The wave of assaults and robberies of footballers and their families in Europe continues. The most recent victims is the family of PSV Eindhoven’s striker. On Sunday, armed robbers broke into Eran Zahavi’s home in Amsterdam and robbed his wife and children at gunpoint.
An Israeli national, Zahavi was at the stadium, preparing for a match against Willem II. His wife and three children — an 8-year-old boy and 5-year-old twins, were at home. He was pulled out of the game when he got the news that his family had been through an armed robbery.
According to reports in Dutch media, the two robbers were masked as delivery personnel in order to enter the house. After the criminals gained access, they threatened Zahavi’s wife and children with a gun and proceeded to rob the home. Even though no one was physically harmed in the end, the footballer’s family was reportedly tied up.
“Yesterday, my family and I went through a horrifying experience of robbery and attack in the place that is supposed to be the safest in the world for us – our home. We went through some difficult hours and we need a moment to take in everything,” Shay Zahavi said in a message posted on Instagram.
Zahavi and his family live in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam. They are expected to return to Israel in around a week, after the season ends.
“This is an unpleasant incident, far beyond a standard break-in to a house and theft of property,” Eran Zahavi said over Instagram.
Footballers and Families Targeted
This attack come just weeks after the robbery of the British footballer Chris Smalling in Italy. Over the recent years, robbers have been following sports schedules and social media posts in order to plan robberies of homes belonging to football players. Some of the players whose homes were broken into while there were at matches include:
- Angel Di Maria,
- Mauro Icardi,
- Maruinhos, and,
- Dele Alli.
While in July 2019, Roni Rosenthal, another Israeli football star, got beaten pretty badly during a robbery of his London home.