Reuven Atar (Hebrew: ראובן עטר; born 3 January 1969) is an Israeli football manager and former player. As a player, he played as a midfielder, most notably with Maccabi Haifa. As a manager, he's mostly known for having five spells with Maccabi Netanya.

Reuven Atar
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Atar with Maccabi Haifa
Personal information
Date of birth (1969-01-03) 3 January 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth Tirat Carmel, Israel
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1977–1986 Maccabi Haifa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1994 Maccabi Haifa 198 (49)
1994–1997 Hapoel Haifa 69 (37)
1997 Beitar Jerusalem 1 (0)
1998–1999 Hapoel Petah Tikva 27 (5)
1999 Hapoel Haifa 5 (2)
2000 Beitar Jerusalem 16 (5)
2000–2002 Maccabi Haifa 66 (6)
2002–2003 Maccabi Netanya 21 (9)
International career
1989–1997 Israel 33 (3)
Managerial career
2003–2004 Maccabi Netanya (assistant)
2004–2006 Maccabi Netanya
2006 Maccabi Herzliya
2007–2008 Maccabi Netanya
2008–2009 Beitar Jerusalem
2009–2012 Maccabi Netanya
2012 Maccabi Haifa
2013 Maccabi Netanya
2014–2015 Hapoel Haifa
2015–2016 Maccabi Netanya
2017 Hapoel Afula
2017 Ashdod
2019–2020 Beitar Nes Tubruk (youth)
2020 Hapoel Bnei Lod
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

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Atar was born in Tirat Carmel, Israel, to Sephardic Jewish immigrant parents from Iraq. During his adolescence, he played football for the Maccabi Haifa youth club. For many, he is one of the greatest players to ever wear the Haifa colors.

Playing career

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After playing eight seasons for Maccabi Haifa and winning three titles for the club (the Toto Cup, and the Israel State Cup twice – one of which as both a Cup and a championship title at the same year), he joined the local rival team – Hapoel Haifa for four seasons, before being signed off to Beitar Jerusalem. At Beitar he played only one match before being injured, which rendered him unable to play during the rest of the season.

In the next season, Atar moved to Hapoel Petah Tikva for a single season, before moving back to Hapoel Haifa and a few months later back to Beitar Jerusalem, where he became one of the most popular players. In 2000, he returned to Maccabi Haifa, winning two championships. Atar left Haifa for Maccabi Netanya before the 2002–03 season, the last team in his professional career as a player.

Coaching career

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During the season at Maccabi Netanya, Atar was injured and decided to retire from his career as a player. He quickly signed as assistant coach at Maccabi Netanya, first alongside Gili Landau and later on Eli Cohen. At the end of the 2003–04 season, Cohen left the club, and Atar was chosen as the club's head-coach. Even though Netanya was relegated at the end of that season to the second league in Israel, Liga Leumit, Atar remained in his position and helped the club return to the Premier League after one season. In 2006, Atar was sent home by Netanya's new manager, Eyal Berkovich, and proceeded to move and coach Maccabi Herzliya, from which he was fired after eight league games[1] before returning to Netanya, later guiding the club to the second place in the Israeli Premier League, and the UEFA Cup Qualifying rounds.

Atar was later dismissed from Netanya, after team's owner Daniel Jammer signed Lothar Matthäus.

In September 2008, he signed for Beitar Jerusalem replacing Itzhak Shum. Later that year he won the Israeli Cup, but was dismissed and replaced by Shum.

On 29 September 2009, Atar returned once again to Maccabi Netanya, making it his third stint as the manager of the club. On 7 May 2011, he broke Netanya's undefeated streak from 1971 as he managed the team for 16 straight games without losing a match.[2]

On 23 April 2012, he signed a two-year contract for his home club of Maccabi Haifa.[3] In 13 November he was sacked from Haifa.[4]

On 19 March 2013, he returned to Maccabi Netanya for his fourth stint as the manager of the club.[5]

In the start of the 2014–15 season he worked as the manager of Hapoel Haifa. He was fired after four months on the job.

On 6 November 2015, Atar returned to Maccabi Netanya for his fifth stint as the manager of the club.

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition:[6]
Club Season League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Maccabi Haifa 1986–87 4 1 1 0 1 0
1987–88 16 2 2 1 6 2
1988–89 27 8 9 4 1 0
1989–90 23 2 2 2 6 1
1990–91 30 15 5 1 6 4 3 4
1991–92 28 13 6 0 4 0
1992–93 31 10 5 1 4 1
1993–94 37 8 1 0 5 2 5 1
Hapoel Haifa 1994–95 19 5 3 2 2 2
1995–96 27 21 2 1 2 1
1996–97 6 1
Maccabi Haifa 1996–97 18 6 3 1 2
Hapoel Haifa 1997–98 11 5
Beitar Jerusalem 1997–98 1 0
Hapoel Petach Tikva 1998–99 27 5 4 0 5 2
Hapoel Haifa 1999–2000 5 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 2
Beitar Jerusalem 1999–2000 16 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 5
Maccabi Haifa 1999–2000 13 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 16 2
2000–01 35 3 0 0 2 1 2 1 39 5
2001–02 18 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 2 2
Maccabi Netanya 2002–03 21 9 0 0 3 2 0 0 24 11
Career total 423 113

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Israel 1989 2 0
1990 3 0
1991 0 0
1992 1 0
1993 12 1
1994 6 0
1995 3 1
1996 5 1
1997 1 0
Total 33 3
Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Atar goal.
List of international goals scored by Reuven Atar
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 13 October 1993 Parc des Princes, Paris, France   France 3–2 1994 FIFA World Cup 2004 qualifying
2 20 September 1995 Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel   Uruguay 3–1 Friendly
3 21 February 1996 Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, Haifa, Israel   Lithuania 4–2 Friendly

Managerial statistics

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[7]
Team Nat From To Record
P W D L Win %
Maccabi Netanya   21 February 2004 14 May 2006 94 38 23 33 040.43
Maccabi Herzliya   21 July 2006 7 November 2006 13 2 5 6 015.38
Maccabi Netanya   3 January 2007 1 June 2008 66 32 21 13 048.48
Beitar Jerusalem   3 September 2008 26 May 2009 45 23 8 14 051.11
Maccabi Netanya   29 September 2009 12 May 2012 112 47 27 38 041.96
Maccabi Haifa   1 July 2012 13 November 2012 13 3 6 4 023.08
Maccabi Netanya   19 March 2013 18 May 2013 6 2 2 2 033.33
Hapoel Haifa   12 May 2014 16 February 2015 30 10 5 15 033.33
Maccabi Netanya   6 November 2015 10 January 2016 9 0 4 5 000.00
Hapoel Afula   20 January 2017 2 August 2017 18 4 10 4 022.22
Ashdod   3 August 2017 3 October 2017 9 1 1 7 011.11
Total 414 162 111 141 039.13

Honours

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Player

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Maccabi Haifa

Manager

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Maccabi Netanya

Beitar Jerusalem

References

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  1. ^ סידי, משה; אחרונות, ידיעות (2006). "ראובן עטר פוטר ממכבי הרצליה". Ynet.
  2. ^ "מכבי חיפה ניצחה 2:3 את מכבי נתניה ועלתה לגמר הגביע - וואלה! ספורט". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  3. ^ "ה"ילד" חוזר למכבי חיפה- ראובן עטר מונה למאמן בקבוצת האם - וואלה! מכבי חיפה". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  4. ^ שימול, דוד בן (13 November 2012). "הסמל הולך הביתה: ראובן עטר פוטר ממכבי חיפה". Ynet.
  5. ^ Mekor Rishon [permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Reuven Atar at National-Football-Teams.com
  7. ^ "One - מספר 1 בספורט".
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