Wikipedia's first sentence called it “famous israeli football player”. Today it says “israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Retired Israeli footballer”. It now reads “Israeli footballer (born 1980)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Yossi Benayoun (יוסי בניון , also spelled Benayun , born May 5 , 1980 in Dimona ) is a famous Israeli football player, considered the best Israeli footballer playing today. Playing as an attacking midfielder behind the striker , Benayoun is known for being a virtuoso, capable of dazzling dribbles and brilliant passes. In Israel he is nicknamed "The Kid" or "The Diamond ". Benayoun played for the Hapoel Beer Sheva youth team. At the age of 15 he joined the Football Academy of Ajax Amsterdam where he played until he was 17. Due to feelings of loneliness and homesickness, he left Ajax and returned to Israel. Many criticized him for letting go of a golden opportunity. At the age of 17 1/2, he was promoted to the Hapoel Beer Shava senior team, but could not prevent it for being relegated to the second division league. In the last match of the season against Maccabi Haifa , Benayoun got a penalty kick on the 90th minute. Haifa's goalkeeper , Nir Davidovich saved the shot but Benayoun scored the rebound. He thought he had saved the team but when he heard on the radio the his team will be relegated nonetheless as a result of its bottom rival winning its own match, his tears of joy became tears of grief. The pictures of him crying became famous in Israel. After that season, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in a deal signed by Yaakov Shachar (Maccabi Haifa's president) and Eli Jino (the head of Hapoel Beer Sheva) that the two clubs will share the profits from selling Benayoun to a European club. Benayoun played in Maccabi Haifa for three seasons, scoring a total of 55 league goals, including two hat-tricks . He scored some of the most beautiful goals in the Israeli premier league. One example came in a match where he bounced the ball on his leg to pass over Ashdod's opposing defenders and goalkeeper to score a magnificent goal. He is also known for the "spoon pass", where he arches the ball over the defenders to one of his team's strikers. In 1998 , under the guidance of Dushan Ohrin and Daniel Brailovski , Benayoun and Haifa reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup , and he scored against Paris Saint-Germain and SV Ried . The following year, Benayoun again performed well. But he will always be remembered for his confrontation with coach Eli Cohen that year, when Benayoun himself allegedly refused to be substituted during a match. This incident, plus a bad month for the club, ultimately caused Cohen's resignation. However, in the 2000 / 2001 season under the guidance of Avraam Grant , Benayoun led Haifa to a first championship after seven long years and was chosen as the MVP of the season. In the next season, Benayoun helped Maccabi Haifa won another championship, despite suffering from an injury in the beginning of the season. When he returned to play, he combined well with Giovanni Russo , Raimondas Zutautas and Aiyegbeni Yakubu to win the championship. In 2003, Benayoun moved to Racing Santander in Spain and still plays there. Benayoun is considered as one of the big stars of the club and he is one of its leading scorer during the 2004 / 2005 season. During the World Cup 2006 qualifiers, Benayoun became the leading player of the Israeli national team after equalizing against Cyprus at home (2-1 to Israel) and scoring twice against Switzerland . In the away game in Cyprus, Benayoun, Israel's traditional black sheep, assisted the winning goal after Nir Davidovich saved a crucial penalty.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17513793.
The opening as it stood in 2010 28 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Yosef Shai "Yossi" Benayoun ( ; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli footballer who plays for Liverpool in the Premier League .Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder , often occupying the space just behind the striker.In Israel, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond".Furthermore, he is the captain of the Israeli national team .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371074486.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Yosef Shai "Yossi" Benayoun ( , born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays for Israeli club Maccabi Haifa and captains the Israeli national team . He plays as an attacking midfielder , often occupying the space just behind the striker. Born in Dimona , he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona " in Israel.Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain.Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United , and later Liverpool .In 2010, he signed for Chelsea , where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League .After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa.A full international since 1998, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 96 caps, and their joint second top scorer with 24 international goals.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669239971.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Retired Israeli footballer Yossi Shai Benayoun ( , born 5 May 1980) is a retired Israeli professional footballer who last played for Beitar Jerusalem and captained the Israel national team . He played as an attacking midfielder , often occupying the space just behind the striker. Born in Dimona , he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United , and later Liverpool . In 2010, he signed for Chelsea , where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League . After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa. A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint second top scorer with 24 international goals.Benayoun currently holds the position of sporting director for Beitar Jerusalem, the club that he last played for.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963879757.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israeli association football player Yossi Shai Benayoun ( ; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder .He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team . Born in Dimona , he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team. Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United , and later Liverpool . In 2010, he signed for Chelsea , where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League . After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa. A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint third top scorer with 24 international goals. Benayoun holds the position of sporting director for Beitar Jerusalem , the club that he last played for.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176810619.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Israeli footballer (born 1980) Yossi Shai Benayoun ( Hebrew : יוסי שי בניון ; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder . He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team . Born in Dimona , he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team. Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United , and later Liverpool . In 2010, he signed for Chelsea , where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League . After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa. A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint third top scorer with 24 international goals. Benayoun holds the position of sporting director for Beitar Jerusalem , the club that he last played for.
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Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “famous israeli football player”. Today it says “israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Retired Israeli footballer”. It now reads “Israeli footballer (born 1980)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
famous israeli football player
Now
israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
