They usually say that the Hebrew month of Tishrei is the beginning of the new year, however, according to the football calendar the real beginning is in the month of August and WOW what month we have ahead. Get your day planners ready and let’s go:

August 4: Second leg of Europa League third round qualifying: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Pandurii (3:1 Maccabi in the First leg)

After a victory in the first leg away in Romania, Shota Arveldaze’s players will look to finish the job and punch their ticket to the Europa League playoffs. Just like Captain Gal Alberman said, we all want another European campaign. If you were thinking about skipping the match, then think again. Don’t miss out. Ticket sales are underway, purchase your tickets now.

August 5: Europa League Playoff Round Draw: Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa
We don’t like to jinx things but should the players do what they need to on Thursday night and only if that happens, then on Friday afternoon the Europa League playoff round draw will take place in Nyon, Switzerland. We really want to be there.

August 7: Matchday Three Toto Cup: Bnei Yehuda – Maccabi Tel Aviv
After an off day on Matchday Two and a little over a week before the Derby, Maccabi will visit Bnei Yehuda for the “Little” Derby against new head coach Arik Benado. This will be the first of two matches in the Toto Cup during the same week.

August 10: Matchday Four Toto Cup: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Raanana
Shots Arveladze’s squad will face Raanana under the guidance of Haim Silvas. This will be a chance for more players to show the coach what they can do.

August 12: Maccabi “Shachar” leaves for their Holland training camp
Let’s take a break from the First Team and focus on the Youth Club. Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv will leave for their Holland training camp that will begin with their participation in the three day Heemskerk Tournament.

August 15: Matchday Five Toto Cup: Hapoel Tel Aviv – Maccabi Tel Aviv
This may be the first of two matches in the same week and not because of the Ligat Ha’Al season opener. Should Maccabi advance to the Europa League Playoff Round the first leg will take place on Thursday August 18th. Will this have affect the Starting XI? Let’s first take care of Pandurii.

August 20 (not final): Matchday One Ligat Ha’Al: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Kfar Saba
Here it is. The Israel Football League begins with Matchday One of the Ligat Ha’Al 2016/17 Season. Maccabi will host the first match of the year when they kick off against Hapoel Kfar Saba. The Sharon club has caused the Yellow & Blue some headaches in the past during the clubs’ first encounter of previous seasons and Maccabi won’t want to break their opening match of the season winning streak. Should Maccabi advance to the Europa League Playoff Round then the second leg will take place the same week on August 25th.

August 27 (not final): Matchday Two Ligat Ha’Al: S.C. Ashdod – Maccabi Tel Aviv
The Yellow & Blue will head out to an away tilt against the newly promoted Ashdod side. After a season in the Leumit League, the port city side is back in the top division and will want to take center stage once again.

But wait we’re not finished yet.

Beginning on August 1st you can get all of your Back-to-School supplies at the Pop-Up Shop at the Ayalon Shopping Center.

And don’t worry we have plenty more surprises in store for you, this is one month that you won’t want to miss out on.

Haviv Ohayon made his first start last night for the Yellow & Blue and recorded a shutout victory against Maccabi Petach Tikva in Toto Cup action. The youngster will look to continue to impress Coach Shota Arveladze and the rest of the training staff:

“It was a good game and we started well, perhaps we were bit tired but I’m happy that we won 1:0 and we didn’t give up any goals which is important. It was an important victory for us and it was good preparation for Thursday’s match.”

His performance:

“I thought I was OK and I started to gain confidence after the first few touches.”

Coming back from injury:

“I had a knee injury near the end of last season and I came back in training camp but it’s fine now and in the past.”

Training under Shota Arveladze:

“The beginning of the season preparations were very good and the training sessions were at a very high level and we worked very hard. I hope that we can continue on our way.”

Going forward:

“I hope that I’ll continue to play and improve from match to match.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s new number 23 talked about what it’s like to play for the Yellow & Blue after returning to Israel from Greece. He also discussed playing for Maccabi battling for a spot in the starting lineup and about the match:

“It’s not pleasant to play in front of an empty stadium but we still have to do our jobs no matter what and I’m happy we won. We can now turn our attention to Thursday’s match.”

Getting into shape:

“At the beginning of the season it’s a bit tough to get back into shape but we are working hard every single training session and as each match goes by we will continue to improve.”

About the match:

“Maccabi Petach Tikva is an excellent team with some very good players and they played us very well in the first half which I’m sure everyone saw. But I’m happy that we won and now we can continue to get fit and keep improving.”

Battling to be in the Starting XI:

“We have some really good players and every practice we are battling against each other for a place in the starting lineup. But there’s a good atmosphere and we all want to succeed both in Europe and domestically.”

On being with Maccabi:

“I am so happy to be here from the first minute I arrived and I’m here to help everyone out.”

The Yellow & Blue’s Georgian Head Coach reflected back on his team’s win over Maccabi Petach Tikva on Matchday One and discussed the effect of playing in an empty stadium, scoring goals and his general impressions on the match:

“The first half was good and we also saw what it looks like when we still haven’t played many minutes. We have been playing for 6 weeks, but we haven’t played many matches. This was also a chance to make more than 3 substitutions. We can’t talk much about the second half, but the first half was fine however we are still in the early stages of the season.”

About Eyal Golasa’s play:

“He played well and may have been the best player on the pitch.”

Scoring goals:

“We still come out to play football and we are still missing some players. This was our 8th game counting the 6 official games and 2 friendlies. We’ve scored 11 goals in the six official games which is average. We can still do better and we can open up a bit. We had a couple of good chances and some nice headers. It was difficult and we will keep working on it. We need goals.”

The empty stadium effect:

“The empty stadium definitely had an effect on the game. Emotions and responsibilities went slightly down. It played a negative role but what can we do.”

The 2016/17 domestic campaign begins with the Toto Cup as Maccabi Tel Aviv welcomes Maccabi Petach Tikva to the Netanya Stadium in the first round of the competition. Just before the opening whistle, here’s a few things you should know about the tournament.

This is the 32nd season that the Yellow & Blue are participating in the Toto Cup.

Maccabi Tel Aviv has won the Toto Cup on four occasions, 1993, 1999, 2009, 2015 and have been a part of 7-finals. The only other club in Israel with four Toto Cups is Maccabi Haifa.

The Yellow & Blue have played 212 matches in the tournament: 112 wins, 38 draws and 62 losses for a 59% success rate.

Maccabi Petach Tikva was Maccabi’s first ever Toto Cup opponent on October 30, 1984. The match took place at Bloomfield Stadium and the Yellow & Blue won 2:1 on goals by Alon Natan and Shachar Barel.

The most goals score by Maccabi in the Toto Cup was during the 1998/99 campaign when they found the back of the goal 30 times on 8 matches for an average of 3.75 goals a game as they went on to win the tournament that same season.

In 2014/15 the Yellow & Blue gave up only one goal as they won seven matches including the final for a staggering 0.14 goals against for the competition.

Hapoel Tel Aviv has been the team that Maccabi has met most often in the Toto Cup as the clubs have played 18 Derbies with the Yellow & Blue winning 10, drawing 3 and losing 5.

Maccabi players have scored 36 braces in the Toto Cup and there have been four hat tricks. Back in the 1992/93 campaign, Netzach Masoubi became the only player to score four goals in a Toto Cup contest when the Yellow & Bkue defeated Maccabi Yavne 5:1.

Avi Nimni has scored the most goals in the Toto Cup with 26 while Eli Drikes is in second place with 19 goals. Amir Turgeman is third with 14 goals.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is happy to announce that season ticket and parking pass distribution will begin this Sunday at 12:00 and continue until Wednesday August 3rd, 21:00 at the Menora Mivtachim (Yad Eliyahu) box office. Additional distribution days and hours will be announced in the near future on the Club’s Official Twitter account.

Please bring the following items in order to pick up your season tickets and parking passes: Proof of purchase, Teudat Zehut ID Card or a copy of the Teudat Zehut associated with the account along with power of attorney.

The box office will be open from 12:00 until 21:00.

Please note that season ticket holders who purchased tickets to the Pandurii match will need to use the actual ticket purchased as the season ticket will not be valid for this match.