On the eve of Maccabi's intriguing 8th round State Cup tie, here's our scouting report on rival Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramla
Just the facts
Beitar Tel Aviv made their first appearance on the Israeli football scene in the second wave of veteran clubs, along with Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Petach Tikva and Bnei Yehuda. Before the establishment of the State of Israel the club were very popular among the country's youth, beating both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa in State Cup competition. The last time Beitar Tel Aviv played in the Israeli top flight was in the 1995/96 season. Since then they have played in various lower divisions. In the year 2000 the club merged with Shimshon Tel Aviv and became Beitar Shimshom Tel Aviv. A second merger in 2011 saw the club unite with Ironi Ramla, resulting in Shimshon Tel Aviv abandoning the new partnership.
Just the interesting facts
It's been sixty years since Beitar Tel Aviv striker Nissim Elmaliah established the all-time Israeli Premier League goalscoring record of thirty goals in one season, one more than Maccabi midfielder Eran Zahavi in 2013/14. But if it's records you're interested in, take midfielder Nissim Cohen, a player identified more than any other with Beitar Tel Aviv, who lead his side to a third-place finish in the 1990/91 season and ended his playing career at the ripe old age of 45, older than any other player in Israeli footballing history. And finally, one more record: In the 1988/89 season Beitar Tel Aviv became the first Israeli club to sign foreign players, one of them Panamanian international striker Armando Dely Valdes.
Past encounters
Maccabi Tel Aviv have faced Beitar Tel Aviv four times in State Cup competition, the last time being in the 2007/08 season when Shimshon was still part of the Beitar Tel Aviv equation. It became one of the great sensations of the season as Beitar's on-loan striker Adam Mizrahi scored the only goal deep into injury time of the final added period of a match that remained goalless after ninety minutes. Before that spectacular defeat, Maccabi Tel Aviv had beaten their municipal Beitar rivals three times in State Cup competition, the most memorable being the season 1976/77 final when Maccabi's current first-team manager Benny Tabak scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory.
Head coach: Slobodan Drapic
Serbian born head coach Slobodan Drapic began his Israeli footballing career in 1988 at the start of a seven-year engagement with Maccabi Netanya. In 1999 he turned to coaching as assistant at the same club before joining Maccabi Haifa in 2003 as Roni Levi's number two, where he stayed for five years. In 2008 he set off on his own with second division side Hapoel Kfar Saba and finished third in his first season. That earned him a ticket to take over at nearby Maccabi Herzliya the following season, where he finished in the mid-table playoff. After a year at Bnei Sakhnin, Drapic was taken along in 2012 as assistant by the legendary Israeli manager Avram Grant to Partizan Belgrade, who won the league championship that year. In the summer of 2013 Drapic returned to Israel to take over the reins at Beitar Tel Aviv.
Standout players
Beitar's squad include a number of familiar names, of which the most familiar is Zambian international midfielder William Njovu, who won the Israeli Premier League championship with Ironi Kiryat Shmona in 2013. Midfielder Sharon Ziso and striker Matan Lutati both came up through the Maccabi Tel Aviv academy and Lutati made ten appearances for the senior team alongside Sheran Yeini and Yuval Shpungin. With four goals each this season, former Ashdod defender Uri Magbo and former Hapoel Kfar Saba striker Avi Avinu represent Beitar's greatest goalscoring threat.
