Crossword Dictionary

Avram Grant

Avram Grant (6 May 1955) is an Israeli professional football manager who currently manages the Zambia national football team. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup victories with different teams, and also managing the Israel national team for four years.

Grant moved to England in 2006 to become technical director of Portsmouth before being appointed director of football at Chelsea in July 2007. Two months later, in September 2007, following the departure of José Mourinho, Grant was appointed as Chelsea's manager. Despite steering the team into the Champions League and League Cup finals, as well as contesting the Premier League title to the last day.

Grant returned to Portsmouth as director of football in October 2009, and was made manager the following month. After the club's relegation to the Football League Championship Grant resigned and, in June 2010, was appointed as manager of West Ham United, a role he held up until May 2011, when he was sacked after the club was relegated to the Football League Championship.

After one championship season managing Partizan Belgrade and one season as the technical director for Thai club BEC Tero Sasana, Grant was appointed coach of the Ghana national football team in 2014. He stepped down from the position after a defeat in the semi-finals of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Grant's professional coaching career started at age 18, in 1972, as youth coach of his home-town team, Hapoel Petah Tikva. In 1986, after a 14-year spell in this job, he was promoted to first team coach, leading the club to two Toto Cup victories, in 1990 and 1991, thus bringing Hapoel Petah Tikva back to the top of Israeli football after nearly 25 years.