The Yellow-and-Blue is about to enter a new era. Peter Bosz, the club’s new coach will land at Ben Gurion Airport tomorrow afternoon and will officially take over the team. The Dutchman who is arriving from Vitesse Arnhem was able to find a very special person to discuss his new adventure in Israel with, Sheran Yeini.

Maccabi’s former captain left for Bosz’s team in Holland this past summer and was able to enjoy a half a year under his tutelage. In this exclusive interview with the Maccabi Tel Aviv Official Website, Yeini spoke about his experience under the coach, how he would characterize him, a personal conversation he had with Bosz upon his arrival in the Netherlands and more: “I can tell you outright that Bosz was a huge help to me on a personal level.” Yeini began.

“I started the season with an injury and it put a lot of pressure on me especially as a new player with the club who wasn’t playing. He came over to me and said, ‘relax and take your time healing because we’re counting on you for the long term’. This made me feel much better. He continued to tell me that when he went to France as a player he had been injured and he wasn’t received very warmly because of it. But when they did begin to treat him properly it helped him recover.”

How would you describe him as a football coach?

“He is a tough coach. He keeps his distance from the players, but when he opens up after a practice he really goes all the way with the guys. He’s very serious and I think he’s an excellent coach. He presses a lot and plays an aggressive game. He pressures the other team the whole match and it plays into the type of offensive style of football that he enjoys. Controlling the ball is very important to him and at Vitesse we controlled the flow of play in most matches, even against some of the big sides.”

You’re very familiar with Maccabi. Can he upgrade the team with his style of play?

“Certainly. He can really take them to the next level. I know that his style is not easy and the players will have to get used to it. Physically, his game is very demanding. In the match that I ran the least, which was 11.5 km, it was much more than what I had run with Maccabi. They will have to get used to it physically and also to some of his ideas. Everything he does is very thought out to the point of knowing which foot one should be passing from and which foot one should receive the ball. His training sessions are very organized and I enjoyed them very much.”

How did the Vitesse players take the news of Bosz leaving them?

“The players were very surprised. Most of the players are not Dutch and don’t pay attention to the local media, so most didn’t even know where he was going. No one thought that he would leave mid-season. From my understanding everything happened very quickly. However, Vitesse is a very organized club and his assistant will take over as the Head Coach, so the same style of play will continue.”

What did you tell him when he told you that he was heading to Maccabi?

“We primarily spoke about Tel Aviv. About life in the city and the different weather that he’s used to in Holland. I had to explain to him that even though he arrived in Tel Aviv the day that there was a shooting, that it’s not a dangerous city. I told him that when my wife travels to Tel Aviv, I am not worried at all. That made him feel pretty good. I also told him that the food is terrific, that the people are very warm and that he’ll enjoy it a lot. I’m sure we will speak again soon, not about specific players but about the nature of the Israeli player.”

Will he adapt well to the club?

“Every player that came to Vitesse adapted to his style very quickly including the coaches. It will take time for the team to look the way Bosz wants it to, but when it will it will be absolutely amazing.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s new Head Coach Peter Bosz will arrive at Kiryat Shalom in the coming days and is looking forward to the challenges that lieahead. The Dutchman discussed what his expectations are from his new club, his previous trips to Israel, how he plans on implementing the style of play so prevalent in Holland and much, much more in this exclusive one-on-one interview:

How did you get to know about Maccabi Tel Aviv:

“Jordi Cruyff had been in touch with me a number of times and explained to me the type of club Maccabi Tel Aviv is and how it works as well as the ambition of the club. He was responsible for getting me interested in Maccabi.”

Are you excited about leaving Holland for the first time as a coach:

“It’s true that this is the first time I will be going abroad as a coach, however I played in other countries as a player. Many people may say that Israel is not the first country they expected me to go to but I see this as a big challenge with Maccabi both in the Israeli championship but also in Europe. I’m looking forward to it.”

Who have you spoken to about coming to Israel:

“As you know Sheran Yeini has played with me this season and he told me about Israel and Tel Aviv. He misses it very much. I visited Israel twice in the 1990’s as

a player with Toulon and Feyenoord and played against Hapoel Petach Tikva. It was a long time ago so that’s why I came with my wife this past weekend to meet with Jordi and Martin. They spoke about the club and the ambitions and I became very enthusiastic about the team and also Tel Aviv.”

What do you know about Maccabi Tel Aviv:

“It’s the biggest club in Israel and they are also fighting for the championship along with playing in Europe. This past season they also played in the Champions League Group Stages. They have some very good players and I spoke to Jordi about the way we play and the special way that is played in the Netherlands. We would also like to see how this style will play out in the Israeli league.”

What aspects of Dutch football will you bring to Maccabi Tel Aviv:

“The most important thing for me to do when I arrive is to look and see how they play at the moment. I will not come and make changes right away. We are currently fighting with Beer Sheva for the title and I’m sure they are doing some things very well. I will watch how they play, what they do on and off of the pitch and as soon as possible know the quality of the players. After that, along with the assistant coaches who already are familiar with the players and the club, we will si

t down together and see what we can do.”

You played with some legends with the 1992 Euro Dutch side, how did that influence you:

“In the 1990’s van Basten, Rijkaard and Koeman were some of the biggest players in Europe. If you play and train with them everyday you’ll see exactly why they are so good. But maybe more importantly was the coach Rinus Michels and how he looked at football. For me, if you look at that period of time, the most inspiring man was Johan Cruyff. He became the coach of Ajax after his playing career and he completely changed the way of thinking about football, how to build up and to press and how to play the position game. This was very important for me as a young coach.”

The bar is set high after winning championships, the Treble and going to the Champions League:

“I believe that it’s fantastic to work for a big club and right now that’s exactly what Maccabi is, a big club in Israel. For me it will be a great challenge to see what kind of quality there is here, to play better individually but to also see the

team become better. I believe that if you want to play at the top you can never be satisfied and you must always try to become better as a player. That is my challenge, to take the players and the team to a higher level.”

What do you know about the fans and the great atmosphere that is waiting for you at Bloomfield:

“I was told that even at the away games there are more fans than the home team. It will be fantastic to experience the Maccabi supporters. I played for Feyenoord in Holland and it’s more or less the same situation. I’m excited to experience this with Maccabi.”

What do you expect when you meet the players for the first time:

“I must get to know the players as soon as possible and watch them in training to see their qualities. I’m looking forward to working with them.”

In the summer of 2013, Peter Bosz came full circle. He began his professional playing career with Vitesse Arnhem and returned to his youth club to man it’s sidelines.

The 52-year old Bosz had an interesting beginning to his career as a midfielder, first with Arnhem and then with Dutch clubs Apeldoorn and Waalwijk before moving on to French outfit Toulon.

The peak of Bosz’s time as a player came when he was with powerhouse Feyenoord, helping the club to the 1993 League Championship while collecting three Cups (1992, 1994, 1995). Bosz also played in the Japanese League with Ichihara and Rostok in Germany. In 1999, he decided to hang up his cleats and began his coaching career taking over Third Division side Apeldoorn leading them to promotion in 2002.

That same summer, the Dutch boss took over the reins at De Graafschap and then moved to coach Heracles in 2004. After just one year with the club he was able to guide them to the First Division. In 2006 Feyenoord came calling and Bosz became the team’s technical director until 2009 and in 2010 he returned to Heracles for his second term with the club.

The Dutchman then joined Vitesse in 2013 and in November, Bosz took his team to the top of the Eredivisie for the first time in many years. Even though Ajax overtook Vitesse just before the winter break, Bosz was named coach of winter portion of the season.

Vitesse finished the 2013/14 season in 6th place and 4th overall in scoring while this past year, 2014/15, Bosz’s side ended the campaign in 5th place and 3rd in overall scoring.

Photo:  Paul Meima| Vitesse

Peter Bosz will be appointed as Maccabi Tel Aviv FC’s new head coach after the club reached an agreement with Vitesse Arnhem to sign the Dutchman on an 18-month deal.

Bosz, 52, who joins Maccabi from Vitesse where he has coached since 2013, has been coaching in Holland since 2000 at Apeldoorn, De Graafschap, Heracles, a technical director role at Feyenoord, and a second reign at Heracles before joining Vitesse. 

Maccabi’s owner Mitch Goldhar told the club’s official website: “This is a very significant signing for Maccabi Tel Aviv and a key move as we look to continue our overall development of the club and the performance of the squad. We have a clear view of the disciplines and professionalism that the club requires in order to meet our sporting objectives and the coach is key to our success. We firmly believe that Peter’s highly regarded reputation and vision for the game will prove to be a key part of our future plans to improve the club and further our ambitions”.

Sports Director Jordi Cruyff added: “We are delighted to sign Peter Bosz as Maccabi’s head coach. I have been following Peter’s progress for many years and admired the work he has done, a fact which led us to try and sign him more than once”.

Maccabi’s CEO Martin Bain added: “To secure the services of a highly rated European coach such as Peter is not only a major coup but testament to the progress Maccabi has continued to make in recent times.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s young striker Dejan Radonjic started his second straight match for the club and helped his side pick up the 2:0 win against Hapoel Raanana in WINNER League action on Matchday 17. The Croatian talked about his coming back from injury, his offensive qualities and what led to the victory over Raanana:

“It was a very difficult game but the good news is that we took 3-points. They were very aggressive and ran a lot. It’s in these types of games where the teams that play Maccabi Tel Aviv give 150%. We played together as a team and these are games that you can only win as a team when no one really stood out for the good or for the not so good. Teamwork defined this win.”

About  his second game after coming back from injury:

“I’m not really disappointed considering that this was my second game coming back from injury. I ran a lot which helped me work on my conditioning. The first objective is to always win as a team, the second is for me to continue to run a lot and work on my conditioning and third is to score goals and hand out assists. I’m not so disappointed as I tried to continue to work through the match and had a chance. I worked on the defensive side of things as well and on the first goal, Avi Rikan and I pressed on the right side to help get the 1:0 lead.”

Helping out on the offensive side:

“I’m pretty fast and can run to the open spaces but I can play with my back to the goal and it will be with that quality that I’ll be able to help the team and make things a bit easier. This will especially help out Eran Zahavi and it would be great if he could score 80 goals and be better than Messi or Neymar!”

On wanting to score:

“Of  course I want to score a goal and that’s also my role as a striker. I was always the best striker on my team and also in the league that I played in. Last year in Croatia I was the second best striker and it’s not that I necessarily want to score more goals than Zahavi but I want to score as soon as possible to help my team and improve my confidence.”

Avi Rikan, the Yellow-and-Blue midfielder picked up his second goal of the season and first in 2016 to help Maccabi to the 2:0 win over Hapoel Raanana on Matchday 17 of WINNER League action. Rikan talked about the hard fought match, Eran Zahavi and the coaching situation over the last couple of weeks:

“It was a tough match and we had to work very hard tonight. After we scored the first goal the pressure let up and there were more open spaces on the pitch.”

Helping out Eran Zahavi:

“It’s no secret that we rely on Eran Zahavi but we have to do the maximum to also help out like I did today when I scored. The whole team needs to pitch in and continue to work hard.”

Coaching staff transition:

“This was an excellent win and we had a great week of training ahead of the match with Javi. The club knows how to transition properly between coaching staffs and it won’t be a problem. Before last week’s match when all of the rumors were swirling about Slavisa Jokanovic’s future we prepared properly and had a huge 5:0 win. We will be ready for our next match with the new staff.”

Maccabi is now in first place with Beer Sheva:

“We are only concerned about ourselves, what we do on the pitch and we don’t look at the other teams. Every match we play we try to pick up three points and win the game, that’s what is most important for us.”

The Maccabi Tel Aviv family mourns the loss of its former defensive back Steve Gohouri from the Ivory Coast. Gohouri, who died at the age of 34, began his Yellow-and-Blue career in September 2012 after playing two and half years with Premier League outfit Wigan.

Jordi Cruyff, who brought Steve Gohouri to Maccabi Tel Aviv said to the Official Website: “This is a very, very sad moment. We kept track of the news over the last few weeks when we found out about Steve’s disappearance. It was not easy to hear about the news of his death this evening. It puts everything in a different perspective. We are grateful to Steve for his smile and love that he gave all of us during his time here in Israel.”

The defender played his youth career for Paris St. Germain and then moved to play as a striker for Bnei Yehuda. Gohouri then plied his trade in a defensive role for a number of Swiss sides.

Following six years in Switzerland he was on the move again, this time to Germany and Borussia Monchengladbach where he hooked up with Roberto Colautti whom he would also play with at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Gohouri’s debut with the Yellow-and-Blue was against Hapoel Haifa when he came in as a 75th minute substitution. He would go on to score his first goal with Maccabi in a 5:0 win over Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Following his final match in Israel against SC Ashdod, Gohouri left Maccabi Tel Aviv to continue his playing career in Europe. This past December there was grave concern for his well being when he disappeared and it was announced in Germany that his body was found on January 2nd in the Rhine River, though the cause of death was still uncertain. The Ivory Coast native made 13 appearances for his country and scored three goals for The Elephants.

 Javi Periera, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s interim coach guided his side to a 2:0 win over Hapoel Raanana at the Netanya Stadium on Matchday 17 of the WINNER League. Periera who served as a head coach for the first time will be joining Slavisa Jokanovic’s staff at Fulham this week as he discussed his time with the club and the transition currently taking place:

“It was nice to win in my first game as coach, but Fulham is waiting for me and it will be a new challenge. I was very happy here in Tel Aviv and will miss my time with Maccabi.”

About the club:

“The team is still growing up and you only see part of the team from the outside, whereas I’ve see it in training every day. It’s an amazing team and it’s a pleasure to training the players day in and day out.”

What Maccabi needs to do going forward:

“The second round is just starting and I believe that Maccabi needs some players to help Eran Zahavi out on the offensive side and strengthen them going forward. Maccabi has a brilliant sporting director and he will know what type of players to bring in.”

Final goodbyes:

“I want to thank Maccabi and all of fans. I will miss all of you.”