Eran Zahavi

On 25 August, during the second leg at Bloomfield, he scored a 24th-minute equaliser as the match ended 1–1, a result that sent Maccabi to the Champions League group stage due to the away goals rule.

Zahavi finished the Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round as the top goalscorer with 7 goals in 5 games.

During the season Zahavi scored 35 league goals, in 36 league games, and set a new Israeli record for league goals in single season.

He found the net in the 33rd, 55th, and 67th minutes of the match.

Those goals gave him 16 goals in as many games for R&F, across all competitions.

These scoring exploits quickly earned him the nickname "the King of Yuexiushan".

Zahavi finished his first half season for Guangzhou R&F with six goals in four Chinese FA Cup games, and 11 league goals in 15 appearances.

The previous record was set by the striker Nissim Elmaliach, who scored 30 goals in 26 league games during the 1954–55 season.

On 2 July, Zahavi made his debut coming on from the bench at the 60th minute playing against Shijiazhuang Ever Bright with the score a 1–1 draw.

15 minutes later he scored his first goal, and later on he added an assist to lead his team to a 4–2 victory.

On 13 July, Zahavi scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes in the Chinese FA Cup match against Hebei China Fortune, coming on from the bench in the second half and helping R&F to a 3–0 win.

On 18 October, during a league match against Hangzhou Greentown, Zahavi netted his second hat-trick in an R&F jersey, propelling them to a 5–2 victory.

Eran Zahavi (also spelled Zehavi, ערן זהבי, ; born 25 July 1987) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a forward for and vice-captains both Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national team.

Two years later, in 2005, he returned to Hapoel.

A Hapoel Tel Aviv youth product, Zahavi was promoted to its senior team in 2006.

With Hapoel, he won the 2009–10 Israel State Cup and the 2009–10 Israeli Premier League title after a dramatic match against the fierce rivals Beitar Jerusalem in the last round of the season, in which he scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute.

Zahavi was reported to have garnered interest from clubs in Belgium during the 2009–10 season.

Zahavi made his debut for the Israel national team in 2010.

He is a former national team captain and the current all-time top scorer for Israel with 34 goals.

Zahavi started his youth career with Hapoel Tel Aviv at the age of 6.

At the age of 16 he went to Ironi Rishon LeZion, in his hometown.

In the 2010–11 season Zahavi became the top assist provider of the Israeli Premier League, providing 13 assists during the season.

Zahavi signed a five-year deal with the Italian Serie A club, Palermo, before the beginning of the 2011–12 Serie A season.

He capped two seasons with 23 appearances in the top league in Italy, scoring two goals against Bologna and Cagliari.

In December 2012, towards the winter transfers window opening, Zahavi showed signs of returning to Israel.

Following an agreement made by Palermo and Maccabi Tel Aviv, his former club Hapoel Tel Aviv was given seven days to make a bid on him due to a first-option clause in his contract, but it was not exploited.

Zahavi was named Israeli Footballer of the Year twice (2013–14 and 2014–15), and finished as the top goalscorer of the Israeli Premier League for three consecutive seasons, in 2013–14 (29 goals), 2014–15 (27 goals) and 2015–16 (35 goals, all-time league record).

On 21 January 2013, after over a month of speculation in the media, Maccabi Tel Aviv announced his arrival, signing him on a three-and-a-half year contract for €250,000.

In December 2014, Zahavi broke the Israeli Premier League record for scoring in consecutive appearances after he scored for the 18th game in a row.

At the Tel Aviv derby on 3 November 2014, Zahavi scored a penalty to equalise the score at 1–1 in the first half but was then attacked by a pitch invader.

On retaliating, he was sent off, prompting more pitch invasions which led to the match being abandoned.

In the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Zahavi was appointed as Maccabi Tel Aviv's new captain after former captain Sheran Yeini signed with Dutch club Vitesse.

On 5 August 2015, Zahavi scored two goals against Czech team Viktoria Plzeň in a 2–0 away victory in the second leg of the third qualifying round after Maccabi lost at home 2–1.

On 19 August 2015, Zahavi scored a brace, including a 96th-minute equaliser, in a 2–2 draw against Swiss side Basel at St. Jakob-Park in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs.

In 2016, he broke the Israeli league six-decade-old season scoring record, beating the 1954–55 record.

On 29 June 2016, Zahavi joined Guangzhou R&F of the Chinese Super League, making him the second Israeli footballer in China after Liron Zarko.

The transfer deal paid Zahavi a reported $12.5 million over two-and-a-half years.

In December 2016, according to media reports, Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. offered $20 million for Zahavi, the highest transfer fee ever offered for an Israeli footballer.

He was named the 2017 Chinese Super League MVP, and broke the league's single-season scoring record in 2019.

On 24 January 2017, Zahavi signed a renewed contract with Guangzhou R&F until the end of the 2020 season, for an estimated $7 million per season.