Arik Benado

Arik Benado was born in 1973 in Haifa

Benado was born in Haifa in 1973. His father, Shlomo Benado, played for Maccabi Haifa, as did his brother Tom. He studied at the Hugim school in Haifa.

He came up through the Maccabi Haifa youth team and made his senior debut in 1991. He spent two years on loan at Beitar Jerusalem from 1994 and returned to Haifa in 1996. He was club captain from 1999 to 2006.

After the 2005/2006 season he moved to Beitar Jerusalem, where he won 2 championships and 2 State Cups. He returned to Maccabi Haifa in 2010, won the title, and retired in June 2011. He played 94 games for Israel and held the team's appearance record.

In November 2012 he became Maccabi Haifa's manager, and the team finished second that season. In 2014 he became assistant to Israel coach Eli Guttman, and in 2015 he took charge of Israel's youth national team. He later coached Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim.

In June 2009 he married actress and presenter Ilana Berkowitz, and their son Itamar was born in March 2011. The couple divorced in 2016.