Category: News
Maccabi foundation & Ben Ari visit Assaf Harofeh medical centre
The Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club foundation took the opportunity to make kids happy during the Purim festive period and visited kids at the Children A&E of Assaf Harofeh medical center. The foundation were joined by singer and Maccabi fan, Hanan Ben Ari, who brought his guitar and made the visit particularly happy.
Maccabi’s club mascot, Maccabinio, who joined Ben Ari for the visit, gave out gifts on behalf of the Maccabi foundation, to the kids who are hospitalized in the various wards at Assaf Harofeh. Ben Ari dedicated some of his songs to those present in what was a highly emotional event.
“This year is extremely special”, Ben Ari revealed, “We would normally arrive here with the players, try to make the kids a little happy like we tend to do. But this year due to the restrictions of the pandemic, the players are unable to make it. I am here though, together with the foundation and doing the right thing to do at this time”.
Legends Club: Rafi Levi
On February 22, 1938, exactly 79 years ago, Rafi Levi was born. In honor of his birthday, the Legends Club dedicates this week’s column to one of the all-time great Maccabi Tel Aviv strikers.
צילום: אתר ההתאחדות ()
Levi was considered the other half of Sheva Glazer as part of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s potent attack of the 1950’s. Levi made his debut for the senior side at just 17-years old on the first Matchday of the 1954/55 season against Maccabi Netanya. Maccabi won the contest 6:1 as Levi scored the second goal just prior to half time. The youngster would score three more goals during the campaign as he began to show everyone that he was going to be the Yellow & Blue’s striker of the future.
The following season Levi found the back of the goal six times while scoring a brace in a 3:0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Derby. In the 1957/58 campaign, Levi’s numbers just kept getting better as he took home the league’s scoring title with 14 markers. In a State Cup semifinal contest against Shimshon Tel Aviv, Levi scored five times and also put home one strike in the final versus Hapoel Haifa as Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrated winning the Double which included the coveted Cup and league title.
צילום: אתר ההתאחדות ()
Levi added another goal scoring title in 1959/60 when he scored 19 goals in 20 league matches. In total, the striker won two league championships and three Israel State Cups while playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1954-1961 before heading to Australia and South Africa where he played for five years. In 1966, he returned to the Yellow & Blue for one campaign and then went back to South Africa yet again where he was active until his retirement in 1972. Levi scored a total of 86 goals for Maccabi which puts him in 10th place on the club’s goal scoring list.
With the Israel National Team, Levi scored 11 goals in 17 appearances. One of his great moments was when he scored a brace in Belgrade against Yugoslavia in a 2:1 win during the 1960 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The win was considered one of the sensational performances that was talked about all over Europe and led to the launch of a book series entitled, “Young Athletes”. Levi was the inspiration for the first book in the series called, “Shoot, Alon Shoot” as the book’s personality, “Alon Levi” was based on Rafi.
Titles & Awards
Championships: 1957/58, 1955/56
State Cups: 1954/55, 1958/59, 1957/58
Appearances: 132
Goals: 86
Gerlades: “We know how Shkhtar are trying to play”
Getting used to the Kiev snow
Watch: The goals scored by Maccabi eSports
Maccabi to face Hapoel Haifa in State Cup
Having knocked out State Cup holders Hapoel Be’ersheva with a 1-0 victory at Turner stadium, the draw for the round of 16 took place this afternoon (Tuesday).
The draw which took place at the Israel Football Association will see Maccabi travel to Haifa and face Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer.
Matches are set to take place on March 16th and 17th as the final schedule will be published by the IFA at a later stage.
Round of 16 draw:
Hapoel Haifa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Sammy Ofer)
Beitar Jerusalem vs Ashdod
Maccabi Netanya vs Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Haifa vs Maccabi Petah Tikva
Hapoel Kfar Sava vs Hapoel Afula
Hapoel Kfar Shalem vs Hapoel Jerusalem
Beitar Tel Aviv Bat-Yam vs Hapoel Ramat Gan
Bnei Sachnin vs Beitar Nordia
Maccabi left for Ukraine. Rikan: “We have a lot to give”
Following the 2-0 defeat in the first leg at Bloomfield stadium last week, Maccabi travelled to the Ukraine today (Tuesday) ahead of the Europa League Round of 32 return leg against Shakhtar Donetsk.
This morning the team held a morning session at the PenguinPickUp training complex at Kiryat Shalom, where they were introduced to the Europa League winter ball who is suitable for matches on a snowy surface.
Straight from training the team continued to Ben Gurion airport before jetting off to Kiev where they are set to play at the Olympiysky stadium (Thursday, 19:55).
Avi Rikan spoke ahead of the match and the task both he and his players face: “In the first leg we saw that our opponents are a team of the highest quality with extremely skillfull players. We managed to prove, at times, that we could cope, but sadly t hmm e result is not in our favour yet we are still travelling with a lot of faith. We have plenty to give at this level and we want to show that we reached this stage on merit”.
We are back: The Youth Academy resumed training
The Youth Academy resumed their activity yesterday (Sunday) after an almost two months break. Until training was resumed, the players worked from home on a regular basis according to a detailed schedule they received from the coaching staff, with the aim of preparing the players in an ultimate way for the return to training and league action.
The training sessions which took place yesterday were structured taking into consideration of the long break the players experienced an accordance of the training regime they had at home. As of now, the league matches are set to resume during March.
The amazing record against Be’ersheva and Pertz’s goals
Maccabi last night kicked-off their 84th State Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Hapoel Be’ersheva. Maccabi advanced for the 76th time from the eighth round of the State Cup – a success rate of 90.5% which is the highest rate in Israel.
Dor Peretz’s goals
The 25-year-old midfielder who scored the winning goal last night, extended his goal tally in all competitions this season with his 18th career goal at Maccabi.
Peretz was also the player who inflicted Be’ersheva their first ever defeat at Turner stadium (1-0 in the 2017/18) as last night he scored his first ever State Cup goal.
Eight from nine against Be’ersheva in the Cup
And the record against Be’ersheva in the Cup? This was the eighth time in nine encounters Maccabi eliminated Be’ersheva from the State Cup.
Maccabi has a better record only against Hapoel Haifa (Maccabi won 10 from 11) out of a minimum 7 State Cup ties.
Last night’s victory was the first time Maccabi faced (and eliminated) the State Cup holders in the 8th round.
Five clean sheets against Be’ersheva
Maccabi extended their run to five matches without conceding a goal against Hapoel Be’ersheva (2 Super Cup matches, 2 League matches, 1 State Cup tie).
This is one of 9 times in the history of Israeli football and one match short of the all-time record – 6 successive clean sheets against Bnei Yehuda (4 League, 2 State Cup and 1 Toto Cup) during the 2017/18 season.
This record could be challenged as there could be two more possible encounters should Be’ersheva reach the Top Playoff.
