Ronnie Gafney (Hebrew: רוני גפני; born March 11, 1980) is an American-born Israeli footballer.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | March 11, 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | United States | ||
| Position(s) | Left Back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1997–1998 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998–2000 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 13 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 10 | (0) |
| 2001–2006 | Bnei Yehuda | 145 | (4) |
| 2006–2007 | Beitar Jerusalem | 19 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Maccabi Haifa | 4 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. | 43 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2006 | Israel | 2 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 May 2010 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:18, 18 June 2007 (UTC) | |||
Though born in the United States, his family moved back to Israel in 1988 where he started to play organized football. His developmental years were spent at Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he made his professional debut during the 1998–99 season in a match against Hapoel Tzafririm Holon. Though he could not break the first team on a regular basis as Dedi Ben Dayan was just coming into his own, so Gafni headed to Hapoel Petah Tikva where he languished on the bench. His move to Bnei Yehuda gave him playing time, and he even scored a game-winning goal in the 2002–03 season against his future club Beitar Jerusalem. Eventually he was recognized as being one of the best left backs in all of Israel at that time. He was rewarded with an appearance at the end of the Avraham Grant send off game versus Denmark.
Honours
- Israeli Premier League (2):
- 2006-07
- 2008-09
External links
- Stats at Bnei Yehuda's official website
- Ronnie Gafney at National-Football-Teams.com