Shmuel Kozokin

Shmuel Kozokin was born in 1987 in Moscow

Shmuel Kozokin was born in Moscow in 1987. At age 4 he immigrated to Israel with his family and grew up in Beit Shemesh. He joined a football school at age 9 and the Beitar Jerusalem youth department at age 14.

In 2005 he won a gold medal in football with the Israeli team at the Maccabiah Games. He moved up to the Beitar Jerusalem senior team in 2006 while still playing for the youth team, which won the cup and championship. He was named youth player of the year.

He was part of senior Beitar squads that won the championship and the cup, mostly as a bench player. In the 2008/2009 season he became a regular starter and was called up to the Israel national team, debuting in a friendly against Finland. He then suffered serious injuries and played little in the following years.

In 2013 he was loaned to Hapoel Kfar Saba and later joined Ironi Beit Shemesh. He retired from playing in 2015. He then taught sport at a school in Beit Shemesh and in the 2016/2017 season was appointed coach of Ironi Beit Shemesh.