Ben Sahar

Sahar began playing football in his hometown of Modi'in, Israel. There, he was enrolled in the Sportop Football Academy, before joining the youth ranks of Hapoel Tel Aviv. While he was promoted to the first team by manager Itzhak Shum, he did not feature in any matches, since his transfer was completed before the start of the 2006–07 season. At 16, Sahar was the equivalent of a second-year apprentice at Chelsea; he first caught the eye of Chelsea staff in an Under-16 fixture against Ireland in 2004.

Chelsea

Sahar signed for Chelsea of the English Premier League in May 2006 from Hapoel Tel Aviv for £320,000, having previously spent a two-month period on trial at Stamford Bridge. Sahar was called up to the Chelsea first team to play Macclesfield Town in the FA Cup on 6 January 2007, and made his debut coming on as a substitute for Salomon Kalou in the 76th minute. Four days later, Sahar came on as a substitute in the 60th minute of Chelsea's 1–1 draw with Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup. He made his Premiership debut on 13 January 2007, coming off the bench to replace Arjen Robben in the 82nd minute of the match against Wigan Athletic. He later made two additional Premier League substitute appearances for the Blues that season, against Manchester United and Everton.

Queens Park Rangers (loan)

Sahar joined then Championship side Queens Park Rangers, on loan, for the beginning of the 2007–08 season, on 26 July 2007, for an initial three-month period. He…

On 7 October 2006, Sahar made his debut for the Israel U-21s in a playoff against France – scoring Israel's goal in the away leg which ended 1–1, on the way to Israel's shock qualification to UEFA U-21 Championship 2007 with a 2–1 aggregate win. On 7 February 2007, at the age of 17-and-a-half, Sahar became the youngest player to ever play for the Israel national football team, in a friendly match against Ukraine (a feat since surpassed by Gai Assulin). In doing so, he became Chelsea's youngest player to earn an international cap. He earned his second cap against England on 24 March 2007, coming on as a substitute in the 69th minute. Sahar became the youngest player to score for the Israel national football team in his third appearance with the team on 28 March 2007, scoring two goals against Estonia as a substitute in Israel's 4–0 win. This was the youngest international goal scored by a Chelsea player. Sahar scored his third international goal on 6 September 2008, with an equaliser in the 90th minute against Switzerland in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier, following up with his fourth and fifth international goals a year later in the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg on 9 September 2009.

International

Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sahar goal.

Sahar was born in Holon, Israel, to a Jewish family. His father is Israeli-born and of Tunisian Jewish descent, who works as an electrician, and his mother teaches sports. He grew up in the city of Modi'in, Israel. Before his transfer to Chelsea F.C., he acquired a Polish passport as well, on account of his Israeli-born mother who is of Ashkenazi Polish-Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent, that made him eligible to play as a non-foreigner in EU leagues including the UK. As an Israeli citizen, Sahar was due to return to Israel for a three-year spell of military service in the IDF. However, Israeli lawmakers were working on a legislation (nicknamed "The Ben Sahar Law") that would have allowed Sahar to complete a national service (Sherut Leumi) term in England instead. The law did not pass and as a result, Sahar was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. Under the terms of his military service, he had to visit his military base every time he was on vacation in Israel.