Tal Ben Haim, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s stalwart central defender spoke about tonight’s contest versus Beitar Jerusalem in the nation’s capital. Number 26 discussed the table, the atmosphere and of course the match ahead:

“It’s not an easy match against a very good club and we are playing away. They also have a very good home crowd so it won’t be easy. But will do the best we can and if we play how we expect to play then we will return home with the points.”

Better atmosphere surrounding the club after defeating Ashdod:

“Of course when we win the atmosphere around the team is much better and we certainly did play well. But we also want to continue and get a good run going.”

Looking ahead:

“We aren’t really concentrating on Beer Sheva and we have to look at ourselves and play better. But once we begin to put together some wins the table will look a bit differently. We have to take it match by match and not look too much further down the road.”

Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue boss addressed the media during the prematch press conference prior to his side’s Ligat Ha’Al Matchday 16 encounter on Monday evening, 21:00 at Teddy Stadium. The Georgian coach talked about finding the winning formula, Eyal Golasa’s status and of course tomorrow’s match against Beitar:

“I don’t think it’s about being nervous or not. It’s good pressure and competition plus points, good opponent and nice atmosphere. We also know that Beitar will be extra motivated against us and they will have the supporters behind them. Beitar plays attacking football and move forward, they don’t defend just to take a point but as the match continues they see how they can get the best result from the game. All of these elements indicate that it will be a good game as we enter the new year.”

Preparing for Beitar:

“Every game has its own special identity and we have some notes that we will look at before the game. The main point is that we know that Beitar can always bring extra motivation against us. We also know they took the first points from us this campaign. There are some special things we will let the boys know about before the game.”

Playing after Beer Sheva this Matchday:

“We know that we have to do our own job.”

Eyal Golasa’s status due to his daughter’s illness and missing training sessions:

“I want to wish him my best with his daughter and we have been in touch every day. We are worried just as he is, but things are looking better. He is back today and will train today. However, he will not start tomorrow and Oscar Scarione won’t be available as well.”

January transfers:

“We will work on it and we have to see how things will develop as the Club is in the middle of negotiating with players.”

Finding the winning formula:

“The supporters did a fantastic job especially when we played against Dundalk. So it’s not just about the training and the coach it’s everything combined together.”

Maccabi captain and veteran midfielder Gal Alberman was also on hand and spoke about the important clash against Beitar and who may be the favorite:

“Favorites are always looked at by the media and perhaps we were the past few years, but it’s been a tough place to play and a hard team for us to play against recently. We know we have to show our best against them in order to get a good result.”

Calmer schedule:

“We had a lot of matches and now we’ve had more time to train together and play together which helps bring new energies onto the pitch. We spoke about this before the Ashdod match and we hope that this will help us reach our expectations.”

Improving during training:

“I don’t want to go into too many details but I can tell you that when we have more training sessions we can work on things that we may have had issues with and we can really analyze them as well.”

Are you ready? We’re about to begin 2017 and now’s the time to start marking down those important dates that will make your January that much better. Shall we get started? Let’s go!

January 2nd, Monday, Teddy Stadium. Matchday 16 Ligat Ha’Al: Beitar Jerusalem – Maccabi Tel Aviv (21:00)

Shota Arveladze’s crew ended 2016 with a win and cut the Beer Sheva lead to 7 points as they head to Jerusalem for a tough away contest against Beitar who know how to give the Yellow & Blue plenty of problems. The teams played to a 2:2 draw in the first round with Beitar scoring a dramatic 94th minute tying goal. How will it end this time?

January 6th. Transfer window opens:

Just like every season, one of the busiest months is January as the transfer window opens and clubs can strengthen their squads. What does Sports Director Jordi Cruyff have planned for the upcoming month? Make sure you stay up to date with all the latest news and views on the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv App and Website. To download the App, click here: http://bit.ly/MTAFCAPP

January 7th, Saturday, Lod Stadium, State Cup Round of 32: Bnei Lod – Maccabi Tel Aviv (18:30)

After many years of State Cup games being played in the middle of the week, this season the opening round has been moved to the weekend. Maccabi Tel Aviv enters the tournament with one goal in mind; to bring the Cup back home. The Yellow & Blue were drawn against Bnei Lod in an away tilt that won’t be a simple assignment.

January 11th, Wednesday, Netanya Stadium, Matchday 17 Ligat Ha’Al: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Raanana (21:00 LIVE from the Stadium)

Following a ten day break from league action, Maccabi returns to play with a midweek date against Hapoel Raanana. The Yellow & Blue won their first contest 3:0 and with just a few days before the Derby, Shota Arveladze’s players will want to make sure they are ready and raring to go. You’ll also be able to listen to the match LIVE from the Stadium on the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv App.

January 16th, Monday, Moshava Stadium, Matchday 18, Ligat Ha’Al: Hapoel Tel Aviv – Maccabi Tel Aviv (21:00)

Hapoel Tel Aviv will host the third Derby of the season at the Moshava Stadium. Just a reminder that the Yellow & Blue won the last matchup between the two in historic fashion 5:0.

January 21st (date to be confirmed) Netanya Stadium, Matchday 19 Ligat Ha’Al: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Bnei Sakhnin (LIVE from the Stadium)

Following the Derby and just before the State Cup Round of 16 (January 23-25), Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Bnei Sakhnin on Matchday 19 of the Ligat Ha’Al. The first game between the two sides ended in a 3:0 win for the Yellow & Blue. How will it end this time?

January 28th (date to be confirmed), Sammy Ofer Stadium, Matchday 20 Ligat Ha’Al: Maccabi Haifa – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi will play away for the final match of the month of January as the Yellow & Blue visit Maccabi Haifa in a tough contest at Sammy Ofer Stadium just one week before they face the defending champions Hapoel Beer Sheva. The Greens took all three points last time the two teams met as Maccabi will look to do the same this time around.

That’s it? Not at all!

Tomorrow you can already take part in the PLAYERLIST contest where you can see what’s on the playlist of 6 players. One of you will win a terrific prize from the sponsor of this competition, Me on the Mic. It’s also the time to download the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv App right before we launch a massive project that will include some amazing prizes. The Players Challenge also returns and this time they’ll challenge you to something absolutely phenomenal. Who will interview one of the players? The latest campaign launch as we look for the Next Maccabist. “Find the Treasure”, vote for the HP goal of the Month along with the HISENSE Player of the Month is back too. Plus the players will be visiting the Official Stores and a lot more is all coming up in January 2017!

August 19, 2015. Maccabi Tel Aviv travelled to Basel for the first leg of the Champions League Playoff Round Qualification matches for the fifth confrontation between the sides.The Swiss outfit who had a fine run in the Champions League the prior year under coach Paulo Sousa were the unquestionable favorites in the upcoming two contests. But one Eran Zahavi wasn’t going to hear anything about it.

In the 31st minute the captain quieted the crowd scoring off of a brilliant Avi Rikan assist. However, the advantage only lasted 6 minutes as Basel drew even from the penalty spot. The score remained as is until the 88th when Embolo scored to give the hosts a 2:1 lead and all looked to be lost, until…

Our massive 2016 Goal of the Year Project is nearing its end. After ten days of narrowing down the finalists to just five, you voted for Eran Zahavi’s bicycle kick goal as the winner. It was close, very close. Zahavi’s goal garnered 42% of the popular vote while Vidar Kjartansson’s Derby strike took home 36% of your support.

All that remains now is finding out who’ll win the HP Laptop.

On Sunday January 1, 2017 at 17:00 all those who voted for Zahavi’s goal will receive a trivia question via SMS and whoever answers first correctly will win the prize. Make sure to be ready!

The Israeli League has seen many amazing photo finishes to the season in the month of May. Maccabi Tel Aviv & Maccabi Haifa had the same amount of points as the Yellow & Blue sat atop the table due to goal differential when they went to face Hapoel Petach Tikva at Ramat Gan Stadium in front of 40K fans. Haifa was at Ashdod and a big win by the Greens coupled with a small victory by Maccabi would give the Carmel Mountain side the title. How did it end? WATCH