Tiktukno: summary of today's events in sports, 10.11 (Sport1)
Omar Atzili announced this evening (Thursday) his decision to retire from the Israeli national team.
The midfielder, who has been in the eye of the storm since he took part in the national team's game against Albania in the Nations League qualifiers a few weeks after new details were revealed regarding the "football players and minors" affair, wrote on his Instagram account about his decision to "step aside and reset the national team's uniform to give everyone the peace they need."
Atzili's decision was made shortly before Alon Hazan and Yossi Benyon had to decide whether to take their time for the games against Zambia and Cyprus.
At all hours of the day there were conversations and discussions on the subject in the football association, which apparently hastened Atzili's decision to announce his retirement this evening.
One of the reasons for the retirement is also the decision of the Supreme Court of the Football Association according to which the player will be invited to future discussions in the petition of the women's organizations against his summons.
Retires from the team.
Omar Azili (Photo: Udi Tsitiat)
"Since I was a child, I have always had the ambition to be a player in the Israeli national team," Atzili wrote, "the pride and honor of representing our country, wearing uniforms in the colors of the flag and hearing the national anthem before a game, is something that simply cannot be explained in words - the greatest pride and honor there is. Unfortunately Deep down, since my last call-up to the national team there has been sharp criticism and extensive discussion on the subject. I am aware of that, of course.
"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it, read about it, talk about it, or every second person on the street expresses their opinion on the matter (by the way, I must mention that at the same time I receive a lot of warmth and love and I want to take the opportunity to thank you for that)," Atzili continued, " I want to say clearly, again, what has already been said several times - there is not a day that goes by that I do not regret what happened. A great and enormous regret. It should not have happened and I do not discount myself, not even for a moment. On the other hand, sometimes the discourse The hardship that I and those close to me suffer is completely out of proportion. I was wrong, but the desire of some people, sometimes hypocritically, simply to trample, is not easy for me.
"Considering the dance of demons that is going on around me, I have come to the conclusion that this is one of those moments in life when you have to make difficult decisions.
So I made a difficult decision and today I'm stepping aside, the peace for my family, and the success of the Israel national team are the only ones standing before my eyes now, I'm putting the national team uniforms in the closet and giving everyone the peace they need," he wrote.
As I recall, women's organizations appealed to the Football Association, sponsors, and their petition even led to hearings in the Association's Supreme Court regarding Atzili's participation in the national team's matches, when against Albania he was booed by many of the residents of the Bloomfield Stadium, and signs were even hung against his summons for his part in the affair that was revealed in "News 13" And last summer he returned to the headlines following alleged correspondence that was revealed between him and Micah's generation.
During his career, Omar Atzili made six appearances in Israel's national uniform, all as a substitute, in which he did not score.
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