Eylon Almog signs new 3 years deal. The 19-year-old forward signed a new three-year-deal with at Maccabi Tel Aviv which will keep him at the club till the end of the 2020/21 season with an option to extend by a further season.

Almog told the clubs’ official website: “I am delighted to be signing a new contract at Maccabi Tel Aviv, a club I have been part of since the age of 12. There is no secret that my dream as a child was to join Maccabi Tel Aviv and sign a professional contract. This day has come but as far as I am concerned it is only the beginning of many days of hard work which begins now as I have to justify the faith shown in me”. 

Maccabi’s CEO, Ben Mansford, added: “Everyone at the club is delighted that Eylon has signed a new contract with Maccabi. Eylon has continued to develop this season and is one of a very talented U19 group that we have high hopes for. I look forward to watching Eylon’s progress and this signing continues to evidence the Club’s commitment to producing the next generation for Maccabi and Israel”.

Almog, who has been playing with the Youth team for the past three seasons and scored 38 goals in all competitions, 16 of which this season alone. Almog made two appearances for Maccabi’s senior side against Bnei Yehuda in the Toto Cup and Bnei Mamba in the State Cup. The talented youngster who is a regular with Israel’s U-19 national team for which he scored 8 goals in 20 appearances, as a total of 20 goals in 44 appearances for Israel’s young national teams.

Over the last few weeks we’ve looked back at some of the great moments in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s history. The current chapter of the “Season in a Decade” takes us back to the 2002/03 season which is fresh in everyone’s memory and will certainly put a big smile on any Maccabi fan’s face due to the drama that took place that campaign.

Maccabi came into the season after a dry spell which last saw the club win the championship in 1995/96. Those seasons were quite bitter memories and expectations were very down as Maccabi Haifa was looked at as being the favorite, winning the title the past two campaigns. The Greens played in the Champions League and had a number of quality foreigners in Giovanni Rosso, Nenad Pralija and Yakubu Aiyegbeni. Hapoel Tel Aviv also had a squad that could challenge for the championship as both Haifa and Maccabi’s crosstown rivals were the Yellow & Blue’s biggest threats to take the title.

We’ll get to the drama of the 2002/03 season soon, but one of the most memorable moments of the campaign came in Matchday 14. Nir Klinger’s Yellow & Blue didn’t get the season off to a fast start and another disappointing year looked to be in the works. Maccabi had to visit Haifa at Kiryat Eliezer as play by play announcer Yarom Arbel said at the start of the broadcast: “Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans are here hoping for a miracle so the club can continue to battle for the title.” Klinger decided to change up his lineup and benched the King of Maccabi during those seasons, Avi Nimni to the shock of the national media. After 90 minutes of hard nosed football, Maccabi escaped the Carmel with a huge 3:2 win and a chance to continue their positive momentum for the rest of the season.

Watch the Highlights of the 3:2 win over Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi certainly kept up their positive play and defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Derby, beat Maccabi Haifa this time at Ramat Gan Stadium and then went into the decisive stages of the season as they fought for the championship. One of the most important players that was unavailable due to injury was Baruch Dego. Who took his place as the team’s playmaker? None other than Avi Nimni. Number 8 returned to the Starting XI for the last two matches and was put to the test as the Yellow & Blue could taste the championship.

With Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv breathing heavily down Maccabi’s neck, the Yellow & Blue headed to play Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium. But just 30 minutes into the contest, the host’s took a 2:0 lead on goals by David Amsalem and Andrej Kubica. Despite the deficit, Maccabi found the inner strength and fought back thanks to an own goal by Indio Perrera and a Nimni brace to hand Maccabi a shocking 3:2 win to keep the Yellow & Blue at the top of the table. Nimni then scored a hat trick in the next match against Bnei Yehuda that was extremely helpful for the team’s goal differential as the championship went into a super-dramatic final Matchday.

Watch the action from Teddy Stadium

Maccabi was in first place level on points with Maccabi Haifa but with a better goal differential by two goals while Hapoel Tel Aviv was just 2 points behind. The Yellow & Blue hosted Hapoel Petah Tikva at a rocking Ramat Gan Stadium while Haifa travelled to the Yud Alef Stadium for a date with Ashdod. Both team’s goals were clear: To not only win, but win by as many goals as possible. The two matches began at the exact same time but it didn’t take long for Maccabi and its fans to feel despair. While it was 0:0 at the National Stadium, the Greens took a 5:0 lead against Ashdod! If things would stay as is, Haifa would win the championship.

However, over the final 45 minutes of play, the 40,000 fans who packed into Ramat Gan began rejoicing just a bit after Shlomi Edri of Petah Tikva missed a wide open goal that could’ve been disastrous for Maccabi as Andreas Prohonenkovs scored in the 63’ to give the host’s a 1:0 lead. Seconds later, the stadium rocked again when Shay Holzman scored for Ashdod to cut Haifa’s lead to 5:1 as Maccabi entered a zone. Reuven Oved and Nimni scored later on in the second half and gave the Yellow & Blue a 3:0 win and after 7 years, the league title. For many, this was one of the sweetest championships of them all.

Watch the drama from the final Matchday

Some of the photos from Ramat Gan Stadium

Maccabi Tel Aviv ended the first round of the Championship Playoffs on a high note with a 2:0 win over Bnei Yehuda on Matchday 31 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al. In honor of Israel’s 70th Independence Day, the team played in a special Blue & White Kit to help celebrate the Nation’s Anniversary.

Also on the Website – Atzily’s Back: The numbers behind the victory

Omer Atzily who just came back from injury helped Maccabi Tel Aviv to the 1:0 lead in the second half thanks to a superb 17 meter free kick goal while Dor Micha scored his first of the season to help the Yellow & Blue to the 2:0 win.

Jordi Cruyff also summed up the win at the post-match press conference:

Christian Battocchio underwent an MRI scan this evening which confirmed the diagnosis of an ACL tear. The 26-year-old Argentine midfielder will decide in the next few days where to undergo the operation.

Maccabi Tel Aviv got back onto the winning track last night (Saturday) when they defeated Bnei Yehuda 2:0 on Matchday 31 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al. Omer Atzily and Dor Micha scored to help the Yellow & Blue to the 3-points.

The streak against Bnei Yehuda
Last night’s match was the 7th in a row that Maccabi was able to record a clean sheet. The goal differential over those matches is 11:0.

Atzily is back
Maccabi had 17 attempts on goal in comparison to 8 for Bnei Yehuda. Omer Atzily had the same amount of attempts himself and led Maccabi in that category. Avi Rikan was second with 3 attempts.

The last two matches were Atzily’s first games back since returning from injury and he scored in both of them (penalty against Beitar and a free kick against Bnei Yehuda).

To date, Atzily has 7 league goals.

Running stats
Maccabi players ran plenty over the course of 90 minutes compared to Yossi Abuksis’s side. The Yellow & Blue players ran 107.9km while Bnei Yehuda ran 100km even.

Avi Rikan ran the most with 11.7km while Ofir Davidzada was second with 11.3km.

In terms of who was fastest, Jean-Sylvain Babin topped all Maccabi players with 32.7km/h. Davidzada was a shade behind with his best speed at 32.6km/h.

Atzily was certainly hungry and led the Yellow & Blue with 70 sprints over 90 minutes. Who was second? You guessed it, Ofir Davidzada with 59 sprints in his return to the Starting XI.

We hope that you haven’t made plans for the afternoon of Wednesday May 2nd (postponed from 25/4 due to the weather) because you’ll 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 15:40 and fans must be at the facility by 15:30. Registration opens today, Sunday and is limited to 300 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 Sunday April 22nd at 11:00 to all Maccabi FIRST members for the Community Day on Wednesday May 2nd at 15:40 at the Kiryat Shalom Training Facility, 106 Derech Ben Tzvi and is limited to 300 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 15:30. 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.
• Following your registration, a Maccabi representative will be in touch with you to get all of the participants necessary details.
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.

Tal Ben Haim, the Maccabi Tel Aviv veteran central defender looked back at his side’s 2:0 win over Bnei Yehuda and spoke about the players’ desire to battle and play well:

“We are obligated to battle in every match that we play, bring motivation and the minute we do that then the results will come.”

Playing hard:
“Every player that goes onto the pitch, no matter who the coach or what his situation is plays for himself, his name and his family and at a club like Maccabi Tel Aviv you have to give 100%. I don’t think that there are players that have any other goals when they play.”

Battling:
“All of the players want to succeed, play well and battle. I understand that it may not have looked that way the last few matches. I also understand the fans, as we get up every day and go to sleep disappointed and upset at ourselves and that we have disappointed many of the supporters. Today, we looked better as to the way we battled and showed our desire and when we go onto the pitch and play the way we did, the results will come.”