Ran Ben-Shimon[1] (Hebrew: רן בן-שמעון; born (1970-11-28)28 November 1970) is a former Israeli football player and current manager, who serves as the head-coach of the Israel national team.[2]
Ben-Shimon was born and raised in Petah Tikva, Israel, to a Jewish family.[3] His older brother Asi Ben-Shimon is also a former footballer, with whom Ben-Shimon have used to play along for Maccabi Petah Tikva.[4]
Club career
In 1987, Ben-Shimon began his professional career in Israeli club Maccabi Petah Tikva's senior side, where he played until the 1994–95 season, winning two Toto Cup Artzit trophies (the Israeli second division back then) and on his last season he won the Toto Cup Leumit (then the first division), after a 2–1 victory against Maccabi Tel Aviv, scoring the second goal for Maccabi Petah Tikva in an accurate free kick.
Avram Grant, who managed Hapoel Haifa was interested in Ben-Shimon in order the strengthening their defense. Maccabi Petah Tikva, headed by Avi Luzon were adamantly opposed. Robbie Shapira, the then president of Hapoel Haifa and Avi Luzon agreed on an arbitrator. of which stated that no amount can release the player from Petah Tikva. Haifa was hardly surprised as Luzon was the one who picked the arbitrator. In the end, after Hapoel Haifa lost 4–1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Toto Cup, forcing Grant to look for defensive reinforcement, and Shapira agreed to buy Ben-Shimon for 450,000$. The amount spent was also a significant for the new era in the Israeli football, which continued to struggle against Maccabi Haifa on players such as Tal Banin and Reuven Atar, and raised the bar on prices of players and their wages significantly.
During his stint in Hapoel Haifa, Ben-Shimon became a leader among his teammates, and then the captain in the 1999 Liga Leumit championship (the Israeli 1st division back then) season guided under Eli Guttman. In 2001, he won the Toto Cup with Hapoel Haifa. Ben-Shimon also played in Hapoel Petah Tikva in the 2001–02 season and in Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv in the 2002–03 season before retired from active football.
International career
As a football player, Ben-Shimon has capped 34 senior international appearances for the Israel national team from 1992 to 1999.
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Managerial career
After retiring from playing, he started coaching the youth team of Maccabi Tel Aviv and then as a manager at Hapoel Haifa. Ben-Shimon did not continue after he failed in his efforts to promote the team to the Israeli Premier League.
During 2006–07 season, he coached Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona and promote her from Liga Leumit to the Israeli Premier League for the first time in its history. Subsequent season, Ben-Shimon led the team to third place in the league, which gave her a ticket to the UEFA Cup.
In April 2008, following his success in Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced on the picking Ben-Shimon on its manager in the 2008–09 season. Before the start of the season there were great hopes in the tean, mainly due to highly purchases of players and the amount of money that was invested in the team by the owner Alex Shnaider. Nevertheless, the team did not produce good football and after just eight league rounds of which the team achieved only two victories, Maccabi Tel Aviv sacked Ben-Shimon. On 12 April 2009, Ben-Shimon returned as the manager of Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona after the resignation of Eli Cohen. and help guided the team to its first cup, the Toto Cup Leumit and also guided the team in the promotion to the Israeli Premier League. He also guided the team to win the 2010–11 and the 2011–12 Toto Cup Al trophies and the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League championship.
He made a step on his managerial career outside Israel, as he was named manager of Cypriot club AEK Larnaca, in July 2012.[5]
Ben-Shimon returned to his native Israel, to take charge of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the summer of 2013. His first official games ended in a defeat, as lost to Pandurii in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers.
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