Maccabi Tel Aviv will head north to Haifa to take on the Greens at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Sunday May 7th at 20:15 on Matchday 34 of the Ligat Ha’Al. Tickets are now on sale and will be part of the New Points System. Season Ticket Holders will receive 1 point and non-season ticket holders will earn .5 of a point.

Important! When you purchase a ticket via the website, telephone or the Leaan Ticket Office, in order to accrue points, season ticket holders must complete the transaction with their season ticket number and non-season ticket holders via their User ID. When making the purchase please confirm your email and mobile phone number. Should the purchase not be done with your season ticket number or User ID, Points will not be accrued on your account.

Should you purchase a ticket and not attend the match, refunds are not available and Points will not be accrued to your account.

Maccabi fans will be seated in Sections J-K (unreserved).

Tickets are available at the Leaan Ticket Office, 101 Dizengoff Street Tel Aviv, by telephone *8780 and the Leaan Website.

Ticket Prices
Leaan Ticket Office 101 Dizengoff Street
Adult – 99 ₪
Youth/Soldier/Woman – 49.50 ₪

Telephone/Website
Adult – 104 ₪
Youth/Soldier/Woman – 54.50 ₪

*Anyone presenting a discounted tickets to enter the stadium will need to show proof that they are entitled to the discount (youth, soldier etc…) Any fan that is not entitled will be ejected from the stadium and will not be able to purchase a ticket at full price.

Ticket Collection
Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office located at 101 Dizengoff Street between Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-13:30.

Tickets may be collected on Matchday at the Southern end Stadium ticket windows beginning 3 hours prior to the match until 45 minutes after the start of the match.

Maccabi Tel Aviv officially lost any chance to win the league title last night when they fell at home to Hapoel Beer Sheva 2:1. The Yellow & Blue will now try to set their sights on finishing off the league season as strong as possible and prepare for State Cup before getting ready for next season.

The Captain, Sheran Yeini summed up the match that was: “Beer Sheva deserved it and they had a great season. I believe that this will just make ourselves, Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and other clubs hungrier to succeed and win a title. The fact that they won two seasons in a row and it’s difficult for us to accept and it, will give me the drive to work even harder going forward.”

The gap to the top of the table:
“I think we are a club that has to be much closer to Hapoel Beer Sheva, I’m proud of my team and I want it to improve as fast a possible. They had a real hunger in the second half and the goal gave them a big push. I’m sure that if you ask Beer Sheva they will say that they physically worked hard and that they also had a tough battle. They have some great players and we respect one another and it’s fun to compete against them. It’s too bad that we are on the losing side this time.”

Did he believe that he could help Maccabi take the title when he returned from Holland:
“I thought we would win the title when I arrived. Once we lost to them at Turner, the odds diminished. I still believed that we could do it, but once we drew at Beitar, we started to understand what the situation was. Winners don’t look at statistics. The minute you have a chance, you just go for it.”

The fans disappointment:
“The fans are crying because they care. There are also players who are upset. The ones that care will show it more. Everyone cares, some take it harder than others. Everyone has a different way of coping with it. It hurts and it hurts not to take the championship and not to finish in first place. But this will make us fight even more next season and work on those things that need improvement.”

The importance of winning the State Cup:
“We aren’t thinking in any way negatively and we have a couple of matches to go that will help raise our confidence, stay in shape and have some players who haven’t gotten minutes the chance to play and fight for their place in the Starting XI. That’s what we are thinking about now. The thoughts of the loss aren’t even entering our heads. It’s important for us to win titles. Football is a game of ups and downs, there are always waves of success in football, hopefully we will get back onto that wave as soon as possible.”

Yossi Benayoun, the Maccabi midfielder summed up the match that was against Hapoel Beer Sheva while also looking ahead to the State Cup final in May. He spoke about his season to date, plans for next year and congratulated Beer Sheva on winning the league title:

“It may have ended officially today, but we lost the championship a long time ago. Congratulations to Hapoel Beer Sheva. We chased after them but they deserved it.”

Ending the season on a high note:

“It’s never great to see them celebrate here and we tried to make it 2:0, but they had some good chances. Now we have to make sure that we finish off the league well and get ready for the Cup.”

Title race being close:

“They won the title for two straight seasons and have turned into a top team but the title fight was close. Last season may have been closer, but Beer Sheva is a good teams and they should be congratulated.

Chance to win the Cup:

“You can’t say that to end the season with just one title is not good, because the Cup is an important title and Maccabi didn’t win it last season. We will do our best to win it. I came to Maccabi and we want to win titles but I am not just chasing titles. I came here to enjoy playing football.”

His season:

“I played well at the beginning of these season and scored in Europe. Then I didn’t play much with the other coach. But when Jordi came in as coach I played much more and gained my confidence. We may have not won the league but we have to now look ahead.”

Plans for next season:

“I want to continue playing football and enjoy doing so. If the club wants me, I’d be happy. Everything will be ok.”

Lito Vidigal, the Yellow & Blue boss summed up his side’s 2:1 loss on Matchday 33 of the Ligat Ha’Al Championship Playoffs:

“It was difficult game. We played well and we scored in the beginning. We had a chance to score the second goal in the second half but then they scored. We had a chance to score when Sagiv hit the post but this is football. We have to get ready for the next game and keep improving.”

Not winning the league title:

“Believe me, we didn’t lose the league now, we lost it at the beginning of the year. We played well at some times and we had chances to kill the game but didn’t. This is football. We have more games to play and to win. We are Maccabi and we are a big club. We will come back and keep going.”

Looking ahead:

“It is also my responsibility. We have to look at the whole picture. Last season we didn’t take any titles and this season we can still win the Cup. It’s very important to take one title and we have to fight and win all of the games. We have to look ahead as we have another target to work for this season”

Preparing for the next campaign:

“I see it positive. I am here to prepare for next season and take the league. It’s very important for us and we can’t stay two years without winning the title.”

Vidar Kjartansson scored a first half goal to give Maccabi Tel Aviv the lead but second half goals by Maor Melikson and John Ogu sealed the victory and their second straight league championship.

Prematch
Head Coach Lito Vidigal’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic along with Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim, Egor Filipenka and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman, Eyal Golasa and Yossi Benayoun patrolled the midfield while Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson played up front.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Avi Rikan, Aaron Schoenfeld, Eliel Peretz, Eitan Tibi, Sagiv Yehezkel and Ruben Micael.

First Half
Hapoel Beer Sheva had an early chance when Ben Sahar headed the ball to a waiting Rajikovic as both sides played tentative football over the first 10 minutes while Ben Haim and Ben Bitton each picked up yellow cards. Rajiko had to be up to the task in the 17th minute when he charged out to take away another Sahar chance while five minutes later Nwakaeme’s opportunity was grabbed by the Serbian shot stopper as Beer Sheva continued to press for a goal.

However, it would be Kjartansspn who would break the ice just a minute later when he took a fabulous back heel pass from Benayoun and scored from in close to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead.

Beer Sheva looked to equalize but came up short on two opportunities in the 27th and 33rd minutes. Nwakaeme had a 37th counter attack effort that went over the goal while Micha’s 39th minute shot was saved. Seconds later, Number 15 would then pick up a yellow card after a foul on John Ogu as the match headed into the break with Maccabi sporting a 1:0 advantage.

Second Half
Sahar had the second half’s first chance but Rajikovic again made the save in the 53rd minute and three minutes later Micha hit the post as his opportunity just came up short. However, Beer Sheva made the most of their chance just a minute later as Maor Melikson took a Michael Ohana pass and scored to draw his side even at 1:1. Melikson was issued a yellow card for removing his shirt.

Ben Chaim was replaced by Sagiv Yehezkel in the 63rd minute while Ruben Micael came on for Benayoun ten minutes later as Maccabi looked for a go ahead goal. But it was almost Ohana who gave the visitors the lead, however Rajiko made yet another amazing save in the 78the minute.

Yehezkel unleashed a 20 meter bullet in the 83rd minute but the ball just clanged off of the post while four minutes later Aaron Schoenfeld replaced Kjartansson. With both sides looking for a goal it would be Beer Sheva who would find it in the 89th minute as John Ogu scored on a rebound off of a Elyaniv Barda shot to give the visitors a 2:1 advantage as they wrapped up the win and their second league championship in a row.