Tomer Hemed built a second Brighton career from the bottom up, taking charge of the club's under-18s after hanging up his boots. Now, according to ONE, he is being spoken of as a contender for a job several rungs higher: assistant head coach to Fabian Hurzeler on the Seagulls' first team.
The vacancy opened when Andrew Crofts left the Amex this month to join Roberto De Zerbi's new coaching staff at Tottenham, ending a 13-year association with Brighton that took him from midfielder to Hurzeler's trusted assistant. The club confirmed the departure itself, thanking Crofts as he moves on to reunite with De Zerbi in north London.
ONE reports that Hemed is among the names under consideration to fill the role — a striking twist for a player who retired from professional football only a few years ago and chose to stay inside Brighton's academy set-up rather than chase a late playing move elsewhere.
Hemed's route back to relevance has been built quietly. He signed for Brighton from Almería in 2015, scored 11 league goals in the club's promotion-winning 2016-17 campaign, and finished his Albion playing career with 33 goals in 108 appearances before retiring to join the academy staff as a coach and mentor to the club's younger players.
He worked his way onto the under-18s' bench, initially as an assistant, then stepped into caretaker charge alongside Steve Menzies when head coach Bjorn Hamberg left in January to take the manager's job at Sweden's Elfsborg. Hemed has since been confirmed as head coach of the age group in his own right.
According to ONE, his first full season in sole charge produced a fourth-place league finish and a record points total for the squad — form the club can point to as evidence he is developing fast, whatever is ultimately decided about the first-team post. Hemed said finishing fourth "demonstrates the commitment, resilience and belief shown by players and staff daily."
Not everyone is convinced the jump makes sense just yet. The Brighton fan outlet wearebrighton.com, which also listed Hemed among the contenders for Crofts' old job, cautioned that leaping from under-18s coaching to a Premier League first-team bench "would be quite the leap" — a reminder that a shortlist mention is a long way from an appointment.
Brighton have not put a public timeline on the decision beyond indicating one will come soon, and no formal shortlist or interview process has been confirmed. If Hemed misses out, he stays exactly where he has spent the past two years: developing the next generation of Albion players, some of whom he may yet end up coaching again at a higher level regardless.
