Having confirmed the dates of the league fixtures until the end of the first round, the Israel Professional Football League announced today (Sunday) the confirmed dates and kick-off times of MD14 – MD16.

In addition, Maccabi’s State Cup round tie against Hapoel Marmorek at Bloomfield stadium has been scheduled for Sunday December 19^th at 20:00.

Maccabi’s fixtures:

MD14: Wednesday, December 22^nd Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Bnei Sachnin (Bloomfield, 20:00).

MD15: Monday, December 27^th Maccabi Petah Tikva vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Petah Tikva, 20:30).

MD16: Monday, January 3^rd Maccabi Haifa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Sammy Ofer, 20:30).

 

 

If you weren’t a Footballer, what would you be?

“To be honest I never wanted to be anything but a footballer. My thought was always to work hard and see what will happen and develop from that. I didn’t study anything in particular, there is a treason behind it. I was 19-years-old and was handed my first professional contract as a footballer and from this stage onwards I decided that football is everything”.

Where will we find you on your free time?

“I spend most of my free time out with my daughter and family. This is something I normally do. Sometimes I play a bit on the Play Station and things like that”.

What do you like watching on TV?

“Now that I am playing outside Holland I love watching the Dutch league as most of the time I watch matches from Holland. Besides that, nothing in particular, mostly series on Netflix”.

Who or what makes you laugh?

“My daughter, when she pulls funny faces or things like that she just cracks me up”.

What was the prettiest place you had even been at?

“In my opinion – Dubai. It is a very nice place. Yes, definitely Dubai”.

Who is the best player you played alongside?

“Jamiro Monteiro, he plays these days for Philadelphia Union of the MLS – I used to play with him at Heracles in Holland. He is an excellent player and it was amazing to watch him play”.

Who is the best player you played against?

“It must be Hakim Ziyech who played at Ajax and is now at Chelsea. He is a phenomenal player with the ball and a deadly left foot that is so dangerous”.

What was your best game so far?

“The best game of my career so far was with Heracles Almelo against Ajax – we won 2-1 and I scored and assisted in another. In my opinion this was my best game ever”.

On his personal feelings of arriving to a derby as a coach, Itzhaki said: “It is a good feeling. A derby is always an interesting and important match for Israeli football in general, but we are preparing like we do for every game”.

The 37-year-old Head of Football Department who will guide the team for the third time as interim coach, added: “Over the past couple of matches I also guided the side against coaches who were more experienced than me. But the derby has its’ own rules and will have to prepare in the best possible way so that we arrive prepared for the game”.

On the current unbeaten record against Hapoel: “Hapoel are a good side which is something they had shown from the start of the season as they enjoyed a good start to the campaign. Yes, they are above us in the table and we respect every opponent we play against including Hapoel Tel Aviv but positioning in the table is not something which should have any effect. I believe we will arrive focused, alert, determined and show our ability on the pitch”.

Itzhaki, guided Maccabi as interim coach to two victories in the last two matches, over Kiryat Shmona in the league (3-1) and HJK Heksinki in the Conference League, spoke of the team’s change of momentum: “The most important thing, as I have said in the past, was to restore the player’s confidence. There are very good players here, our position in the table doesn’t reflect the ability those players have. We didn’t have a good start, but now is the time to correct things. In our previous two matches I was satisfied with several things we did and there were other things I was less satisfied with. We don’t have too much time between matches but my staff and I are trying to prepare the players and correct the mistakes we did in our previous matches”.

On how he feels as interim coach, Itzhaki said: “It is a new role for me, but I am gradually adapting. This is something different, team meetings is something new for me, training sessions on the pitch is something new for me – but I the Pro-License course we are doing is very helpful, but we have a very important match as the focus should be more on the match rather than on me”.

When asked whether he is receiving advise from other people, Itzhaki added: “In general I am a person who loves to hear many opinions. I speak with people who are related to football both in Israel and abroad. I maintained contact with coaches who worked here in the past and their staff. Eighty percent of the day I talk about football”.

On the preparations for the match, Glazer said: “We have a tight fixture list, with two or three matches a week over several weeks. We didn’t have too long to prepare for this match but derbies are not matches that require too much preparations. This is a match with plenty of emotions and we know how important it is for the club as we are hoping to continue our positive run of matches”.

On the current statistics in derbies, Glazer added: “Hapoel are a very good side this season and derbies are always difficult matches. Even we were ahead of them in the table it didn’t really mean anything. It might be a cliche but derbies really have their own rules. Yet you begin the match at a 0-0 draw and every team will do its’ best in order to win. I just hope we will have the upper hand in the end”

Sunday’s derby will the 160^th Tel Aviv derby played in the league of which Maccabi won 56, Hapoel won 46 and 57 matches were drawn. The goal tally in the Tel Aviv derbies is 191-151 in Maccabi’s favour.

Maccabi has a 10 victory gap over Hapoel (56-46) which equals the highest all-time record set between January 1994 and November 1995.

Maccabi has an unbeaten run in derbies which stretches for 14 matches.

The highest victory in derbies (5-0) was set twice in the 1969/70 and 2016/17 seasons.

368 players wore Maccabi’s Yellow and Blue colours over the years.

Miko Bello, who is Maccabi’s all-time appearance record holder with 599 matches for Maccabi is also the appearance record holder in derbies with 33. Of the current squad, Sheran Yeini played in 26 derbies and is 5^th in the all-time list of players who wore the Yellow and Blue strip in derbies.

Shiye Glazer is the leading goal-scorer in derbies with 11 goals, Avi Nimni is ranked second with 8 goals, while Eli Driks and Eran Zahavi scored 7 goals for Maccabi.

The fastest ever goal in a Tel Aviv derby was scored after 50 seconds by Yitzhak Nachmias in the 1956/57 season.

Erez Mesika scored from the longest distance in derbies finding the back of the net from 45 meters in the 2007/08 season.

Of the 9 goals Maccabi scored in a Tel Aviv derby inside injury time (90+), Eylon Almog scored the latest one in the 95^th minute of the 2019/20 season.

2,371,000 fans attended Tel Aviv derbies during 154 matches played in the league averaging 15,400 spectators per game. This figure doesn’t include four Tel Aviv derbies that were played behind closed doors, and the 2014/15 derby which was abandoned.

Such attendance figures turn the Tel Aviv derby to the highly attended league encounter.

The first official Tel Aviv derby was played 90 years ago next month as Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv ended the match on December 19^th 1931 in a 1-1 draw.