Beram Kayal

Maccabi Haifa

Kayal started his career as a striker in the various Youth teams of Maccabi Haifa and scored many goals before taking on the role of a midfielder. Despite only being 16 years old at the time, he moved up to the Maccabi Haifa under-19 team for the 2004–05 campaign and excelled as part of the team that won a League and Cup double. Kayal was named the League's Outstanding Player. He made his first-team debut for Maccabi Haifa at the end of the 2005–06 season in a 2–1 win over Maccabi Petah Tikva which sealed Haifa's third League title in a row at the age of 17 making two appearances that season. In the 2006–07 season, he made six appearances in all competitions, but took on the role of captain of the under-19 team that won another League and Cup double. He scored a hat-trick in a league win against Beitar Jerusalem. In the 2007–08 season Kayal became a first team regular featuring 36 times in the first-team. After that he became an integral part of the team and enjoyed success in subsequent seasons winning the Premier League and Toto Cup. During the 2007 Torneo di Viareggio youth tournament in Italy, Kayal was praised by the Italian press for a Man of the match performance against their counterparts from Fiorentina. Both Corriere della Sera and Gazzetta dello Sport seemed to be astonished to learn that he was an Arab on an Israeli team and took a great amount of time to learn more about him. In the 2009–10 season, Maccabi Haifa lost the Premier League…

Throughout his career, Kayal has played many Israel national team matches as first line-up. He represented the national team at the Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament 2007 that was victorious for it. He made his full international debut for Israel against Switzerland on 6 September 2008. He scored his first international goal, in a Euro 2012 qualifying win over Latvia on 26 March 2011.

Kayal is a central midfielder but he is capable of performing various different roles within the position. He can play as a defensive midfielder, sitting in front of the back four and stifling the opposition or as a box-to-box midfielder, protecting the defenders as well as supporting the forwards. Although he is more renowned for his defensive capabilities than attacking, he is still able to contribute well to going forward. Kayal is a midfielder known for high stamina level, tackling, passing ability, and quick feet. Former Manchester City and Israeli former international footballer Eyal Berkovic, described him as being: "Perfect for British football. He is strong technically, very aware but really competitive... He will have no problem adapting to the style in Scotland – he will love the speed and aggression.

Kayal was born in Jadeidi-Makr, Israel, to a Muslim-Arab family, and is an Arab-Israeli citizen.