes at a press conference and signed an impressive career: "I did everything to find a team and I did not succeed. Arriving at Hapoel Beer Sheva restored my career."

And what about future plans: "I'm back to old love, want to be a DJ"

Walla!

sport

26/01/2022

Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 14:43 Updated: 15:50

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Maor Bouzaglo announces retirement from football at age 34 (Photo: Niv Aharonson. Video editing: Nir Chen)

Maor Buzaglo convened a press conference today (Wednesday) at which he announced his retirement from football at the age of 34. Buzaglo, whose last team was Hapoel Tel Aviv, was injured in the derby match against Maccabi Tel Aviv in June 2020 and has not returned since.

The Reds breached the contract with him, which led to an arbitration proceeding in the end they were ordered to pay him compensation.

For the past few months he has been a member of the TV panel broadcasting the main game in the Premier League.

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To the full article

The end of an impressive career.

Buzaglo (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Buzaglo shed tears at the beginning of his remarks: "The whole situation looks strange and hallucinatory. I did not expect to have to hold such a press conference. When I was 13 my father took him to Lyon, he laid the future before me, and I am an eighth grader I felt every bone in my body when I got home. To the country and I stayed there, a little boy clinging to a big future.From the moment I was born, football is everything I know and know, the smell of grass accompanies every picture in my life, football is like an organ in my body, now managed to tear me away. The decision tears my heart to pieces. "

"It's hard to explain what the game means to me, I got values ​​that are nowhere else. Everywhere I played, I played to the last drop of blood. Every scar, and there are quite a few, tells my story, the uncompromising struggle to win. In my game I was not afraid of anything, either. At the cost of losing a leg. I went through a challenging journey where I fulfilled dreams, met fascinating characters, an audience that motivated me. I was praised quite a few times, I always came back stronger, more determined. I was not a standard footballer, I was always judged more than the rest, because of the haircuts, tattoos "The networks and my dad, but I've always been true to my way. As much as it hurts, it's time to close a chapter in life and say thank you."

"Career is like a moving film, there have been many happy moments but a footballer faces more disappointing moments. You could say the happiest moment is the goal in Southampton, a volcano that exploded, but the things that strengthened me and made me who I am today are mostly the hard moments I went through - Injuries, struggles.Things I could not do when I was with a cast and up to the waist and had to go up the stairs with a child, had to find solutions.

Ends an impressive career.

Buzaglo (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Regarding the last period in his career he said: "There are things in legal proceedings, I was only five months without football, I did rehabilitation alone, I did everything to try to find a team that would really absorb me and without success, for many reasons."

"I do not want to remember from my career the last year and a half, in dealing with the owners of Hapoel Tel Aviv, trying to separate the team from its owners. I meet with dozens and hundreds of Hapoel Tel Aviv fans who also do not understand this conduct. "But it is still in the process and there is another discussion soon, this decision should be respected. I like new beginnings, here I want to go up and fulfill myself, only 34 years old and now starting my life."

Buzaglo also referred to the difficult period that the Betar Jerusalem players are going through: "The players are alone in the battle, they do not have a father and a mother. The players' organization is an organization without players, it needs to be strengthened, maybe a new organization needs to be established. Such things can not happen in the first league. The napkins that the players sign do not matter. Where is the actor? What does an actor think? Why does an actor not stand up and say he will fight for his future? Three years ago I tried to do something, the players have to wake up, it screams to the sky.

"" The teams have learned that you can't fight them. They have batteries of accountants and lawyers, and the dream player is to be on the grass. There is not always the strength and ability financially and mentally to fight it. An injured player and just cancel a deal? It's not exist. There are lots of examples of cancellation of agreements, but there is a body behind them that if they do not pay then go to it and say they have not paid. It is not a shame to go and see how the world is conducted in such cases. "

Want to forget about the last period in his career.

Buzaglo (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

On the fact that he has not been identified with any team significantly throughout his career: "Every team has its magic, infinite love. In every team I have received warmth and love, it is not obvious, but once the professional achievements come in a particular team, and I talk about Hapoel Beer Sheva, So everything is much more comfortable to express: In Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa I remember myself that as a young player, I did not leave too much of an imprint. "And less good than me, I have a lot to be proud of, the way I went through, the endless struggles. To make such a career despite five and a half years in rehabilitation, which is half the career, it's not at all obvious."

Buzaglo even surprised when asked about future plans: "I went back to old love, to make music. I took it a step further like any project I get into. 'The Singer in the Mask' is over, I're back to reality, a singer I can not be. I'm interested in being a DJ "Yeah, it took me back, something I could not do as an athlete and neglected. No matter where I go, first I will be a past player, football will be something inseparable from me."

Had a hard time stopping the tears.

Buzaglo (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Buzaglo began his career in the youth team of Maccabi Tel Aviv and already at the age of 14 was signed by the French luxury club Lyon, where he collaborated with stars such as Karim Benzema. He returned to Israel and joined Maccabi Haifa, where he began his alumni career, but began starring mainly as a loanee at Hapoel Petah Tikva and Bnei Sakhnin.

In 2008, he was acquired by Maccabi Tel Aviv, but at the end of the season, he tore the crossbar and was absent for a long time. At the end of the 2011/12 season, the Yellows chose to leave Buzaglo and he was sold to Standard Liege in Belgium and two years later returned to Hapoel Beer Sheva - with which he won two championships and scored in San Siro against Inter and England against Southampton, goals that secured the team a place in the last 32. From the capital of the Negev, he returned to Maccabi Haifa, but even there he suffered a serious knee injury, played little and the following season moved to Betar Jerusalem. A season later, he joined Hapoel Tel Aviv, his last team in his career.

He also won the championship with Maccabi Haifa at the beginning of his career, he also won the Toto Cup with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva and among his achievements he also won the title of King of Cooking in the Premier League in three different seasons.

In addition, Buzaglo is the record holder and the top scorer of the youth team and has worn the senior team uniform 23 times.

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