 Bakhar withRed Star Belgrade in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1979-09-21)21 September 1979 (age 46) | ||
| Place of birth | Tzrufa, Israel | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position | Right-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Maccabi Haifa (Manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Neve Yosef | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998–2002 | Hakoah Ramat Gan | ||
| 2002–2004 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 50 | (0) |
| 2004–2011 | Ironi Kiryat Shmona | 156 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2011–2012 | Ironi Kiryat Shmona (assistant) | ||
| 2012–2015 | Ironi Kiryat Shmona | ||
| 2015–2020 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | ||
| 2020–2023 | Maccabi Haifa | ||
| 2023 | Red Star Belgrade | ||
| 2024–2025 | Maccabi Haifa | ||
| 2025– | Maccabi Haifa | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Barak Bakhar (Hebrew:ברק בכר; born 21 September 1979) is an Israeli formerplayer and the current manager ofMaccabi Haifa.
Bakhar was born inmoshavTzrufa, Israel, to aTurkish-born father of bothSephardi Jewish andMizrahi Jewish descent, and to anIsraeli-born mother ofAshkenazi Jewish (Polish-Jewish) descent. His uncle was the Israeli Minister of TourismRehavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi.
Bakhar is married, has three children, and resides inHolon, Israel.
After going through the ranks of the youth system of Neve Yosef, Bakhar transferred toLiga Artzit side,Hakoah Ramat Gan.[1] After four seasons in the second tier of Israeli football, he made the jump toHapoel Petah Tikva.
In 2004, Bakhar joinedLiga Leumit side, Ironi Kiryat Shmona. He established himself in the starting line up on the right side of their defense and helped them gain promotion toIsraeli Premier League, the highest tier ofIsraeli football. During the 2007–08 season, Bakhar played all but one league match for Kiryat Shmona, due to yellow card accumulation.
In October 2008, Bakhar was called up by national team manager,Dror Kashtan for theFIFA World Cup qualification matches againstLuxembourg andLatvia. His call up was canceled though, being that he never completed his service in theIDF, a requirement of allJewish players in order to represent Israel on the national side, andEyal Meshumar was called up in his place.[2]
Bakhar cited that the IDF did not suit him as to why he did not complete his service. He told IsraeliYedioth Ahronoth, "they wanted to send me to a combat unit in thearmor corps." Additionally,Sport 5 pointed out that Bakhar was not match fit and was expected to undergo surgery soon. This in turn embarrassed theIsrael Football Association that they had missed all these items before announcing the pool of players called in for the qualification matches[3]
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On 3 October 2012, Bakhar was appointed manager ofHapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona.[4] On 14 May 2015, he ended his contract. In the 2015–16 season, he was appointed of manager ofHapoel Be'er Sheva. He got Be'er Sheva to win the Israeli League for the first time in forty years after a 3–1 win against Bnei Sachnin. By winning the league, Be'er Sheva got in theUEFA Champions League for the first time and will start in the second qualifying round. He got Be'er Sheva into the third qualifying round of2016–17 UEFA Champions League in a 3–2 win on aggregate againstSheriff Tiraspol. Then, he got Be'er Sheva secured a Europa League group stage position by stunning Greek sideOlympiacos 1–0 on aggregate, the furthest they ever reached. In the playoff qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, Badkar's Be'er Sheva lost 5–4 on aggregate to Celtic despite winning 2–0 atTurner Stadium. In the2016–17 UEFA Europa League, Be'er Sheva made it in the round of 32 in the Europa League in second place behindSparta Prague in Group K by getting famous results against Southampton and Inter Milan. Bakhar also won the Toto Cup for Be'er Sheva on 28 December 2016 beating his former clubHapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona 4–1.
In 2022, Bakhar led Maccabi Haifa to the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in thirteen years after qualifying victories overOlympiakos,Apollon Limassol andformer European ChampionsRed Star Belgrade.
In May 2023, Bakhar was appointed manager ofSerbian SuperLiga side Red Star Belgrade, and was released from the team in December 2023 after derby loss to Partizan including failure to qualify to UEFA Champion League top 16.[5]
In May 2024, he returned to Maccabi Haifa after he signed a contract for two seasons
in May 2025, Bakhar was released from Maccabi Haifa after derby loss to Hapoel.
in October 2025, Bakhar returned to Maccabi Haifa .
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona |  | 3 October 2012 | 14 May 2015 | 102 | 59 | 23 | 20 | 057.84 |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | | 24 May 2015 | 6 January 2020 | 218 | 123 | 47 | 48 | 056.42 |
| Maccabi Haifa | | 8 July 2020 | 30 June 2023 | 151 | 98 | 20 | 33 | 064.90 |
| Red Star Belgrade |  | 29 May 2023 | 20 December 2023 | 28 | 18 | 2 | 8 | 064.29 |
| Maccabi Haifa | | 6 June 2024 | 4 May 2025 | 40 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 052.50 |
| Maccabi Haifa | | 21 October 2025 | Pressent | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 000.00 |
| Total | 504 | 303 | 100 | 101 | 060.12 | |||
Hakoah Maccabi Ramat Gan
Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Maccabi Haifa
