Shimon Amsalem

Shimon Amsalem was born in 1966 in Sderot

Shimon Amsalem was born on November 10, 1966, in Sderot, to parents who immigrated from Morocco. He grew up and studied in Sderot and began playing basketball regularly at 14. With Hapoel Sha'ar HaNegev he reached the national youth cup final in 1984.

He joined the senior team of Hapoel Tel Aviv and later became its captain. The team reached 3 straight playoff finals from 1992 to 1994 and won the State Cup in 1993. He played 62 games for the national team and took part in the 1993 and 1999 European Championships.

In 1994 the local paper Ha'Ir ran a headline about him that he sued over for libel. The court found the headline falsely hinted at his sexual orientation and awarded him 150,000 shekels, a ruling known as the Amsalem rule. The paper's appeal was rejected in 1997.

He also played for Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Eilat, Bnei Herzliya and Maccabi Givat Shmuel before a final season with Hapoel Tel Aviv. An accident in which he burned his hands and legs ended his professional career before the 2002/2003 season.

After retiring he was an assistant coach at Hapoel Tel Aviv and a commentator on the Sport Channel. In 2009 he took part in Dancing with the Stars. He was general manager of Elitzur Ashkelon from July 2011 until he was dismissed in May 2012.