Uri Malmilian

Uri Malmilian

Personal information
Date of birth	(1957-04-24) April 24, 1957
Place of birth	Jerusalem
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1990	Beitar Jerusalem	465	(159)
1990–1992	Maccabi Tel Aviv	51	(23)
1992–1993	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	6	(1)
1993	Hapoel Kfar Saba	3	(0)
International career
1975–1990	Israel	62	(16)
Managerial career
1995–1996	Hapoel Jerusalem
1998–2002	Maccabi Netanya
2003–2007	Hakoah Ramat Gan
2007–2008	Hapoel Petah Tikva
2009–2010	Hapoel Ashkelon
2010–2011	Beitar Jerusalem
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Uri Malmilian (Hebrew: אורי מלמיליאן; born April 24, 1957) is an Israeli former football player and current manager.

Early life and playing career

Born in the neighbourhood of Mamilla in West Jerusalem, Malmilian had a memorable playing career in the Liga Leumit at Beitar Jerusalem. He is regarded as one of the best Israeli players ever.

Malmilian joined the youth system of Beitar at an early age. At the age of sixteen(16), Malmilian had his first appearance in the senior team of Beitar. In this first match he scored a stunning goal from a corner kick.

Malmilian had his big breakthrough in the 1976 season. He led the squad to the second place of the league and won Beitar's first important trophy, the Israeli Cup, after his goal in the 90th minute in the Final sealed the title. He was chosen as Player of the Season and was convoked to the National Team even before at the age of 18. This made Uri the youngest player ever to be convoked to Israel national football team.

In 1979 Malmilian received a lucrative offer from French club Paris Saint-Germain but he decided to keep playing with Beitar.

In the next few years he formed a devastating trio with team-mates Danny Neuman and Victor Levy.

In 1986 Malmilian was the Top Scorer of the Israeli league with 14 goals in 30 matches.

In 1987, he coupled with Eli Ohana to bring the club its first championship.

In 1989, he won another Israeli Cup and then surprisingly announced a move to rival club Maccabi Tel Aviv. With Maccabi, Malmilian won another championship in 1992.

In 1993 Malmilian retired from active play.

Managerial career

His managerial career started with Hapoel Jerusalem where he managed to promote them to the Israeli Premier League.

He had success as the manager of Maccabi Netanya which he also promoted to the Israeli Premier League but he quit after disputes with the club's management.

Later he managed Hakoah Ramat Gan which is yet another club that he managed to promote to the Israeli Premier League.

On 2007/8 season Uri was managing Hapoel Petah Tikva In Liga Leumit. Malmilian won the Toto Cup for that league, but was fired later.

He managed Hapoel Ashkelon in the 2009–10 season of Liga Leumit and won again promotion to the Israeli Premier League.

In 2010 Uri was signed to Beitar Jerusalem for the 2010/2011 season, he been manager until he resigned on January 17, 2011.

Icon

Uri is regarded as one of the great symbols of Jerusalem fans. He became so famous that to this day vendors in the Mahane Yehuda Market have a saying "Every apple a Malmilian", meaning that every apple is of Top Notch quality.

Honors and awards

As a player

Club

Beitar Jerusalem

• Israel State Cup (5) : 1976, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1989
• Israeli championships: (1): 1986–87
• Israel Super Cup (2): 1976, 1986

Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Israeli championships: (1): 1991–92

Individual

• 2 times Top Scorer of the League
• 2 times Israeli player of the year

As a manager

• Israeli Second Division:
  • Winner (1): 1998–99
  • Runner-up (3): 1995–96, 2005–06, 2009–10
• Toto Cup (Leumit):
  • Winner (1): 2007

External links

• info on Beitar site
• info on Maccabi Netanya site