Salim Tuama

Salim Tuama (born Aug. 9, 1979 Lod, Israel) is a midfielder currently playing for Maccabi Petah-Tikva F.C. and who has in the past played for Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Kayseri Erciyesspor, and the youth club Gadna Yehuda. Tuama has lived his entire life in the urban town of Lod, yet began his career using the facilities of the Gadna club due to the poor conditions of the local fields and football schools in Lod.

Tuama became the hottest prospect in Israeli football in the 1998/99 season when he, along with wunderkinds Kfir Udi, Omri Afek, and Pini Balili, all of whom had been harvested by renowned Israeli manager Dror Kashtan led Hapoel to their first State Cup title since 1983. The next season he helped the team to the first double in its long history, as well as to the quarterfinals of the 2002 UEFA Cup where they were finally taken down by AC Milan. At the time it was believed that Hapoel was on its way to a golden age, but then Kashtan left the club in 2004 to take a break from football. By then Tuama had moved on to the less prestigious Maccabi Petah-Tikva