Bibras Natkho

Bibars Natcho (Adyghe: Пыйпэрыс Натхъо, ביברס נאתכו, Бибарс Натхо; born 18 February 1988) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serbian SuperLiga club Partizan.

He is a former captain of the Israel national team who is also the first of either Circassian or Muslim origin, until his international retirement on 25 March 2023.

He also holds Serbian citizenship.

Natcho was born in Kfar Kama, Israel, to a Circassian-Israeli Muslim family.

His cousin, Circassian-Israeli basketball player Nili Natkho, died in 2004 in a car accident in northern Israel.

Their grandfather emigrated from Turkey to what was then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel).

Natcho joined Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv's youth team with fellow Israel youth international Ben Sahar, moving through the ranks up to the first team at the start of the 2006–07 season, winning the Israel State Cup during that season.

Throughout the years, Natcho became an important player in Hapoel and in the Israeli national youth teams.

Natcho made his Israeli Premier League debut coming on as a substitute against Maccabi Netanya on 18 November 2006.

Natcho's first professional goal was against NK Široki Brijeg during the 2nd leg of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup second qualifying round at Bloomfield Stadium.

His father Akram Natkho served in the Israel Border Police (Magav), and died of cardiac arrest in 2008.

After the arrival of Israeli coach Eli Guttman during the 2007–08 season, Natcho became a main part of the team, scoring his first league goal against Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. on 9 February 2008.

Natcho made a few impressive performances at the beginning of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League helping Hapoel finish top of Group C, ending the European campaign drawing 0–0 on a raining evening and losing 0–3 away at the Central Stadium.

After losing 0–3 on aggregate in the Round of 32 of Europa League, Natcho moved to the eventual "European Dream" killers Rubin Kazan on 8 March 2010, signing a four-year deal with this Russian club.

with transfer fee of €650,000 paid to Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Natcho then scored his first goal for the club, on 17 April 2010, in a 1–0 win over Amkar Perm.

His second goal came in a 2–1 win over Rostov on 16 October 2010.

However, injuries limited his playing time, as he made fourteen appearances and scored twice.

Natcho started the 2011–12 season well in all competitions, scoring his first goal on 27 May 2011, in a 4–1 win over Tom Tomsk.

His second goal of the season came on 14 June 2011, in a 3–0 win over Dynamo Moscow.

As a result of his performance, Natcho was named Team of The Week Matchday 13.

Elsewhere, Natcho scored two goals in the Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Kyiv and Lyon, who they eliminated Kazan out of the competitions and the club would play in the Europa League.

Then in the Europa League campaign, Natcho scored twice in six matches in the group stage of the Europa League against Tottenham Hostpur and Shamrock Rovers.

Natcho performance was praised for his role during the season and helped the club win the Russian Cup after playing a vital of assisting the winning goal, in a 1–0 win over Dynamo Moscow.

Natcho made 56 appearances and scored fourteen appearances in all competitions.

Also at the end of the year, Natcho was voted by the club's supporters as the best player of the year.

His eldest son was born in 2012 and is named after Natcho's late father.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, Natcho continuously made a good start for the club when he scored six goals in the first six matches against Krasnodar, twice against Alania Vladikavkaz, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Despite a contract negotiations, which is yet reported, Natcho scored his sixth goal of the season, on 11 November 2012, in a 2–0 win over Krylia Sovetov Samara.

It would later be revealed that the delay to Natcho's new contract was over the future of Manager Kurban Berdyev.

In the quarter final of the Europa League, Natcho scored two goals (both coming from penalty) in both legs, as Rubin Kazan lose 5–4 on aggregate against Chelsea.

Natcho would add two more goals later in the season against Lokomotiv Moscow and Krasnodar.

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Natcho wasn't only named by Sports.ru as one of the top players in the Russian league, but team of the year.

However, Natcho's agent revealed that Natcho had yet to reach an agreement over a new contract.

In the 2013–14 season, Natcho started his season when he scored in the second round of first leg of the Europa League, in a 3–2 win over Jagodina.

His younger cousin Amir Natkho joined CSKA in 2015 as well.

His uncle, Amir's father, Adam Natkho is also a former footballer from Russia.

He is married to Circassian-Israeli fashion designer Talia Ashmoz-Natcho, and together they have three children.

Soon after, Natcho started negotiating over a new three-year contract with the club that would keep him until 2016.

However, the negotiations changed again to a one-year contract a month later.