Name: Ben Mordukhovich
Age: 31
Team: Inter Aliyah White
Originally from: Gomel, Belarus
Favourite team: Manchester United
Position: Centre-back, full-back or Central Midfield Football idol: Paul Scholes
Interesting fact: After university, I worked one year as a teacher at school - it was the worst year of my life, hated every second of it!!
''I have been playing football for as long as I can remember. From the age of 8 to 16 I was a part of my home town football academy in Gomel. At 17, I went to study at the university in Minsk and was a part of its futsal team for 5 years.
''When I came to Israel, at 23, I played from time to time with friends and colleagues, until I found out about Inter Aliyah this year.
Ben (back row, third from left) before an Inter White game
''I have always wanted to experience living in a different environment, to learn other cultures, languages, mentality and way of life, this was the main driver behind me leaving my home and coming to Israel.
''Also, the political and economical situation in Belarus was a huge motivation towards leaving the county. I visited my relatives here several times so I knew more or less what to expect.
Ben (front row, far left) prior to the first-ever game of Inter Aliyah White!!
''I learned about the MASA programme while being on Taglit (Birthright) in 2012 and saw it as an opportunity to come and see for myself what life in Israel is like.
''After that, it was an easy decision to make Aliyah. Now I live in Ramat Gan and work as a full-stack developer in a startup in Tel Aviv.
Ben (third from left) as part of a winning team on the weekly tournament
''I learned about Inter Aliyah from Fernando Zatz (one of the club's co-founders) - we studied at Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem together. I saw his Facebook post about the team, went to the website and left a message saying I wanted to join the team. 10 minutes later he texted me saying, ‘I got your message on our website. I happen to manage it”!!
''Since then, I joined Inter White and have been playing with the guys since the start of the season. It is truly amazing to come to training sessions and games and be able to communicate with people from so many countries and backgrounds.
''I look forward to many more years as an Inter Aliyah regular.''
''Ben''.
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