Omer Atzili
World Soccer|October 2023
The Israel international becomes the first Jewish Israeli player to join an Arab club
John Duerden
Omer Atzili

All the West Asian focus in the summer was on the start of the Saudi Arabian league season on August 11, but a week later the United Arab Emirates kicked off their campaign with some very interesting new signings of their own; not least that of Omer Atzili. The attacker has made headlines before, on and off the pitch, and is now in the international public eye like never before as the first Jewish player from Israel to join a club in the Arab world.

On August 18 he made his competitive debut, playing 88 minutes of the opening game of the season; his new club, last year’s runners-up Al Ain, came back from a goal down to defeat Bani Yas 3-2.

This story is from the October 2023 edition of World Soccer.

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This story is from the October 2023 edition of World Soccer.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.