Yochanan Vollach

Infobox Football biography
playername = Yochanan Vollach יוחנן וולך


fullname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1945|05|14
cityofbirth = Kiryat Bialik
countryofbirth = Palestine
height = height|meters=1.86
nickname = "The Tank" "הטנק"
position = Defender
youthyears = 1958-1962
youthclubs = flagicon|ISR Maccabi Kiryat Bialik
years = 1962-1965 1965-1977 1977-1979 1985-1990
clubs = flagicon|ISR Maccabi Kiryat Bialik flagicon|ISR Hapoel Haifa flagicon|ISR Maccabi Haifa flagicon|HKG Hong Kong Football Club
caps(goals) = 30 (1)
nationalyears = 1968-1971
nationalteam = flagicon|ISR Israel
nationalcaps(goals) = 12 (1)

Yochanan Vollach ( _he. יוחנן וולך, sometimes spelled Jochanan Wallach or Yohanan Wallach, born 14 May 1945) is a former Israeli footballer. He was a member of the Israeli national team that competed at the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Today, Vollach is president of the Maccabi Haifa sport organization as well as being the president and CEO of Newlog, a subsidiary of Israeli shipping company Zim.

Playing career

From Kiryat Bialik to Hapoel Haifa

Born in Kiryat Bialik, Vollach began his career with his local club, Maccabi Kiryat Bialik. In 1963 , he was drafted to the IDF's Nahal as an infantry soldier. One of the only a handful of professional footballers to serve in active combat in the Nahal, Vollach actually missed an entire season of football while serving his country. During his service, he won the IDF football championship in 1965 . Still quite anonymous, Vollach yearned for a move to a bigger club. By 1965 , at age 19, his rights were sold for 5,000 Israeli lira to Hapoel Haifa, the place where he would kick start his career and become a role model and a symbol for thousands of supporters until this very own day.

Originally a striker, because of his height advantage and large build, he was dubbed "The Tank". He was unable to reach his full potential so he was moved to the defender poistion where he excelled and played til the end of his career. He subsequently won the Israeli State Cup competition twice in 1966 and 1974 , and was close several times to winning Liga Leumit (then the top division). His most major achievement though, was helping the Israel national team qualify for their first World Cup in Mexico in 1970 . Because of his performances on the national stage, Vollach was twice loaned out to other Israeli clubs to strengthen their rosters for the sole purpose of UI Cup games. The first time was in 1976 with Hapoel Be'er Sheva and the second in 1977 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, both Israeli title holders. Over the years, Vollach managed to keep his position as one of the biggest sports stars in Israel. In 1977 , Vollach transferred from Hapoel Haifa, along with former international player and club captain Yitzhak Englander, to local city rivals Maccabi Haifa.

Maccabi Haifa

As a seasoned veteran, Vollach served as a role model for young and inexperienced players at Maccabi. He was looked up to for having been a part of the national side that took part in the World Cup finals. His time though at Maccabi was short, playing only two seasons and, in 1979 , he retired from professional football and began, fully voluntarily, to act as general manager of Maccabi Haifa. Vollach's unique managing skills and leadership was the major reason that Maccabi went from being a mediocre football club to a successful empire in the top flight, winning their first championship in 1984 and retaining it in 1985 , which Maccabi Haifa also finished at the head of the house in the Intertoto home stage.
During this time, he began to be known as "the brains of Maccabi Haifa".
During the years, Vollach concisely insisted of combining Maccabi's youth players in the senior Squad and also prevented the release of many key players as well as bringing the youth side to its zenith.

Hong Kong Calling

In 1985, Vollach was promoted in his job at Zim, and was sent oversees to become the branch manager and representative of the company's operations in Hong Kong. It was then that he made a return to football, starring at Hong Kong FC.

Back to administrative Career

After 5 years in Hong Kong, at 1990 , Vollach returned to Israel, where former teammate and club captain, Yitzhak Englander was president of Hapoel Haifa. Englander offered him the position of president of Hapoel, but city rivals, Maccabi, were not eager to see Vollach go, so they appointed him as CFO and chief executive of the team. Over the span of three years (1990-1993), the club won the "double" (league and cup) during the 1990/91 season and the State Cup at 1993 . Between 1990-1994, he was volunteering in the management division of the Israeli Football Association as well as acting as Maccabi Haifa's representative at the IFA. After the football department was privatized, Vollach joined the Maccabi Haifa union's management, filling major positions such as CFO and second to the chairman of board. In 1999 , he was voted in unanimously as chairman of the board of the Maccabi Haifa union as well as president of the basketball division of Maccabi Haifa and as a member of the management of the Israeli Basketball Association. Aside from his administrative and work roles, Vollach participated for many years as a sports commentator on the popular Israeli sports radio show, "Shirim uSha'arim" ( _he. "שירים ושערים", lit. "Songs and Goals") and was a local journalist. Vollach owns a Bachelor's degree in History & Political science from the University of Haifa, and a Master's degree in business administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a retired Major in the IDF. Among the positions that Vollach filled during his time working for Zim, he has been the global services manager, chairman of the directorate of all Zim's ownership companies and vice president of Zim, and Zim's M.Dizengoff president & CEO. Since 2005 , he has been the president & CEO of Newlog, which is a subsidiary of the Zim group, and handles logistic service relating to marine and overland transportation. He still plays football today for Hapoel Haifa's veteran side, which he also trains. Vollach is a member of the Education and Publicity Committee of the IFA [http://football.org.il/Association/AboutAssociation/Pages/CommitteeEducationAndPublicity.aspx] and a mangment member of Maccbi.

In recognition of his extensive volunteering to the sporting community as well as business success, he was bestowed with honorary citizenship by the city of Haifa, in 1993.

Trivia

Who shot Vollach?

*At the summer of 1976 , Vollach was strengthening the rosters for the sole purpose of UI Cup games with title holders Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Before the game against Standard Liège in Belgium, the players were staying at the hotel room. Shalom Avitan, Be'er Sheva's player, fooled around with the .22 Short Caliber that was in a box on the table and that belonged to the Shabak agent which was guarding the team (after the Munich massacre, Israel took no chances). Avitan thought the gun was unloaded and pointed the gun towards Vollach. His hand was moved in the last second and the bullet went an inch away from Vollach's head [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title=שלום אביטן יורה ביוחנן וולך |url=http://www.nrg.co.il/online/archive/ART/474/584.html |format= |work= |publisher=Ma'ariv |id= |pages= |page= |date=2003-05-09 |accessdate=2007-05-29 |language=Hebrew |quote= ] .

Other trivia notes

*At the 1970 world cup, Vollach played against Uruguay. At the following match, Vollach broke his leg in the second half in a though and brutal match from the Swedish (1-1) side, and so the dream of man marking Gigi Riva and Gianni Rivera, in the last match against Italy was over.
*Vollach began working at Zim in 1970 after returning from the 1970 FIFA World Cup. At his first week he was assigned to go over employee’s attendance tickets.
*In one of the times during the early 2000s, while serving the IDF's Military reserve force in the Israeli border, near Modi'in, he was in charge of the company which twice prevented several terrorists to penetrate the board in order to commit suicide attacks.Fact|date=May 2007

Gallery

Trophies won in football

Maccabi Haifa & Hapoel Haifa:
*4 x Israeli cup (1966, 1974, 1991, 1993), (1985 runners up)
*3 x Israeli title (1984, 1985, 1991), (1975 runners up)
*1 x Israeli Championship of the Champions Cup (1985)
*1 x Lilian Cup (1984)
*1 x IDF title (1965)

Maccabi Haifa youth team:
*4 x Israeli youth title (1979, 1983, 1984, 1991)
*3 x Israeli youth cup (1980, 1991, 1993), (1981 runners up)
*1 x Israeli Championship of the Champions Cup (1984)

Maccabi Haifa basketball team:
*2 x Israeli Final Four

Major honours

* Best XI in Israel (3 times, determined by Hadashot haSport and Yedioth Ahronoth)
* Fair play award in Israel (3 times)
* Hapoel Haifa Best XI Alltime
* Israel Golden Jubilee Awards: Haifa Best XI
* Israel Golden Jubilee Awards: Haifa Best Defender (All Time)
* Honorary citizen of the City of Haifa (1993)
* Lifetime contributions special award for the Israeli national team in the 1970 world cup, determined by Yedioth Ahronoth and the Israeli football player association (2007) [http://www.ifpa.org.il/viewArticleItem.asp?ID=67&GalleryID=23&itemID=297]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.newlog.co.il Newlog]
* [http://maccabi-haifafc.walla.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=player&id=2164 Profile and short biography of Yochanan Vollach on Maccabi Haifa's official website]
* [http://www.hapoelhaifa.com/site/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3 Hall of fame]
* [http://cards.littleoak.com.au/197071_fks_mexico/israel.htm World cup football cards with Vollach's youth picture from 1970]
* [http://www.port2port.co.il/Index.asp?CategoryID=61&ArticleID=50329 Vollach is appointed President & CEO of Newlog company (Hebrew)]
* [http://www.port2port.com/Index.asp?CategoryID=52&ArticleID=744 Negotiations for the merger of Transclal and Newlog]

ee also

Football in Israel