We hope that you haven’t made plans for Thursday March 21st, because the Purim Tradition continues this year at Kiryat Shalom where parents and children can visit the training facility and play on the activities set up on the synthetic pitch. You’ll also be able to meet the Maccabi stars face to face, get autographs and take pictures with all of your heroes.

The event will begin at 10:45 and fans must be at the facility by 10:30. Registration opens today, and is limited to 800 people. Please note, you will not be able to attend if you do not register in advance.

How does it work?
Registration is open today Thursday March 14th to all Maccabi FIRST members for the Community Day on Thursday March 21st at 10:30 until 13:00 at the Kiryat Shalom Training Facility, 106 Derech Ben Tzvi and is limited to 800 participants ONLY.

Each person may register up to 3 participants which includes the person submitting the registration. Just like when you make a reservation at a restaurant, you request a table for yourself plus 2 friends for a total of 3 ONLY.

IMPORTANT:
• Following the registration, you’ll receive an email requesting information about the participants.
• If you registered for the last Community Day and weren’t able to come but didn’t give us notice, you will not be allowed to attend this coming Community Day. If you register for this upcoming Community Day and can’t come, please let us know in advance.
• If weather conditions don’t permit the Community Day to take place, you will be notified a few hours prior to the event and you’ll be able to participate in the Community Day the following month.
• All participants must arrive at the Kiryat Shalom Training Facility by 10:30. Should you be delayed, you may not be able to participate in the event.
• In order to ensure that all fans meet all of the players, special greeting videos may not be recorded at the Training Facility.

Entrance to the Training Facility will be granted only after a full security check. Each participant will need to present their Teudat Tzehut ID Card, License or Passport in order to take part in the event. Entrance will not be granted to those whose names do not appear on the official registration list!

Participants are not allowed to bring with professional photographers or videographers.

For the rules and regulations, please click on the following link.

Maccabi Tel Aviv faced Hapoel Hadera on Saturday and you voted for Avi Rikan as the Factory 54 Man of the Match after scoring a brace in the Yellow & Blue’s win. One person who voted for Atar will win a BOSS Shirt from Factory 54.

All you have to do is wait until the opening whistle and click on this page to vote for the player who will be the best of the best over the course of the match.

Rikan spoke about the win following the contest:
“It’s always great to score and the fans were terrific. I’m happy that I helped the team win and all of the players worked hard for the victory.”

Individual and team goals:
“I’m happy we won and now we are going to continue moving forward. Obviously our objectives as a team are most important, but every player sets goals for themselves. I equalled my goal output from last season and it’s always great to hit a milestone. I want to score even more but the team objectives are most important.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 2018/19 Season Final Round is here and we’re here to make some sense of the schedule ahead as the Yellow & Blue continue to make history.

Watch the Promo Clip ahead of the Playoffs:

To purchase a Playoff Ticket Package Click Here

Saturday March 16, 16:00, Netanya Matchday 27: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Hapoel Hadera

Saturday March 30, 21:00, Netanya Matchday 28: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Maccabi Haifa

Wednesday April 3, 20:45, Teddy Stadium Jerusalem State Cup Semifinal: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Bnei Yehuda

April 6, Matchday 29, Netanya Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv at Maccabi Netanya

April 13, Matchday 30, Netanya Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Hapoel Beer Sheva

April 21, Matchday 31, Moshava Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv at Bnei Yehuda

April 27, Matchday 32, Netanya Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv at Hapoel Hadera

May 4, Matchday 33, Netanya Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Bnei Yehuda

May 11, Matchday 34, Netanya Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Maccabi Netanya

May 18, Matchday 35, Sammy Ofer Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv at Maccabi Haifa

May 25, Matchday 36, Turner Date & Time TBD: Maccabi Tel Aviv at Hapoel Beer Sheva

Maccabi defeated Bnei Yehuda 2:1 and finished the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika regular season undefeated. This is the first time in 16 seasons since the institution of the playoff system that a team hasn’t lost a match in the regular season.

There has never been a time where the first place club has begun the Playoffs or third round with a 22 point lead – An all-time record. The previous record was held by Maccabi Haifa when they entered the third round of the 2004/05 season with an 18 point lead.

After 26 matches the Yellow & Blue under Vladimir Ivic have 20 wins and 66 points which equals the point total of Paulo Sousa during the 2013/14 campaign.

However, the record and goal differential was a bit different. You can see that in the table below:

Rajkovic and the defense set more records
Maccabi may have conceded a goal against Bnei Yehuda, but over the 26 regular season contests they have never given up more than one goal.

In fact, the club set a record for the least amount of goals given up as of Matchday 26 with only 12. The previous record was 14 goals after 26 matches in 1973/74 when Lufa Kadosh z”l was the first choice keeper.

The goal differential in home matches stands at 33:4 with 11 wins and 2 draws in 13 contests.

In addition, all of those goals allowed came off a set piece (Sagas Tambi of Bnei Yehuda after a missed penalty, Gabriel Tamas from Hapoel Haifa after a corner kick, Nico Olsak of Maccabi Netanya direct free kick and an own goal by Sheran Yeini in a 4:1 win over Hapoel Raanana).

Predrag Rajkovic stopped his second penalty of the season versus Bnei Yehuda, the first came against Beitar Jerusalem in the State Cup.

Atar sits atop the league’s goal scoring leader list
Eliran Atar who scored his 12th league goal against Bnei Yehuda puts him all alone atop the league’s goal scoring leader list, one ahead of Fatos Beciraj of Maccabi Netanya.

#16 also knows how to help out his teammates and recorded his third assist of the season when he found Avi Rikan in the box who scored the match winner.

Rikan’s goal scoring prowess
Avi Rikan was given a place in the Starting XI by Head Coach Vladimir Ivic and he paid him back by scoring his 5th goal of the season which was the eventual winner. He scored with his right foot which is his weaker foot.

Rikan is just one goal away from matching his output from last season (6 goals) which was his best at Maccabi.

Interestingly enough the 5 goals have come in 659 minutes which converts to one goal in every 131 minutes on the pitch.

Last season when he scored 6 goals, he did so in 1961 minutes throughout the campaign.

Yonatan Cohen, the Maccabi Tel Aviv striker looked back at his side’s 2:1 comeback win over Bnei Yehuda and the club’s goals ahead:

“We didn’t have a great first half, we weren’t as focused and gave up a goal. The coach spoke to us at halftime and we also talked amongst ourselves that we weren’t going to lose the whole season as that is one of our goals. We want to win every match and we came into the second half focused and ready to go thanks to the fans as well who gave us even more drive. I’m happy we won.”

Going unbeaten this season:
“This is a historical season for Maccabi and we all want to be a part of it. We don’t want to lose at all this season, we want to win every match and now we have to turn our attention to Hadera on Saturday.”

Not looking to far ahead:
“We aren’t looking ahead to the State Cup or even a month or two months down the line. We are focusing on our next match in league play against Hadera.”

Avi Rikan, the Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder looked back at his side’s 2:1 comeback win over Bnei Yehuda in which he scored the decisive goal:

“The first half wasn’t good enough and we allowed Bnei Yehuda the chance to take advantage of their style of play. The second half was better and we played with much more energy thanks to the fans cheering us on. I am happy that we scored two goals and this was an important win for us.”

Maccabi going unbeaten:
“We come into every match in the most serious manner and we prepare match by match. This was the key for us and that’s why we are at a point where we are undefeated. We also want to continue to win on Saturday and the goals that we have in front of us will keep us focussed.”

Are you thinking about the fact that with two victories Maccabi will win the title?
“We aren’t looking ahead to Maccabi Haifa and we will begin preparing for the match against Hapoel Hadera first. I hope that we will win and then we can start thinking about the next match. We are aware of the situation and even though we have a big lead every single minute is important to us and you saw how badly we wanted to win today. We aren’t going look too far ahead but we will come into the Hadera match with a lot of energy with the goal of winning the contest.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his squad’s 2:0 win over Hapoel Hadera to begin the playoffs:

“This was an important win. We didn’t play our best football but we took the 3 points. We deserved the victory and were the better team. We still have to improve. Over the last few matches we haven’t showed what we have wanted to.”

About the championship:
“We have some time to rest before the next match. We have to change our mentality in order to give 100% to win and we have to play better. We haven’t played the football we have wanted to in the first half and we have to understand why that is.”

Working hard:
“It’s important to win every match. There are any times that I am happy with the way we have played and there have been many matches like that. We are expecting some difficult matches in the playoffs and we have to change our mentality and work hard to show that on the pitch.”