The upcoming TASE Premier League season opening fixture against Ness Ziona will mark the 68^th time Maccabi Tel Aviv have challenged for the title. During all those years, the club has notched 1,026 wins, 550 draws and 490 defeats. The team has scored 3,407 goals and has conceded 1,982 times.

In the opening round of fixtures there have been 36 wins, 15 draws and 16 defeats.

Maccabi will face Ness Ziona in a season opener for the first time. The opponents that Maccabi have faced most times are Maccabi Petah Tikva, on nine occasions.

Maccabi Tel Aviv have faced Ness Ziona in league play six times previously: Twice in the 1949/50 season and four times on the double season of 1966-68. Maccabi have won five of those encounters and one ended in a draw.

Ness Ziona will be the ninth promoted club that Maccabi have faced in a season opener. Of the previous eight, they have won six matches and drawn two.

Avram Grant is the coach who has led Maccabi the most at the start of a new season, doing so eight times, from 1991-1992 until 1999-2000, except for the 1995-96 season.

Maccabi’s most distinctive victory in a season opener was a 9-1 drubbing of Maccabi Rishon Lezion in 1951-52, when Joe Merimovich netted six. The fastest goal ever scored in a season opener came after 48 seconds when Barak Yitzhaki struck against Hapoel Acre. It was also the first goal of the 2014-15 season. Maccabi have been the first club to score first in a season on five other occasions: 1957, 1960, 1964, 1970 and 2009.

Conversely, in 1989-90, Maccabi scored their first league goal after 185 minutes’ play, when Motti Iwanir netted after five minutes of the season’s third fixture. On two occasions, Maccabi have scored in injury time in a season opener. Sheran Yeini scored on both occasions, in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Maccabi will open the new season with an away fixture at the Moshava stadium but the club’s highest number of openers have come at Bloomfield, where they have started the season on 23 occasions. The last season opener at the Moshava was in 2014-15 when Maccabi beat Maccabi Petah Tikva 3-0 through goals by Maharan Radi, Eran Zahavi and Radu Prica.

TASE Premier League opponents Ness Ziona are back in the top flight after a record 51 years in the lower divisions, they sport a coach who is well known to Maccabi fans and have bolstered their ranks and made changes for the challenges that lie ahead.

Ness Ziona will turn out for their first TASE Premier League match at the Moshava Stadium on Saturday at 20:30. It will be the first time in 51 years that they have been back in the top flight, which is a record between appearances for any Israeli team.

The newcomers gained promotion after an up-and-down season in the Second Division but they registered good results in the playoff rounds which secured a second-place finish, edging Hapoel Upper Nazareth (now called Nof Hagalil) into third place.

Ness Ziona are coached by Amir Turgeman, a former Maccabi player, who was a member of the 2002-03 championship winning side and a coach in the youth department and an assistant coach with the national team and coach with Ashdod SC and Bnei Sakhnin.

Ness Ziona’s new players are Omri Glazer, Darius Vantones, Guy Badash, Ophir Mizrahi, Yonatan Levi, Saku Torre, Ramarik Ettu, Noam Cohen, Raz Nahmias, Savien Lilai, Eylon Yerushalmi and Elad Shahaf.

Tzlil Nehemia, Ido Eksebrad, Ophir Hamo, Ben Shimoni, Naor Sabag, Ahmed Shaaban, Amit Shemesh, Guy Aviv, Kaba Anji, Adar Awat and Daniel Haba have departed.

In pre-league season play in the Toto Cup, Ness Ziona have played five matches and finished tenth after losing on penalties to Hapoel Hadera following a goalless draw in 90 minutes.

Prior to the Toto Cup, Ness Ziona played four warm-up games and registered a 2-1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, a 1-1 draw with Ashdod, a goalless draw with Raanana, and fell to a 2-1 defeat against Beitar Jerusalem.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Eitan Tibi spoke at the news conference ahead of the new season that starts on Saturday night and said he was excited to be back and hoping to show his skills as the club bid to retain their league title.

“I’m very happy to still be at Maccabi Tel Aviv. We expect a difficult game against Ness Ziona, they are a completely different side compared to last year and have replaced many players but we trust our ability as we open a new season and expect as much success as we had in the last campaign,” Tibi said.

He added that the European bid was now in the past and that domestic challenges are now all important.

“I am greatly disappointed that I could not help the team advance in the Europa League but that is now water under the bridge for us and we have put it in the past. The league is now our focus and it starts with the first game.

“We must just be ourselves and with our hunger for success and will to win will be seen from the first game.”

Tibi said he was raring to go.

“I have worked hard in the off season and I needed to catch up with personal trainers. I have prepared well and I have aimed to be fit and ready to play.”

Maccabi is a special place and he said he was happy to continue his career at the club.

“I never dreamed that I would play for so long at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel’s biggest club, and to be part of it is amazing for me. I have set myself targets and I have managed to attain them and I continue to do so.”

While on the sidelines for much of last season, Tibi said he had maintained his fitness and training and was ready to go again.

“The last year is one I will remember for one main reason and even though I didn’t play, I had to set an example and show the youngsters that I was giving my all, and this season I hope to be able to prove that I am worthy of my place in the starting lineup.”

Matan Baltaxa will join Bnei Yehuda on loan until the end of the season after an agreement was reached between the two clubs. 

The 23-year-old left back, rejoins Bnei Yehuda on loan until the end of the season having spent the previous campaign at the Hatikva Quarter club.

As part of the arrangements put in place, Maccabi agreed with Baltaxa an option to be able to extend his contract with Maccabi for the 2021/22 season.     

Maccabi CEO, Ben Mansford, told the club’s official website: “Matan has made great progress since joining Maccabi in the summer of 2017 which resulted in him been part of the squad so far this summer and featuring in the Super Cup. We all believe it will better for Matan to continue his development by playing and therefore, we are pleased to announce that he will re-join Bnei Yehuda for this season. As part of the discussions with Matan about the loan, we have included an Option to extend his contract with us for the 21/22 season. We look forward to welcoming Matan back to Kiryat Shalom in the summer and wish him all the best for the loan period.”