Maccabi Tel Aviv opens the season on Saturday night with the first match of the 2019/20 campaign when they face Bnei Yehuda in the Champions Cup. The first title of the season pits the League Champs against the State Cup holders at the Moshava Stadium.

The Yellow & Blue enter the contest after having two training camps in Holland which included 5 preseason friendlies over the past month. The match versus Bnei Yehuda will be Vladimir Ivic’s first official match of the season just a few days ahead of the club’s second round Champions League qualifying contest at Cluj.

The Official Maccabi Tel Aviv trawler will be right next to the League’s Fan Area at the stadium and you’ll be able to purchase the brand new collection of Yellow & Blue items including the FILA Kit. In addition, all those arriving at the stadium before 20:15 will eb able to take picture with the Championship Plate.

Yossi Abuksis’s side is still in the middle of their preseason and have played only two friendlies which resulted in a 1:0 win over Hapoel Acre and a 1:0 loss to the newly promoted Hapoel Kfar Saba.

In terms of their squad, there have been plenty of players who have left including Mavis Tchibota, Dolev Haziza, Yuval Ashkenazi, Shay Konstantin and Jakub Sylvestr. However, a number of players have joined the squad, Dor Kochav, Ariel Lazmi, Muhamed Ghadir, Amir Rostum.

Maccabi Head Coach had this to say about the upcoming match: “We’ve played them a number of times last season and it’s normal to lose a game. We went 3-2 against them last season and the Cup should be a good game.”

Club captain Sheran Yeini also looked ahead to the contest: “We have a lot of respect for Bnei Yehuda and they have played us tough this past season. We will play our best with the goal to win the game.”

The Israel League Champion Maccabi Tel Aviv will meet the State Cup title holder Bnei Yehuda in the 29th Champions Cup match of all time. Ahead of the meeting which will see the winner lift the trophy, here’s some great stats and facts that you’ve just got to know.

– The first Champions Cup was played in 1957.
– The competition has suffered from inconsistency throughout the years and between 1991-2014 it wasn’t played at all. The title returned to the calendar in 2015/16 when Maccabi played Kiryat Shemona.
– 24 of the contests up until this season have been the League Champion versus the State Cup holder while 4 other matches have been teams that have won the double against the second place finisher.

– 20 times the League Champion has won the title.
– For Maccabi this will be their 8th time playing in the match while Bnei Yehuda will be making their 5th appearance.
– 15 teams have played in the Champions Cup and 13 have won the title.
– Maccabi Tel Aviv have each won the cup 5 times a piece.
– This will be the first time the Moshava Stadium will be hosting the match. Since the competition returned in 2015/16 the four Champions Cup clashes have been played at the Netanya Stadium.

– This stadium which has hosted the most Champions Cups has been Bloomfield where 9 matches were played between 1963-1988.
– Over the years, Maccabi has played six teams in the competition. The Yellow & Blue faced Hapoel Tel Aviv twice, and they played Bnei Yehuda back in 1967/68 which ended in a 2:1 win.
– The biggest win by Maccabi in the Champions Cup was in 1988/89 – 3:0 Derby win against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Avi Cohen, Alon Natan has Benny Tabak all scored for the Yellow & Blue.
Eran Zahavi is the only Maccabi player to have scored a brace in the Champions Cup. (Against Kiryat Shemona 2015/16)
– Shalom Shikva and Moshe Asis scored two goals each in two Champions Cup matches and lead the club in the competition along with Zahavi.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and Hapoel Hadera reached an agreement for the sale of Eliel Peretz for an undisclosed fee. The midfielder who spent last season on a loan-spell at Hadera scoring 5 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions – will now make the move permanent after a deal was agreed between the two clubs.

Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO, Ben Mansford, told the club’s official website: “Eliel now feels it is time for him to make a permanent move away after a number of loan moves. While we would like to keep all of our Academy graduates connected to Maccabi, we have reluctantly agreed to transfer him to Hadera with Maccabi retaining a significant interest in his future. Eliel has been a pleasure to have around the Club and everyone at Maccabi wishes Eliel all the very best for the future”.

A product of Maccabi’s Youth department, Peretz made his senior debut at the age of 18 in the 2-0 State Cup victory over Hapoel Kfar Sava in March 2016. Peretz, who continued playing for Maccabi’s U19’s side, made his breakthrough season in 2016/17 when he completed 18 appearances for the senior side including 2 appearances in Europe against Panduri in the qualifiers and Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League Group stages. Peretz began the 2017/18 season at Maccabi and added 2 more appearances in Europe and 3 more in the Toto Cup before joining Bnei Yehuda on loan where he scored 1 goal in 25 appearances in all competitions.

Peretz leaves Maccabi having made 30 appearances in all competitions wearing the Yellow and Blue strip of which 11 in the league and 4 in Europe.

Sheran Yeini, the Maccabi Tel Aviv captain spoke ahead of the Champions Cup match against Bnei Yehuda on Saturday night at the Moshava Stadium and began discussing the friendlies that were played at training camp:

“I learnt that you can’t say much about matches we played at training camp as we worked hard training, fitness and other things. The coaching staff works with us on tactics and other new thoughts. I’m not so concerned about the results. I’m sure we will be fine.”

Concerning the timing of the Champions Cup:
“Maccabi is a team that is playing in the Champions League qualifiers and that is important for Israel. We would have liked more time to prepare for the game but Bnei Yehuda also opens in Europe in a few weeks and the match wasn’t moved.

Preference on having to play Cluj over Astana:
“I didn’t really care who we would face either Cluj or Astana as we have to prepare either way for whoever it was going to be.”

About the players who have left:
“Every team has changes. Some players leave and some arrive, that’s the nature of a football club. All of my teammates make their own decisions and that’s fine.”

The Champions Cup:
“We have a lot of respect for Bnei Yehuda and they have played us tough this past season. We will play our best with the goal to win the game.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach addressed the assembled media just ahead of the Champions Cup which is scheduled to be held at the Moshava Stadium on Saturday night:

“We open the season on Saturday against Bnei Yehuda. We’ve prepared over the past month and we have two more days until the Champions Cup. Our target to to win the trophy and to begin the season.”

The date of the Champions Cup:
“We asked a month ago to see if we can play this game a few days earlier as we are going to represent Israel in the Champions League qualification. Israel Football had the power to move the game because if we win the European games then Israel football takes the points which are accumulated in Europe. The IFA didn’t want to do this which is strange.”

Playing Bnei Yehuda:
“We don’t look at this game as revenge. We congratulate them for the State Cup victory but we’ve played them a number of times last season and it’s normal to lose a game. We went 3-2 against them last season and the Cup should be a good game.”

About the Starting XI for the Champions Cup:
“We will play with our best XI at this moment because we want to win the game.”

The new players Andreas Gianniotis and Nick Blackman:
“Gianniotis and Blackman are two good players. We brought a keeper who was the best in Greece the past two seasons, he hasn’t played the last half of the campaign but he’s a good keeper and he will show it. I wanted to keep Nick last season but he went to Spain. I am sure he will help us. He’s in good shape and will need some days to adapt but he will be in shape.”

The past season:
“The previous season is now in the past and you can’t live with this. This is now a new year and a new start. We are in a new competition, the Champions League, but we need to leave what was in the past, in the past. We will give our best every day.”

More on Blackman:
“I found the striker who I wanted, Nick is with us and he is who I wanted. Saborit is injured but it’s not serious. He hasn’t trained for two weeks and went to a top doctor in Spain. I hope he will be aback with us in a few days.”

About the players that left:
“I was the first man to try to keep them here. Who wants to stay here, will and fight their best. If they don’t want to be here they won’t be here. We have to live with this and fight our best. I’m sure 100% that we will create a strong team.”

The players who returned from loan:
“All of them worked with us from the first day and they have a chance to stay with us, they all worked hard and they fought for their position with the team. We will see in the next two weeks who will stay and who won’t.”

After wearing Yellow & Blue two years ago, Nick Blackman returns to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Earlier this week the Jewish attacker signed a two year deal with an option for a third and now’s the time to hear from him for the first time as he begins his second term with the club. In this short interview with Maccabi’s Official Website, Blackman spoke about returning to Kiryat Shalom, expectations for the season ahead and how he followed Maccabi when he wasn’t with the club. Watch:

Maccabi Tel Aviv now know who their first European opponent will be. Cluj, the Romanian League champion will face the Yellow & Blue in second round Champions League qualifying action after defeating Astana 3:1 (3:2 aggregate) on Wednesday in the return leg of their first round matchup.

The first leg against Cluj will be on Wednesday July 24th at 21:00 while the return leg will be played the following week on Tuesday July 30 at 20:00 at the Netanya Stadium. 

There are a number of familiar faces playing for Cluj including midfielder Ovidiu Hoban who played for Hapoel Beer Sheva (didn’t play in the 2nd leg against Astana). Dan Petrescu is the club’s coach and arrived at Cluj in the 2017/18 season after primarily managing in Asia (China and Qatar), and won the league title in his first year at the helm. Some may be familiar with Petrescu as he features in the Italian and English leagues in the 1990’s including playing with Chelsea for five seasons.

This past season, Cluj had a battle on their hands for the league championship with Steaua București which resulted in a photo finish taking the title by just two points. Last week the Romanians began their 2019/20 campaign and on Wednesday in the Champions League qualifier, French striker Billel Omrani score two of the the club’s 3 goals while Astana actually had a short lived 1:0 lead after finding the back of the goal in the 4’.

Maccabi Tel Aviv returns to Champions League qualification after a three year absence. The last time the Yellow & Blue took part they advanced to the group stages of the competition by getting past Hibernians from Malta, Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic and Basel from Switzerland.