Pini Balili

Pini Balili was born in 1979 in Jerusalem

Pini Balili was born on 18 June 1979. He is Jewish and of Turkish descent. As a boy he played in the youth team of Shimshon Tel Aviv.

He joined the Shimshon senior team in 1996/1997 and moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv a year later. Under coach Dror Kashtan he won the State Cup in 1999, the double in 2000 and the Toto Cup in 2002. In 2002 the club reached the UEFA Cup quarterfinals.

In 2003 he moved to Turkey, where he played for Istanbulspor, Kayserispor, Sivasspor and Antalyaspor. In 2008/2009 Sivasspor finished second in the league. He received Turkish citizenship in 2009 and the Turkish name Atakan Uygun.

For Israel he made 29 appearances and scored 7 goals between 2000 and 2007. In 2000 he was suspended from the national teams after the youth team affair, and he was pardoned in January 2002.

He returned to Israel in 2010 and played for Bnei Yehuda and Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam, where he also served as caretaker manager. He retired in 2014 and later coached youth forwards and managed Hapoel Ashdod. He lives in Rishon LeZion.