The January transfer window is officially underway as Maccabi Tel Aviv came to terms with Portuguese striker Orlando Sa last evening. Since Sa became the first acquisition of 2016, the time is right to take a look back at Maccabi’s first ever player acquisition that took place many, many years ago.
Itzhak Shneor Z”l was born in Poland during the year 1925 and moved to Israel when he 
was seven years old. He began his footballing career with Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle who at the time was the top club in the country. Shneor also won the State Cup with the team before the British Army disbanded the competition. The reason that it was disbanded was because many of the players were part of the Etzel organization, including Shneor himself who took part in covert operations.
In 1949, Shneor moved to Maccabi Tel Aviv and became the first ever transfer acquisition by the club. During those times, the players weren’t full time professional footballers and had to work other jobs in order to make a living. As part of the transfer, the club also helped Shneor get a job as a driver with the “Dan” Bus Company. The former Maccabi pla
yers from that era still remember him as a driver on the #4 route and the fans used to come out and give him all of their love and support.
Shneor played with the Yellow-and-Blue for seven seasons and won four League Titles along with two State Cups. Not only was he an all-time footballing great, Shneor also won a Championship as the coach of the club before becoming part of iconic coaching duo of Shneor & Grundman who led the Israel National Team between 1988-1992.
Itzhak Shneor passed away at the age of 86 in 2011 and will always be remembered as one of the best ever to don the Maccabi Tel Aviv kit.
