Dia Saba

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Dia Saba
Dia Saba.jpg
Saba playing for Maccabi Netanya in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1992-11-18) 18 November 1992 (age 29)
Place of birth Majd al-Krum, Israel
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Al-Nasr
Number 10
Youth career
Hapoel Haifa
Beitar Nes Tubruk
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Beitar Nes Tubruk[1] 2 (1)
2011–2013 Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 (0)
2012–2013 → Hapoel Be'er Sheva (loan) 30 (3)
2013 → Bnei Sakhnin (loan) 10 (0)
2013–2014 Maccabi Petah Tikva 29 (3)
2014–2018 Maccabi Netanya 100 (45)
2018–2019 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 16 (4)
2019–2020 Guangzhou R&F 36 (18)
2020– Al-Nasr 20 (5)
National team‡
2011 Israel U19 4 (0)
2013–2014 Israel U21 9 (2)
2018– Israel 11 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 March 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2020

Dia Saba (sometimes Sabi'a or Seba,[2][3][4] Arabic: ضياء سبع, Hebrew: דיא סבע; born 18 November 1992) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for UAE Pro-League club Al-Nasr.

Early life[]

Saba was born in Majd al-Krum, Israel, to a Muslim-Arab family.[5][6] He is a cousin of former footballer Ahmad Saba'a.[7]

Career[]

Saba began his career with the youth selections of Hapoel Haifa, and later moved to Beitar Nes Tubruk. In summer 2011, Saba joined Maccabi Tel Aviv and played under manager Motti Ivanir. However, he made only two appearances over four months, and in January 2012 was subsequently loaned to Hapoel Be'er Sheva until the end of the season. On 21 January 2012, Saba made his debut for Hapoel Be'er Sheva, and scored twice in a 2–0 victory over Hapoel Haifa, helping the club to stay in the league. He was then again loaned for half the season. In February 2013 he moved to Bnei Sakhnin, playing ten league matches and failing to score. Before the 2013–14 season, Saba signed with Maccabi Petah Tikva. The following season he signed a two-year contract with Maccabi Netanya. He played with Netanya for four years, scoring 51 goals in 114 appearances in all club competitions, including 24 league goals in the 2017–18 season.[8]

On 17 September 2018, Saba returned to Be'er Sheva as Hapoel paid Maccabi Netanya a record transfer fee of €2 million.[9] He signed a four-year contract with Be'er Sheva worth €1.6 million.[10] He made his debut at home against Bnei Yehuda, in a goalless game. Saba scored his first goal for Be'er Sheva on 6 October 2018, in a 4–1 win over Maccabi Petah Tikva.

In January 2019, he moved to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F, linking up with fellow Israel national team striker Eran Zahavi.[11]

In September 2020, Saba joined Al-Nasr, becoming the first Israeli to play in the United Arab Emirates following the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement.[12]

Career statistics[]

Club[]

As of match played 24 September 2020[8][13][14]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2011–12 Israeli Premier League 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 0
Hapoel Be'er Sheva (loan) 2011–12 Israeli Premier League 15 3 2 0 0 0 — 17 3
2012–13 Israeli Premier League 15 0 1 0 4 1 — 20 1
Total 30 3 3 0 4 1 0 0 37 4
Bnei Sakhnin (loan) 2012–13 Israeli Premier League 10 0 2 1 0 0 — 12 1
Maccabi Petah Tikva 2013–14 Israeli Premier League 29 3 4 5 0 0 — 33 8
Maccabi Netanya 2014–15 Israeli Premier League 29 4 0 0 2 0 — 31 4
2015–16 Israeli Premier League 3 0 0 0 0 0 — 3 0
2016–17 Liga Leumit 32 17 1 0 3 0 — 36 17
2017–18 Israeli Premier League 34 24 2 1 2 1 0 0 38 26
2018–19 Israeli Premier League 2 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 6 4
Total 100 45 3 1 11 5 0 0 114 51
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2018–19 Israeli Premier League 16 4 2 1 0 0 — 18 5
Guangzhou R&F 2019 Chinese Super League 26 13 0 0 — — 26 13
2020 Chinese Super League 10 5 1 0 — — 11 5
Total 36 18 1 0 0 0 0 0 37 18
Career total 223 73 15 8 17 6 0 0 255 87

International goals[]

Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saba goal.[13]
List of international goals scored by Dia Saba
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 14 October 2018 Turner Stadium, Be'er Sheva, Israel  Albania 2–0 2–0 2018–19 UEFA Nations League C
2 15 November 2018 Netanya Stadium, Netanya, Israel  Guatemala 5–0 7–0 Friendly
3 6–0

Honours[]

Maccabi Netanya

Individual

References[]

  1. ^ "ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל - פרטי שחקן". www.football.org.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Dia Sabia | Football Stats | Hapoel Beer Sheva | Age 27 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com.
  3. ^ "Know your Opponent: Maccabi Netanya". 18 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Dia Seba – Israel". UEFA. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  5. ^ Yokhin, Michael (4 April 2018). "Meet Bibars Natcho, the Muslim CSKA Moscow midfielder that became Israel's first ever non-Jewish captain". The Independent. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  6. ^ Boehm, Charles (26 February 2018). "Report: Minnesota 1 of 2 MLS teams eyeing Israeli league star Dia Saba". mlssoccer.com. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  7. ^ Mendel, Jack (15 October 2018). "Give football a chance to break the cycle of violence". blogs.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  8. ^ a b "ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל - פרטי שחקן". www.football.org.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  9. ^ "המושיע האחרון? דיא סבע ח��ם בהפועל ב"ש". israelhayom.co.il (in Hebrew). 17 September 2018.
  10. ^ "הפועל באר שבע רכשה את דיא סבע תמורת 2.2 מיליון יורו: "מרגיש כבר את הטירוף בעיר" - וואלה! ספורט". וואלה!News. 17 September 2018.
  11. ^ "公告 | 以色列金靴萨巴加盟广州富力". Guangzhou R&F F.C. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  12. ^ "Guangzhou R&F's Dia Saba to become first Israeli player in UAE after peace deal". Xinhuanet. 25 September 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Saba, Dia". National Football Teams. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Israel – D. Saba – Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  15. ^ "דיא סבע נבחר לשחקן העונה של ליגת העל". One (in Hebrew). Retrieved 13 January 2020.

External links[]

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