Maccabi Haifa announced on Saturday evening that Brazilian defender Wenderson Tsunami has signed for the club, adding an experienced and versatile option to a back line being rebuilt ahead of the 2026/27 campaign. The 30-year-old arrives as a free agent after his contract at Turkish second-tier side Igdir expired at the end of last season; no contract length was disclosed at the time.
There was a shade of nuance around the deal's status. Haifa's own statement said plainly that Tsunami had signed, while parallel reporting described him as having merely agreed personal terms, due to land in Israel on Saturday evening with medical checks still to follow. Either way, the club had made the move public, saying it believed his experience and his ability to cover several positions across the defence would serve the team in the competitions ahead.
Born Wenderson de Freitas Soares on 4 January 1996, the 1.89-metre defender is a left-back by trade with a strong left foot, though in recent seasons he has been used increasingly at centre-half, and he played defensive midfield earlier in his career. That flexibility is precisely what Haifa highlighted in announcing the signing.
He learned the game in Brazil's lower divisions, passing through Remo, Cuiaba and Botafogo-PB among others, and lifted the Copa Verde with Cuiaba in 2019.
The defining chapter of his career came in Bulgaria. Tsunami joined Levski Sofia in January 2022 and went on to make 112 appearances over four years, winning the Bulgarian Cup in his first half-season and eventually wearing the captain's armband at one of the country's biggest clubs.
This past January he moved on to Igdir in the Turkish second division, where he became a regular — accounts of his appearance tally there sit in the mid-teens — before his short-term deal ran its course over the summer.
Israeli supporters may already have seen him up close. During his Levski years he faced Hapoel Be'er Sheva in European qualification, playing the full goalless first leg before an injury kept him out of the return. Now he crosses to the other side of that divide, joining an Israeli club with continental ambitions of its own.
For Haifa, the timing is pointed. The club open their formal season next Saturday with a Toto Cup derby against Hapoel Haifa, and the coaching staff have been eager to add defensive depth before the competitive fixtures pile up. A left-sided defender who can play two, arguably three, positions — and who has captained a club through title races and European nights — gives them cover in exactly the areas where last season's squad looked thin.
Update, 19 July: the deal is now fully done. Tsunami passed his medical on Sunday and formally signed a two-year contract with Maccabi Haifa, settling the nuance around Saturday's announcement; no option year or shirt number was disclosed.
"I'm excited to join Maccabi Haifa," the defender said. "I've heard a lot about this club and the power of the green fans, and I'm already looking forward to taking the field and helping the team achieve its goals."
Professional director Lior Refaelov called him "an experienced, versatile and quality player," adding that the captaincy at his previous club shows "his character and responsibility."
