Gal Mesika (born June 29, 1988) is an Israeli American football and association football player.

Gal Mesika
Personal information
Full name Gal Mesika
Date of birth (1988-06-29) June 29, 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Herzliya, Israel
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11+12 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Maccabi Herzliya[1]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Maccabi Herzliya 4 (0)
2007–2008 Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan (loan) 1 (0)
2009–2010 Maccabi Kafr Kanna 25 (0)
2010 Hapoel Kfar Shalem 1 (0)
2010–2011 Shimshon Bnei Tayibe 10 (0)
2011–2012 Hapoel Bnei Lod 22 (0)
2012–2013 Hapoel Ra'anana 2 (0)
2014 Amishav Petah Tikva 15 (1)
2014–2015 F.C. Kafr Qasim 16 (0)
2015 Maccabi Netanya 0 (0)
Total 96 (1)
International career
2006 Israel U-18 2 (0)
2006–2007 Israel U-19[2] 15 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Gal Mesika
Born:29 June 1988
Herzliya, Israel
Career information
Position(s)Placekicker
Height5 ft 11.3 in (181 cm)
Weight165 lb (75 kg)

Biography

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Gal Mesika was born in Herzliya to a Tunisian-Jewish family. His father was also a footballer who played for Maccabi Herzliya and also served as the CEO of the club from 1996 to 2009.[3]

Sports career

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In association football he is a goalkeeper who has played for many teams including Hapoel Ra'anana in 2013-2014 Maccabi Netanya in 2015. He was the also previously the starting goalkeeper for the Israel national under-19 football team.[4]

In 2015, Mesika made the transition into playing American football, and joined the Israel national American football team as a placekicker.[5] After seeing Mesika play, Robert Kraft stated he expected to soon see an Israeli play in the NFL.[6] In February 2016 Mesika was invited to be the first ever Israeli to try out for the NFL.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/PlayerDetails.aspx?PLAYER_ID=6329&SEASON_ID=16
  2. ^ "The Israel Football Association". Archived from the original on 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  3. ^ "שמעון מסיקה סיים את תפקידו במכבי הרצליה" (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  4. ^ "Israeli soccer player earns tryout with NFL". Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  5. ^ "Israeli soccer player trying out for the NFL". The Canadian Jewish News. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  6. ^ "Israeli soccer-turned-football star Mesika headed to US tryout". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  7. ^ Terry, Erica (2016-02-17). "Israeli Soccer Player Gal Mesika to Try Out with NFL". Jspace News. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
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