Maor Melikson

Maor Melikson (Hebrew: מאור מליקסון‎; born (1984-10-30)30 October 1984) is a retired Israeli footballer, who played as a midfielder. As a result of injury he announced his retirement in 1 January 2020.

Maor Melikson
Melikson playing for Wisła Kraków in 2012
Personal information
Date of birth (1984-10-30) 30 October 1984
Place of birth Yavne, Israel
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Maccabi Yavne
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2002 Maccabi Yavne
2002–2006 Beitar Jerusalem 111 (8)
2006–2008 Maccabi Haifa 24 (1)
2008 Hapoel Kfar Saba 15 (0)
2008–2011 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 77 (19)
2011–2013 Wisła Kraków 46 (6)
2013–2014 Valenciennes 52 (4)
2014–2020 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 153 (22)
National team‡
2002–2003 Israel U-19 8 (1)
2003–2007 Israel U-21 17 (2)
2010–2018 Israel 25 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:06, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 July 2015

Early life

Melikson was born in Yavne, Israel, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. His father was born in Romania and his mother was born in Legnica, Poland, and both immigrated to Israel separately at young age.[1] Melikson also holds a Polish passport, on account of his mother's birthplace.[2]

Club career

Israel

Born in Yavne, Melikson started in the youth department of Maccabi Yavne. During the 2001–02 season, he made his senior debut in Liga Alef in a match against Ironi Ramat HaSharon.[3] At the end of that season Maccabi Yavne were relegated to Liga Bet, and Melikson moved to Beitar Jerusalem. At the end of 2005–06 season after not reaching a financial settlement with Beitar,[4][5] Melikson decided to join Ligat ha'Al champions, Maccabi Haifa on a three-year contract.[6] During the 2007–08 season, Maccabi Haifa sold Melikson to Hapoel Kfar Saba.[7] After just six months which included a relegation to Liga Leumit, he signed in June 2008 a five-year contract with Hapoel Be'er Sheva,[8] and later was appointed as the team captain.[9]

Wisła Kraków
Melikson with Wisła Kraków

On 31 January 2011, Melikson joined Polish Ekstraklasa side Wisła Kraków on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee from Hapoel Be'er Sheva.[10] He won the Ekstraklasa championship in his debut season. He was also named the Ekstraklasa Revelation of the Season, even though he only played for one half of the season.[11] On 27 July, Melikson scored his first goal in European Cups in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round match against Litex Lovech, giving a vital 2–1 win to Wisła. Melikson scored again twice in the second leg and helped Wisła secure qualification for the play-off round, where they eventually lost to APOEL. He picked up an injury in September's league match against Ruch Chorzów, which ruled him out of play until December.[12] Melikson returned to play the last two UEFA Europa League group stage matches and helped his team to qualify for the round of 32. He was chosen the biggest discovery of Ekstraklasa by other players in Polish Footballers' Association voting, as well as named to the Ekstraklasa Best XI in 2011.[13]

Valenciennes

On 15 January 2013, Melikson joined Ligue 1 club Valenciennes on a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee from Wisła Kraków. He made his debut on 25 January in a 0–2 loss against Lyon, coming on as a substitute in the second half.

Return to Beer Sheva

On 10 July 2014, it was announced that Melikson would return to Beer Sheva.

International career

Melikson played in Israel national under-21 football team for several years, and helped the team qualify for the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship, but missed out on the final tournament due to injury.[14]

He made his debut for the Israeli senior national team in a friendly match against Uruguay on 26 May 2010.[15] On 10 August 2011, in his second appearance for the national side Melikson scored two goals for Israel in the 3–4 loss against Ivory Coast.

On 20 September 2011, the Polish Football Association chairman Grzegorz Lato revealed that Melikson in a conversation with him expressed his desire to play for the Poland national football team.[16] Melikson is eligible to play for Poland based on a FIFA ruling allowing players to switch their national teams if the player had not yet played in an official FIFA competitive match with the senior team despite having played at the youth level. The next day, Israel Football Association issued a statement that Melikson is a member of Israel national football team and he is called for the upcoming match against Malta in the last fixture of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase.[17] Melikson, however, refrained from making any comment for the Polish media, but Wisła Kraków manager Robert Maaskant confirmed his intentions to switch to Poland national team.[18] Later Melikson said to Israeli media that he chose to play for Poland, but subsequently on 22 September declared that he has decided not to play for either national side for the time being.[19] In January 2012 Melikson met with the new coach of Israel national team, Eli Guttman, and declared his desire to continue playing for Israel.[20]

In his first appearance in 2012, Melikson assisted Ben Sahar's goals in a 2–3 home loss to Ukraine in a friendly match.[21]

Career statistics

Club
As of 1 August 2018
Club Season League League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total Ref.
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Beitar Jerusalem 2002–03 Premier League 27300500000323
2003–04 26200700000332
2004–05 29100710000362
2005–06 29200713000393
Total 111800262300014010 –
Maccabi Haifa 2006–07 Premier League 18100609000331
2007–08 6000910000151
Total 241001519000482 –
Hapoel Kfar Saba 2007–08 Premier League 15032000000182
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2008–09 Second League 285101030000498
2009–10 Premier League 3010224200003614
2010–11 19400400000234
Total 77193218500009826 –
Wisła Kraków 2010–11 Ekstraklasa 15420000000174 [22]
2011–12 181310011300325 [22]
2012–13 13120000000151 [22]
Total 4667100113006410 –
Valenciennes 2012–13 Ligue 1 16200000000162 [22]
2013–14 36210100000382 [22]
Total 52410100000544 –
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2014–15 Premier League 30362102000395 [22]
2015–16 30730602000417 [22]
2016–17 255222012110428 [22]
2017–18 335312112010517 [22]
2018–19 000000411051 [22]
Total 118201451113223017828 –
Career total 4435828107195553060082 –

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.10 August 2011Stade de Genève, Geneva Ivory Coast2–33–4Friendly
2.3–4
3.12 October 2012Stade Josy Barthel, City of Luxembourg Luxembourg0–40–62014 World Cup qualifying

Honours

Club

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Wisła Kraków

Individual
  • Ekstraklasa Revelation of the Season: 2010–11
  • The biggest discovery of Ekstraklasa: 2011
  • Ekstraklasa Best XI: 2011, 2012

References
  1. "Melikson: Było trochę łez i wzruszeń". wisla.krakow.pl. Archived from the original on 15 April 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  2. "Melikson otrzymal polskie obywatelstwo". sport.pl. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  3. "ONE: מאור מליקסון".
  4. בית"ר ירושלים שיחררה את מאור מליקסון
  5. "בית"ר ירושלים: גאידמק שוחח שוב עם גרנט". 17 May 2006 – via Ynet.
  6. "מאור מליקסון סיכם לשלוש שנים במכבי חיפה". 8 June 2006 – via Ynet.
  7. מאור מליקסון נמכר להפועל כפ"ס Archived 30 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "מליקסון חתם בהפועל באר שבע - וואלה! ספורט".
  9. "הפועל ב"ש: אילוז ימשיך, מליקסון מונה לקפטן". 13 July 2009 – via Ynet.
  10. Maor Melikson zawodnikiem Wisły! Archived 5 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine 31 January 2011, wisla.krakow.pl
  11. "Melikson odkryciem Ekstraklasy". wisla.krakow.pl. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  12. "Kontuzje Małeckiego i Meliksona". wisla.krakow.pl. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  13. "Wyniki piątego plebiscytu Polskiego Związku Piłkarzy!". pzp.info.pl. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  14. "Maor Melikson – kosztowne błędy młodości". onet.pl. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  15. "Uruguay Israel". eng.football.org.il. Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  16. "Maor Melikson mówi tak dla Polski". pzpn.pl. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  17. "פרננדס: "מליקסון זומן לנבחרת בכל פעם שהיה כשיר"". football.org.il. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  18. "Trener Maaskant o Maorze Meliksonie". wisla.krakow.pl. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  19. "מליקסון: החלטתי שלא לשחק באף נבחרת. הלב גבר על הראש". Sport5.co.il. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  20. "אלי גוטמן נפגש עם מאור מליקסון". football.org.il. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  21. "Ukraina lepsza od Izraela. Asysta Meliksona". interia.pl. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  22. "M. Melikson". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2018.


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