Matchday Eleven sees the Yellow & Blue visit Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv on November 27th, 20:45 at Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon Le’Zion due to the winterization of the Moshava Stadium pitch.

Tickets are on sale for 2016/17 season ticket holders until November 21st at 12:00. Should tickets remain tickets will then go on sale to the general public. Maccabi fans will be seated in the East Sections 4-5.

Tickets are on sale via the Leaan Ticket Agency at their ticket office located at 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, on the Leaan Website and by phone *8780.

• Season Ticket Holders are entitled to purchase 2 tickets
• Tickets may be collected on presentation of their season ticket card

Ticket Prices:

Telephone/Website – 60 NIS
Leaan Ticket Office – 55 NIS
Box Office on Matchday (should tickets remain) – 50 NIS

There is no Home Ticket Printing available for this match.

Ticket Collection

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

On Matchday, stadium ticket windows are open 3 hours prior to the match up until 45 minutes after its start.

Stadium: Kiryat Shemona Municipal Stadium (5,500)

Coach: Benny Ben Zaken

Izzy Sheratzky’s side have already changed coaches as Moti Ivanir was replaced by the team’s youth club coach, Benny Ben Zaken. Surprised? Not really as the squad has seen many different coaches over the last few years that have been promoted from within including Barak Bachar and Salah Hasarma.
Ben Zaken was born in Kiryat Shemona, went through the Kiryat Shemona youth department and had the opportunity to lift the Championship Trophy and Toto Cup for the first time in the club’s history. After retiring from active play after the 2013 campaign, Ben Zaken was appointed as assistant coach under Barak Bachar and even stood on the sidelines to coach the team when Bachar was fired at the end of 2014. Last season, he began as Hasarma’s assistant but became the youth club’s coach when the aforementioned Hasarma was relived of his duties. When Ivanir left his post, Ben Zaken took over once again.

Comings & Goings

Well before the coaching change, Kiryat Shemona made a number of moves to their squad. Oz Raly, Or Ostaynd, Guy Haimov, Luis Guiterez all left while Itamar Nitzan, Ofir Kriaf, Shlomi Azulay who was loaned by Maccabi to Sheratzky’s club joined just before the transfer deadline.

There were also plenty of changes when it came to the foreign players as Heitor Pereira, Didier Brossou and Mauricio Cordeiro all came on board.

What have we had up until now

Kiryat Shemona began the season decently well as they currently sit in 6th place with 11 points and only two losses so far this season. In fact, one of those losses was against first place Hapoel Beer Sheva in Kiryat Shemona for their only home defeat of the campaign.

Under Ivanir, Kiryat Shemona recorded five draws while Ben Zaken picked up his first victory last Matchday with a 1:0 win over Bnei Yehuda. The Yellow & Blue faced Kiryat Shemona with Ivanir at the helm in the first leg of the Toto Cup Quarterfinals which saw Maccabi win 3:2 at the Netanya Stadium. The return leg will be held at the end of November.

Gal Alberman, the Yellow & Blue Captain came on board the latest episode of the Maccabi-Cast to discuss the club’s recent results, the recently retired Rada Prica, thus evening’s contest at Kiryat Shemona and how the International break went over the past couple of weeks:

“It went well. A bunch of guys were with their National Teams and we were busy training and getting ourselves ready for the schedule ahead.”

Thoughts on Maccabi’s form of late:

“We didn’t have good momentum when we came back from the last break. We played well but the results weren’t there. I hope we can get right back onto the winning track on Sunday.”

More on the Club’s recent run:

“There are certain things in football and in sports in general that just can’t be explained. We had some great games where we were scoring and winning, but then we just couldn’t score. That’s sports. We are a team that has many years of experience and we are always looking ahead, the recent results are history. Even though we have played many matches so far this campaign the season is young.”

The various competitions that Maccabi is participating in:

“We are trying to do as well as possible in all the competitions that we are in with the goal to advance as far as we can in each tournament. Be it the Toto Cup, Europa League and State Cup it doesn’t really matter what it is as we are trying our best in each and we are not labeling one as more important than the other.”

Tonight’s match at Kiryat Shemona:

“It’s not an easy pitch and every match that we play there is never easy, but our goal is to come home with three points. We are going up north to do the best that we can and I can’t remember the last time Maccabi had a spell where we didn’t win any matches like this recent one.”

About Rada Prica:

“Rada Prica’s story is quite amazing. I don’t recall a player who was so special from his first match and first touch. He assisted on a goal against Beer Sheva and he was one of the greatest players that I had the privilege to play with. I had so many discussions with him about what it was like coming to Maccabi to play at a more advanced age than most and he had such an amazing desire to do so well. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t come to play with us earlier on in his career.”

April 3, 2013. Kiryat Shemona Municipal Stadium. Maccabi Tel Aviv headed up north for a difficult match as the season wound down. Second place Maccabi Haifa defeated Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon 6:0 the night before and were threatening the Yellow & Blue at the top of the table.

Oscar Garcia and his players knew that they were going to a stadium that they rarely come back home with points from and they were also aware that anything less than a victory would put more pressure on them as they fought for the league title with Maccabi Haifa. However, a win would move them that much closer to their first championship in ten years. The beginning of the game wasn’t easy for the Yellow & Blue…this is how it ended:

Maccabi Tel Aviv will visit Kiryat Shemona this Sunday evening on Matchday Ten of the Ligat Ha’Al. The Yellow & Blue haven’t scored in three league matches and will look to do exactly that and get back onto the winning track.

Yossi Benayoun looked ahead to his side’s upcoming clash along with talking about his arrival at Maccabi this past summer: “I don’t have any problem to interview and when I’m asked I do so. I’m at a big club which has taken some huge steps over the past few years just like any other European team. I’m happy to be here and I want to succeed. The results over the last few weeks is not what I had hoped for, but we have enough quality to come back and win.”

Match minutes:

“Everyone wants to help out but as the coach said we have a big squad and it’s not that simple to choose the Starting XI. We all have to prove ourselves. If I don’t get to start, then I’ll just work harder. I’m sure that every team will lose points along the way.”

The National Team:

“I want to also congratulate the National Team on their huge victory. As long as I’m still playing, I still want to be considered for the National Team, but there was a lot of stuff that went on over the last few years and when I finally do retire, I’ll have some things to say. I’m not part of the team right now, but I wish them the best of luck in any case.”

About Kjartansson:

“With all due respect, you don’t have to talk just about him. Every attacker is capable of scoring and assisting on goals. I believe that before these last few games you all said that Maccabi was winning matches now more than during the time of Eran Zahavi, who is not your typical scorer that you see every day. We have plenty of players who can score and lead the way, plus we have a very good dressing room, but all you want to do is complain about this striker or other players. We had plenty of chances against Haifa and Beer Sheva. There are times when you take chances from 30-meters out and they go in and then there are times when you have easy opportunities from in close and they don’t. We will continue to play well, move the ball around and get our chances. I’m sure that on Sunday the ball will go into the goal and the pressure that has been surrounding this issue will be released.”