Elazar "Eli" Dasa (or Eliezer, Hebrew: אלי דסה; born 3 December 1992) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow and captains the Israel national team. He is the first captain of Israel to be of Ethiopian-Jewish origin.[4][5]

Eli Dasa
Dasa playing for Dynamo Moscow in 2022
Personal information
Full name Elazar Dasa[1]
Date of birth (1992-12-03) 3 December 1992 (age 31)[2]
Place of birth Netanya, Israel
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
Dynamo Moscow
Number 2
Youth career
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Beitar Jerusalem
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2015 Beitar Jerusalem 113 (3)
2015–2019 Maccabi Tel Aviv 99 (5)
2019–2022 Vitesse 71 (0)
2022– Dynamo Moscow 54 (0)
International career
2008 Israel U16 2 (0)
2008–2009 Israel U17 6 (0)
2010 Israel U18 3 (0)
2010–2012 Israel U19 12 (0)
2011–2014 Israel U21 25 (0)
2015– Israel 64 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 November 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 June 2024

Early life

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Dasa was born in Netanya, Israel, to an Ethiopian-Jewish family, and is Jewish.[6][7] He is the second Israeli of Ethiopian-Jewish background to play for the Israel national football team.[8] His younger brother Or Dasa is also an Israeli international footballer who plays for Israeli club Hapoel Ramat Gan, who also played for the Israel U-21 national team.

Club career

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On 31 July 2010, Dasa made his debut in Beitar Jerusalem F.C. during a Toto Cup match against Hapoel Ashkelon.[9] On 12 September 2012, Dasa scored the first goal in his senior career during a league match against Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

On 9 July 2015, he made his first international match debut in a 2–1 victory over Kazakh team FC Ordabasy in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualification and played 90 minutes.

On 10 August 2015, Dasa signed for four years with Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv.

On 7 September 2022, Dasa signed a contract with Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow for the term of two years with an option to extend for one more year.[10]

On 10 June 2024, Dynamo announced that the option for the 2024–25 season in Dasa's contract has been activated.[11]

International career

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Dasa at the 2013 UEFA Euros U21, that took place in Israel

Dasa played in the Israel under-21 team since 2010. He was a part of the Israeli team for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

In 2015, he was called up by the national coach Eli Guttman for the senior Israel national team. Dasa made his debut in the senior national team against Andorra in a 4–0 win, on 3 September 2015. Dasa debuted as the Israeli line-up captain on 26 March 2022, in a friendly away match against Germany; thus becoming the first senior captain of Israel to be of African origin.[4][5]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 5 November 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Beitar Jerusalem 2010–11 Israeli Premier League 18 0 1 0 19 0
2011–12 Israeli Premier League 18 0 0 0 18 0
2012–13 Israeli Premier League 25 1 1 0 26 1
2013–14 Israeli Premier League 20 0 0 0 20 0
2014–15 Israeli Premier League 32 0 0 0 32 0
2015–16 Israeli Premier League 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0
Total 113 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 117 1
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2015–16 Israeli Premier League 28 0 4 0 3[c] 0 1[d] 0 36 0
2016–17 Israeli Premier League 31 0 5 0 10[e] 0 46 0
2017–18 Israeli Premier League 17 0 1 0 4[f] 0 22 0
2018–19 Israeli Premier League 23 0 3 0 8[g] 0 34 0
Total 99 0 13 0 25 0 1 0 138 0
Vitesse 2019–20 Eredivisie 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 0
2020–21 Eredivisie 30 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 33 0
2021–22 Eredivisie 31 0 2 0 11 1 0 0 44 1
Total 71 0 6 0 11 1 0 0 88 1
Dynamo Moscow 2022–23 Russian Premier League 22 0 8 0 30 0
2023–24 Russian Premier League 20 0 2 0 22 0
2024–25 Russian Premier League 12 0 3 1 15 1
Total 54 0 13 1 67 1
Career total 337 1 34 1 0 0 38 1 1 0 410 3
  1. ^ Includes Israel State Cup, KNVB Cup, Russian Cup
  2. ^ Includes Toto Cup
  3. ^ Three appearances in the UEFA Champions League
  4. ^ Appearance in the Israel Super Cup
  5. ^ Five appearance in the UEFA Europa League, five appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying
  6. ^ One appearance in the UEFA Europa League, three appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying
  7. ^ Eight appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying

International

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As of match played 10 June 2024
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Israel 2015 3 0
2016 3 0
2017 3 0
2018 6 0
2019 10 0
2020 7 0
2021 12 0
2022 8 0
2023 9 0
2024 3 0
Total 64 0

Honours

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Maccabi Tel Aviv

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Israel – e. Dasa – Profile with news, career statistics and history – Soccerway".
  2. ^ UEFA.com. "Eli Dasa – Israel – European Qualifiers". UEFA.com. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Eli Dasa" (in Russian). FC Dynamo Moscow. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b צנציפר, נדב (19 March 2021). "אלי דסה צפוי לשמש כקפטן הנוסף בנבחרת ישראל" [Eli Desa is expected to serve as the additional captain in the Israeli national team]. Ynet (in Hebrew).
  5. ^ a b "Germany-Israel | European Qualifiers 2021/22".
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ "Give football a chance to break the cycle of violence". blogs.timesofisrael.com.
  8. ^ "Flying and Soaring with the Israel National Team". blogs.timesofisrael.com.
  9. ^ "Toto Cup: Hapoel Ashkelon and Beitar Jerusalem drawing 2-2" (in Hebrew). Walla!. 31 July 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  10. ^ "Капитан сборной Израиля Эли Даса стал игроком "Динамо"" (in Russian). FC Dynamo Moscow. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  11. ^ "У Эли Дасы активировалась опция продления контракта на сезон-2024/25" (in Russian). FC Dynamo Moscow. 10 June 2024.
  12. ^ "8 clubs provide players for Eredivisie team of the month in April". eredivisie.eu. 6 May 2022.
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