Eli Dasa

Not to be confused with Ilir Daja.

Elazar "Eli" Dasa (or Eliezer, Hebrew: אלי דסה; born 3 December 1992) is an Israeli professional footballer who captains the Israel national team. He is the first captain of Israel to be of Ethiopian-Jewish origin.^[4][5]

Eli Dasa
אלי דסה

Dasa playing for Dynamo Moscow in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Elazar Dasa[1]
Date of birth	(1992-12-03) 3 December 1992 (age 32)[2]
Place of birth	Netanya, Israel
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s)	Right-back
Youth career
	Maccabi Tel Aviv
	Beitar Jerusalem
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2015	Beitar Jerusalem	113	(3)
2015–2019	Maccabi Tel Aviv	99	(5)
2019–2022	Vitesse	71	(0)
2022–2025	Dynamo Moscow	62	(0)
International career‡
2008	Israel U16	2	(0)
2008–2009	Israel U17	6	(0)
2010	Israel U18	3	(0)
2010–2012	Israel U19	12	(0)
2011–2014	Israel U21	25	(0)
2015–	Israel	67	(1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 10 June 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 25 March 2025

Early life

Dasa was born in Netanya, Israel, to an Ethiopian-Jewish family, and is Jewish.^[6][7] He is the second Israeli of Ethiopian-Jewish background to play for the Israel national football team.^[8] His younger brother Or Dasa is also an Israeli international footballer who plays for Israeli club Hapoel Ramat Gan, who also played for the Israel U-21 national team.

Club career

On 31 July 2010, Dasa made his debut in Beitar Jerusalem F.C. during a Toto Cup match against Hapoel Ashkelon.^[9] On 12 September 2012, Dasa scored the first goal in his senior career during a league match against Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

On 9 July 2015, he made his first international match debut in a 2–1 victory over Kazakh team FC Ordabasy in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualification and played 90 minutes.

On 10 August 2015, Dasa signed for four years with Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv.

On 7 September 2022, Dasa signed a contract with Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow for the term of two years with an option to extend for one more year.^[10]

On 10 June 2024, Dynamo announced that the option for the 2024–25 season in Dasa's contract has been activated.^[11] Dasa left Dynamo Moscow on 10 June 2025 as his contract expired.^[12]

International career

Dasa at the 2013 UEFA Euros U21, that took place in Israel

Dasa played in the Israel under-21 team since 2010. He was a part of the Israeli team for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

In 2015, he was called up by the national coach Eli Guttman for the senior Israel national team. Dasa made his debut in the senior national team against Andorra in a 4–0 win, on 3 September 2015. Dasa debuted as the Israeli line-up captain on 26 March 2022, in a friendly away match against Germany; thus becoming the first senior captain of Israel to be of African origin.^[4][5]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 18 May 2025

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Beitar Jerusalem	2010–11	Israeli Premier League	18	0	1	0	–		–		–		19	0
	2011–12	Israeli Premier League	18	0	0	0	–		–		–		18	0
	2012–13	Israeli Premier League	25	1	1	0	–		–		–		26	1
	2013–14	Israeli Premier League	20	0	0	0	–		–		–		20	0
	2014–15	Israeli Premier League	32	0	0	0	–		–		–		32	0
	2015–16	Israeli Premier League	0	0	0	0	–		2	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		113	1	2	0	–		2	0	0	0	117	1
Maccabi Tel Aviv	2015–16	Israeli Premier League	28	0	4	0	–		3[c]	0	1[d]	0	36	0
	2016–17	Israeli Premier League	31	0	5	0	–		10[e]	0	–		46	0
	2017–18	Israeli Premier League	17	0	1	0	–		4[f]	0	–		22	0
	2018–19	Israeli Premier League	23	0	3	0	–		8[g]	0	–		34	0
	Total		99	0	13	0	–		25	0	1	0	138	0
Vitesse	2019–20	Eredivisie	10	0	1	0	–		0	0	0	0	11	0
	2020–21	Eredivisie	30	0	3	0	–		0	0	0	0	33	0
	2021–22	Eredivisie	31	0	2	0	–		11	1	0	0	44	1
	Total		71	0	6	0	–		11	1	0	0	88	1
Dynamo Moscow	2022–23	Russian Premier League	22	0	8	0	–		–		–		30	0
	2023–24	Russian Premier League	20	0	2	0	–		–		–		22	0
	2024–25	Russian Premier League	20	0	6	1	–		–		–		26	1
	Total		62	0	16	1	–		–		–		78	1
Career total			345	1	37	1	0	0	38	1	1	0	421	3

1. Includes Israel State Cup, KNVB Cup, Russian Cup
2. Includes Toto Cup
3. Three appearances in the UEFA Champions League
4. Appearance in the Israel Super Cup
5. Five appearance in the UEFA Europa League, five appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying
6. One appearance in the UEFA Europa League, three appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying
7. Eight appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying

International

As of match played 25 March 2025^[13]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Israel	2015	3	0
	2016	3	0
	2017	3	0
	2018	6	0
	2019	10	0
	2020	7	0
	2021	12	0
	2022	8	0
	2023	9	0
	2024	4	0
	2025	2	1
Total		67	1

Scores and results list Israel's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dasa goal.

List of international goals scored by Eli Dasa

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 March 2025	Nagyerdei Stadion, Debrecen, Hungary	Estonia	2–1	2–1	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Israeli Premier League: 2018–19
• Israel Toto Cup (Ligat Ha'Al): 2017–18, 2018–19

Individual

• Eredivisie Team of the Month: April 2022^[14]