2024-03-16 08:30:56
About a few months before the war, I met Shovel Sebag, the partner of Maccabi Tel Aviv player Aden Kartsev, as part of our series with the wives of footballers, ‘Her Field’. The atmosphere was more optimistic, Aden had just started playing in Turkey and Shovel enjoyed every moment despite the difficulties: “Rob “I’m alone all the time,” she admitted to me in the summer. “But the first sentence he said to me when I started dating him was, ‘My career is abroad, are you ready to go on this journey with me?’, and I didn’t know we would reach such a stable relationship and I really gave up, not on Myself, but for the family and friends and everything to give him full support because his career is short, it’s not for life, so I’m there by his side.”
At that time, Turkey brightened up a couple of faces, Shovel admitted that there is nothing in the country that she doesn’t like and that she enjoys shopping and good food. She made sure to do yoga there every day with Miren Bozaglu at Zoom, and tried to get back into balance after losing her grandmother who was very attached to her. The Turkish atmosphere managed to make her enjoy herself and at that time she even commented on the fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv, the club he plays for today, missed him before moving to Netanya, and how good he is in Turkey on the other hand.
“It was a very difficult situation at the time. When he returned home it was not the same Eden, although he knows how to make the separation, but it is not the same person. He was more introverted and it is only to give him support and tell him that this is a period that is passing and here, today he has reached the point In the life he’s been waiting for since I’ve known him and since he was a child, this is his dream and I’m the best with him.”
Eden Kartsev’s partner opens up about everything
But as everyone already knows, on October 7, the war broke out that changed the lives of all of us as well as Shuval and Eden Kartsev, and things became less optimistic. I met Shuval again after she and Eden returned to Israel to hear about their current situation. After the incident of Shagib Yehezkel (who was arrested in Turkey following a tribute to the abductees), all eyes were on Kartsev, who is also in the same country, but the couple was calm: “We didn’t feel apprehensive,” Shuvel admitted to me at our second meeting.
“We didn’t think that the story of Aden would cause an uproar, the whole war we were silent and security officials told us not to bring things up or stand out. We only brought up the 100 days for the abductees, but we didn’t think it would be linked to what Shagib did and we didn’t feel fear in Turkey, they were by our side and we walked around normally. No We went with a Star of David or a kippah because it’s impossible, but the Turks and the club were right by our side.”
“The club was by our side.” Shovel Sebag (Radad Jabara)
And there was no fear after what happened to Gabiv?
“We were worried about what was happening at home to our family and friends, we were more worried about Israel than ourselves there. In the first week when we felt afraid, the club gave us a hotel by ourselves with security on the floor and an attached driver and made us feel safe. They said, ‘You have nothing to fear, we are with you.’ I said that if we have the opportunity to return, I will give all my support and we will move there and everything will be fine.”
But really in the end it came to you following the story, how did it start?
“My father called in the morning and told about the mess with Shagiv, we immediately removed the story and called Aden from the club, they called him and I went with him. I didn’t feel afraid, I didn’t feel threatened or that someone would soon knock on my door, but we did understand that something was happening. They talked to Aden at the club and then He went to the interrogation and there I started to get a little scared. After all, it’s a foreign country, I don’t have the language or anyone to talk to and tell him what I’m experiencing. I had to deal with it alone.”
“They called Eden, and I went with him.” Shovel Sebag (Radad Jabara)
So how did you really get through the interrogation moments?
“I was scared. I waited in the waiting room at the club and the staff, I have no words or one bad thing to say about them, they offered me food and drink and were with me. The club gave us their full back, but that’s where I started to fear what would happen, because in the end the dream of Eden is to play in Europe and we didn’t think we would return so soon, I didn’t think that because of the war, Aden’s dream would explode. Although we returned to where Aden grew up Maccabi Tel Aviv where he was brought up and he returned home, but Europe is his dream and I am sure he will fulfill it again. And there we began the journey of returning home.”
You came back, I suppose, a little disappointed that this is how it ended.
“Yes, there was both disappointment and joy. Side by side. On the one hand you are happy, we returned home to the family after what we saw happening in the country and in the end Israel is home, and also to Maccabi he returned more mature, more knowledgeable and more able to prove himself in his position. Even now the club has the team that loves him and believes that they will give him all the support possible and he will succeed. But on the other hand, it was a disappointment that everything was not expected and Eden came back from his dream and did not think it would be this fast.”
“Didn’t think he would come back so soon.” Eden Kartsev (Haggai Michaeli)
Would you tell him to do something differently?
“I don’t interfere with him in these things. To tell him not to publish a story that sympathizes with the state? It doesn’t seem right to me. We avoided publishing things throughout the war, we didn’t write for or against, but when it came to the hundred days of the abductees we felt suffocated and that this was the only thing we could do “.
Everything that Shuval and Eden went through in Turkey and on the journey home forged their relationship, they felt that they only had each other and they only got stronger from that, but it wasn’t easy. “There were many difficulties along the way,” Shuval says. “I could have told him, ‘Eden, I’m going back to Israel, stay,’ but there was no way I would leave him there alone, I’m with him the whole way and that built us up. Even if there were fights or arguments because I wanted him to be with me and not go to sleep far away from the game because it adds Fears, but it unequivocally set us up for the distant future.”
A forging experience. Shovel Sebag (Radad Jabara)
So if Aden decides to return to Turkey, do you feel you can return there?
“I will support him. Now he is also better known there. It is true that it will be more difficult to return to Turkey because there is fear, but we will see what happens. Hopefully he will return to Europe sooner or later, when and where? I will support where necessary.”
Share with us what you don’t know about Eden?
“First of all, he is a very humble person, he is so good with people that he does not like to tell and show off that he helps and gives. He is focused on a goal, whether it is in food or sleep, and two days before a game he adheres to a certain diet, after all, he comes from a Russian home, so everything is in order there , because otherwise Eden can only live on chocolates (laughs)”.
“I hope he returns to Europe, I will support where needed.” Shuval Sebag and Eden Kartsev (Instagram)
It’s always important to me to show that the women footballers model 2024 are women who also make sure to develop themselves, and you also study design.
“I think that every spouse of a footballer should know how to promote herself even if it is very difficult. In Turkey I could not develop my sewing and I waited for the right money time to return to it, and in terms of a degree it is also important for me to develop myself so that I can work remotely in the future. This It’s a difficult situation, but you have to know how to deal with it. If you enter into such a relationship, you need to know how to approach it and not give up on yourself in the full sense. Even if you give up family, friendships and comfort, it’s important to take care of yourself, and of course the support of your partner is important because you can’t do it alone.”
And Eden has that.
“Yes, unequivocally, he wants me to do things for me first and then deal with him. And it’s hard for me because I want to give him the support and know that I’ll manage. But he doesn’t give up and insists that I do.”
“Eden wants me to do things for myself first.” Shovel Sebag (Radad Jabara)
What is your next dream, or next destination?
“I’m after him, wherever he wants him to play. Anywhere in the world, no matter where, the main thing is that he succeeds and it’s the best for him. Because when his moment is good, it’s good for both of us. I aim to go as far with him.”
We closed the previous interview with a question about a ring and you said ‘whatever will come will come, we’re not stressed, we’re waiting for the right moment, right now we’re children’, now do you have the same opinion?
“I feel it’s closer, I don’t know when, but I’m waiting patiently.”
waiting for the ring Shovel Sebag (Radad Jabara)
#didnt #war #blow #Edens #dream