Ramljak Tournament: Day ONE

Maccabi 'Shachar' Tel Aviv played their first match of the Ramljak Tournament in Croatia yesterday where they drew 0-0 against the hosts, Dinamo Zagreb. The physical and intense game was played at a very high level by both clubs and finished without any goals. 

Today, Maccabi plays Cagliari from Italy and will finish the group stages facing Olympiakos of Greece. The squad which includes players born in 1997-98 also features Almog Eylon who is born in 1999.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department Director, Nir Levin who is in Croatia said, "We are playing in one of the best tournaments with some of the top teams. The organization and professionalism surrounding this competition is second to none both on and off of the pitch. We finished the first match in a scoreless draw against a side that has won this event 19 out of 20 times and a team that provides most of the players for Croatia's Under-19 team.

The weather here is hot just like at home and the matches are being played right next to Dinamo Zagreb's Stadium 'Maksimir' where Maccabi Tel Aviv drew 2:2 under my direction back in UEFA CUP back in 2001."

Coach Ziv Arie took over coaching this crop of players two weeks ago as they moved up from the Under-17's Maccabi 'Oded' Tel Aviv. The competition will give the team international experience in preparation for the UEFA Champions League Youth Tournament this coming season.

Maccabi “Shachar” will participate in the Mladen Ramljak Tournament

The Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv youth team will participate in the Mladen Ramljak Memorial Tournament which begins tonight in Zagreb. Ramljak played for Dinamo Zagreb in the 1960’s and 70’s and tragically passed away in a car accident in 1978.

Maccabi, coached by Ziv Arie will be among a number of European clubs participating in this yearly tournament including Copenhagen, Cagliari, Benfica and the hosts Dinamo Zagreb. The Yellow-and-Blue will open the competition against Zagreb today (Thursday) and on Friday will face Cagliari while their last match will be against Greek side Olympiakos.

The youth team will be going through some changes as not only have the players who won last year’s championship born in 1995-96 moved on with the 1997-98 group attempting to fill their shoes, but Dan Romann has joined Ziv Arie’s professional staff as well.

The Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv squad for the Zagreb Tournament:

Goalkeeper: Haviv Ohayon

Defenders: Amit Rosenboim, Ran Vaturi, Nadav Amran, Bar Galili, Lenny Zvi Aharon, Daniel Rahimi, Ron Gabay

Midfielders: Omri Haramati, Rany Hamzey, Gavriel Kanichowsky, Amit Shapira, Tomer Altman, Sahy Golan, Itai Aloni

Forwards: Or Dasa, Dor Galili, Almog Eylon

Professional Staff: Ziv Arie, Nir Levin, Dan Romann, Daniel Yogev, Eitan Kenafo

Special Limited Edition MTA BEER

The Maccabi Tel Aviv players celebrated their historic Treble with the supporters until the early hours of the morning at Bloomfield Stadium while drinking the club's official beer MTA. For this occasion we have issued a Special Limited Edition MTA bottle that all of our supporters can purchase to celebrate the Treble at home! 

MTA is produced by Jem's Beer Factory and is a clear gold Czech Lager with citrus blossom flavors and medium bitterness. MTA contains 5% alcohol and is sold in packages of four at the following outlets:

BANA RETAIL OUTLETS

Bilu – 3 Busi St George St., Ekron Industrial Estate

Rehovot – 8 Hamanof St.

Petah Tikva – 20 Misod Asher St.

Rishon Lezion – 9 Lishansky St., "Park and Shop" Complex

Jerusalem – 27 Ha'oman St,, Talpiot Industrial Estate

Kastina – "Big Kastina" Complex, Beer Tuvia Industrial Estate

Beer Sheva – 21 Derech Hevron, "Big" Complex

Netivot – 2 Ba'ale Malacha St.

Bana Carillon – 192 Acre Rd., Kiryat Bialik

 

WINE IN TOWN RETAIL OUTLETS

Tel Aviv Ramat Gan – 32 Tagor St.

Tel Aviv Ibn Gvirol – 117 Ibn Gvirol St.

Tel Aviv Florentine – 14 Florentine St.

 

WINE & MORE RETAIL OUTLETS

Tel Aviv-Jaffa – 8 Nachum Goldman St.

Tel Aviv-Jaffa – 25 Karlebach St.

Tel Aviv-Jaffa – 208 Ben Yehuda St.

Petah Tikva – 36 Gisin St.

Rishon Lezion – 3 Yelde Teheran St.

Herzliya – 11 Galgale Haplada St.

Hod Hasharon – 16 Sokolov St.

Yehud – 54 Atzma'ut Road

Airport City outlet

 

WINE ROUTE RETAIL OUTLETS

Tel Aviv – 93 Hashmonaim St.

Tel Aviv – 10 Nisim Aloni St., G. Tsameret

Tel Aviv – Dizengoff Centre

Tel Aviv – 9 Derech Hashalom St.

Tsomet Savion – 201 Hativat Alexandroni St.

Ra'anana – 2 Hamalacha St. Kiryat Etgarim, Ra'anana Shopping Centre

Nes Tziona – 6 Hapatish St.

Modi'in – 121 Malacha Estate

Ramat Hasharon – 32 Sokolov St.

Givataim – 26 Weizman St.

Garcia and Juan Pablo sign contract extensions

Carlos Garcia and Juan Pablo sign contract extensions

Carlos Garcia extends his contract by two years as Juan Pablo will continue for another season

Carlos Garcia (31) signed a two year contract extension with Maccabi Tel Aviv and when completed will have played five seasons with the club.

The Spanish central defender was brought to Maccabi Tel Aviv by technical director Jordi Cryuff three years ago and has won the league title in each of those campaigns along with a State and Toto cup. Garcia commented, "I'm very happy to sign this extension with the team. I have said all along that I wanted to stay here at Maccabi and as soon as I sat down with the club's management I knew I would sign and continue playing in Tel Aviv."

Goalkeeper Juan Pablo (37) will also continue with the club for another season.

Juan Pablo who has 30 shutouts in 61 league matches over the past two years said, "when I left Spain and came to Tel Aviv two years ago, I wouldn't have believed how great it would be here. To win so many titles and to have such a terrific season this past year has only wetted our appetite for the upcoming campaign. I'm going to rest up in the offseason and come back even better than ever for training camp and Champions League qualifying next month."

Alberman: “Saying goodbye to Sheran is difficult”

Maccabi Tel Aviv's 2014-15 season has come to an end. After the celebrations and lifting the championship plate, Gal Alberman and the outgoing Captain Sheran Yeini summed up this historic year

The hardest part of the season was right at the beginning," said Alberman who was reminiscing about last summer. "Trying to reach the UEFA Champions League as our heads weren't into football. We kept worrying about the security situation and checking the latest news back home in Israel. Attempting to qualify for the Champions League with our heads elsewhere is not an excuse but it was very difficult. This season we tried to stay on our feet and reach our goals which was to win all three titles and I'm happy we did just that."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax_c8tKt9nA

CAMPION

On the historical season:

"There's no question that this was a historic season. I think we came under a lot of criticism, some of which was unfair. Everyone has to remember that there was some really amazing moments of football this season.

On saying goodbye to Sheran Yeini:

We're at a loss of words already about Sheran. My heart still hurts knowing that he's leaving. He's a very big part of all of us and he's leaving a huge hole that not just one person can fill. There's a bunch of us that will try to fill his shoes and I hope we'll be able to do it. I just hope that he will enjoy his time at Vitesse as much as he has here at Maccabi."

YEINI

Sheran Yeini, who was honored prior to his farewell match, added:

"We are so tight. This is a group of friends that always looks out for one another. This is the strength of the club, caring for each other."

On the uniqueness of the the team:

"There's a lot of things that are unique with the team. There's the style in which we practice, our abilities and our character. You can see all of these traits when we play every game to win. We keep pushing one another the day before the match and we gain confidence that we're going to come out on top."

 

BEN HAIM: “Euphoria”

Nosa Igiebor summed up his treble winning season: "This was a great year! It was very tough year but enjoyable. At the end of the day this is what we play for. The whole team, from the players to the coaches and especially to the fans who supported us week in and week out. What can I say three titles is amazing!"

When asked what the most difficult and best parts of the season, the Nigerian midfielder said, "it's hard for me to pick the best moment because the whole season was terrific! At the beginning of the year I didn't play in a lot of matches and this was definitely the hardest part of the campaign since I am player that always plays. But as soon as everything straightened out and I was back on the pitch I was very happy. This is the first time that I won a treble and it's a great feeling!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6ctit93Nk

Tal Ben Chaim had a fantastic year and shared some of his feelings about the season: "It was an amazing year! We celebrated a lot the past couple of weeks but we deserved too! We were able to reach all of the goals that we set for ourselves and if we don't party now when will we! We'll take a short break over the next few weeks and get ready for next season."

There were a lot of standout moments for the club this year and it wasn't easy to choose the ones that stood out the most.  "This was a long season and it's pretty hard to pick those exact moments, but one for sure has to be the derby match with Hapoel Tel Aviv when one of their fans ran onto the field and went after Eran Zahavi. The best moment of the year was the Israel State Cup victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva. People have to realize that this is the first time in a very long time that the club won this title and for me this was my first as well. That match really sums up our year. When we had to be in the right place at the right time we were. If I had to choose one word to describe the year I'd say 'Euphoria'"

 

GOLDHAR: “I am grateful to Pako”

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and Coach Pako Ayestaran have reached a decision to part company by mutual agreement.

‏The Basque coach joined Maccabi at the end of August 2014 and successfully guided the club to a historic season which culminated in three domestic‏ trophies: The ‎League title, the State Cup and the Toto Cup – for the first time in Israel's history.

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Pako, told the club’s official website: "It has been an enjoyable journey and I would like to express my best wishes to the club, the players and the supporters for the future”.

Club owner Mitch Goldhar added: "Maccabi Tel Aviv is a club with a great history and I am grateful to Pako and his entire team for winning the domestic treble and providing everybody with such a memorable season. I very much appreciated Pako arriving in Israel during an extremely challenging period and leading the team to success in all competitions and that achievement should not be underestimated. I am sure I speak for everyone connected to Maccabi in wishing him well."

Pako: “Thank you all for the amazing journey”

Maccabi Tel Aviv conducted a special press conference with CEO Martian Bain, sporting director Jordi Cruyff and Coach Pako Ayesteran

Maccabi Tel Aviv announced that coach Pako Ayesteran will not continue with the club next season. Maccabi’s CEO, Martin Bain said: “Pako Ayestaran will not continue with us. We had a great season and we enjoyed it together.”

Pako added: “I really enjoyed my time here. I want to thank everyone for an amazing journey in Tel Aviv. I came here knowing I made the right choice. I had the responsibility to achieve goals that were not easy and we accomplish all of them. We are happy with our success. When I came here I understood that I have the best squad in Israel because of Jordi and the club. It is time to move on and to accomplish new goals. The club realized it needs something new and so did I.”

Jordi Cruyff thanked the coach as well: “I want to thank Pako and his staff for a terrific season. We were fantastic this season and Pako was able to set a very high standard. He had additional pressure when he came and he didn’t have a pre-season to build the team. We needed an optimistic personality and Pako was able to answer all of our needs. I want to thank Pako, your name is engraved in the club’s history for leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to its greatest season. We have a game ahead that is part of this great season and we wanted the Maccabi family to show its gratitude to Pako before he leaves”.