Sunday’s home match against Maccabi Netanya will be Maccabi’s 74th league opener since the State of Israel was established (in addition to 11 seasons before 1948). Maccabi is the only club to have played in all 73 seasons to date. Hapoel Tel Aviv is second with 70 seasons, while Maccabi Haifa are third with 67.
Maccabi’s played 2,282 league matches as the all-time record currently stands on 1,164 victories, 605 draws and 513 defeat with a total goal tally of 3,828 scored and 2,147 conceded.
Maccabi won 26 League titles (5 of which before the State was established).
The record points-gap from in league history was achieved by Maccabi in the 2018/19 campaign, ending the season 31 points clear of second place. Maccabi set a historic record winning the title with 8 matches left.
The biggest victory in Israeli league history was achieved on January 7th 1950 as Maccabi recorded an emphatic 13-0 victory over Maccabi Rishon Lezion. Yosef Merimovich (4), Eli Fuchs (4), Aharon Sidi (3), Zvika Studinski, and Shmuel Israeli scored the goals.
The most goals scored in a single season belongs to Eran Zahavi who scored 35 in 2015/16. In total, Maccabi provided the league’s top goal scorer 16 times – more than any other club.
Maccabi’s goalkeeper Daniel Tenenbaum holds the record for the longest all-time clean sheet streak as in the 2019/20 season he didn’t concede for 1,272 minutes in succession and kept a total of 29 of 36 clean sheets.
Over the years Maccabi fielded 583 different players in league matches. Menachem ‘Miko’ Belo leads the appearance chart with 498 league matches. He also holds the record for the most consecutive season openers: 17 straight from 1965 to 1981.
Maccabi’s all-time league top scorer (post-1948) is Avi Nimni with 174 goals.
Maccabi’s record in season openers since 1948: 40 victories, 15 draws and 18 defeats with a total goal tally of 142–82.
The highest victory in a season opener was a 9–1 win over Maccabi Rishon Lezion in 1951/52. Yosef Merimovich scored 6, the highest number of goals scored in an opening match.
The fastest goal in a season opener was scored by Barak Itzhaki after 48 seconds against Hapoel Acco in the 2013/14 season. That was also the first goal of the entire league that season. Maccabi also scored the league’s opening goal in 5 other seasons: 1957, 1960, 1964, 1970, and 2009.
Avi Nimni scored Maccabi’s first goal of the season on 5 different campaigns.
Sunday’s match against Netanya at Bloomfield will be the 44th time Maccabi begins the season at home (in comparison to 30 matches away from home). It will also be the 26th time Maccabi begins a season at Bloomfield. In addition: 6 opening matches were played at Ramat Gan National stadium, 5 at the old ‘Bassa’ Stadium, 3 at the Maccabiah Stadium, 2 at Netanya, 1 in Ashdod, and 1 at Teddy Stadium.
This will be the 6th time Maccabi starts the league season against Maccabi Netanya – the second-most often opponent for a season opener. Maccabi Petah Tikva was the most played against opponent in a season opener with 11 matches against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
This will also be the 3rd time in history that Maccabi’s opening-round match has been postponed, leading to a start on MD2.
In 1957/58, the season opener against Hapoel Petah Tikva was postponed due to weather conditions, and the season started with a 3–1 win over Maccabi Jaffa on MD2.
Last season, the season opener against Hapoel Jerusalem was also postponed due to European competition, as the season began with a 3–0 victory over Maccabi Petah Tikva on MD2.
