Expanding knowledge: Youth Department Rules & Regulations

Youth Department coaches, staff and management took part in a special in-service training session given by Moran Meiri, the Club’s legal advisor. The goal: To better understand the rules of Israeli football and everything that relates to youth departments

This past Thursday, the Youth Academy coaches, staff and management met up off of the pitch to take a closer look at the rules that concern Youth Departments. The in-service training session was chaired by Advocate Moran Meiri, the Club’s legal advisor who is known to be the leading expert in Israel on sports law and who has represented the biggest sports cases over the recent years. Academy coaches for the Under-14 to Under-19 club’s along with the management and medical staff of the Youth Department were present for the meeting.

The goal of the session was to help the attendees familiarize themselves about the rules that are related to Israeli football and to Youth Departments in particular. Adv. Meiri shared his personal experiences along with discussing cases that he had dealt with concerning players, coaches and various different clubs. In addition, he also spoke about UEFA rules and regulations within the youth setting.

This was the first meeting of this type and there will be future lectures about off of the football pitch issues where the coaches and will staff receive additional in depth information from a different angle. The staff in turn will also be able to relate some of the relevant material to parents of the Youth Department children.

This past Thursday, the Youth Academy coaches, staff and management met up ...

Just like the best players in the world: Part 2

The new Youth Department project is continuing to gain momentum. Episode 2 of the video series presents a new technical exercise which is taught at the club’s Academy. Watch the next special movement

Just like the best players in the world: The Brand New Youth Department Project

Just like the best players in the world: The Brand ...

Youth Department Action Saturday November 18, 2017

This coming Saturday, a pair of Youth Department teams will get back to action after a two week break. The Under-17 side will visit the Shechuna HaTikva neighborhood while the Under-15 South squad has an away date at Kiryat Gat

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv – Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv, 08:30 Shechuna HaTikva
The Under-17 squad gets back to action after a two week break as the young Yellow & Blue head to the Shechuna HaTikva neighborhood for the Little Tel Aviv Derby. Eliezer Ben Aharon’s side has a perfect record and find themselves in first place. The hosts are in 10th place and are winless in three straight matches.

Ironi Kiryat Gat – Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv, 10:00 Kiryat Gat Synthetic
Head Coach Ori David and the Under-15 South team visit Kiryat Gat on Matchday 7 as they sit in 2nd place. The hosts are currently in 10th place with one win and have gone 4 matches without a victory.

The other Youth Department Clubs are still on break and the Under-19 squad will return to action next week when they host Ashdod.

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv – Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv, 08:30 Shechuna HaTikva The ...

Just like the best players in the world: The Brand New Youth Department Project

There’s a brand new project at the Youth Department. The players will begin technical training and will learn the special moves of the best players in the world. Educational videos will accompany the project and will demonstrate how to perform the moves correctly. WATCH

The Club’s Youth Department has begun a brand new innovative project. Over the next few months, the Youth Department will produce various video clips that will be shown to the players as to how to perform technical movements along with special ways as to handle the ball. Robin Verheul, assistant to Performance Director Patrick van Leeuwen is managing the project at both the Youth Training Facility and at the University. The Youth Department has trained two coaches, one at the North facility and one at the South facility who will responsible for teaching the technical training procedures and special movements of the most successful players in the world to the youngsters.

This season, the Youth Department has begun technical training through the methodology of Wiel Coerver (a Dutch coach who developed training methods that deal with technique). The Department has trained two Youth Academy coaches, Idan Kazinitz (North facility) and Hamda Meri (South facility) that will carry out the technical training for the Under-10 to Under-15 age groups.

The Youth Department will produce 35 video clips on movements in various different directions. Two players will be filmed performing the movements correctly, while each movement is named after a famous player who performs the specific move. Younger players will be challenged to do these movements and the videos will encourage them to work harder in order to handle them during a match as well.

Robin Verheul who is managing the project said, “We want the movements to be performed at the highest levels, but they also must be done quickly. We are teaching the younger players how to do these movements with both feet and each movement is also of a different nature and different direction in order for the players to learn them at each position on the pitch. Just learning the movements is not enough and it’s very important to repeat the exercise over and over again in order to improve the speed of the movement. At the moment, these movements are being done freely and without defensive players. The next step will be to add defenders. At the end of the day, these technical movements will help the player’s confidence in handling the ball and ultimately make them more complete players.”

The Club’s Youth Department has begun a brand new innovative project. Over ...

Or Dasa called up to Israel’s Under-21 squad

Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department’s young talent is keeping busy during the break after being called up to the Israel Under-21 squad for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers. The National Team faces Kosovo away on Thursday and hosts Germany on Tuesday

Youth Club midfielder, Or Dasa, who has recently made the best of an opportunity to be a part of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s First Team, was called up to the Under-21 Israel National Team for their upcoming European Championship qualifiers.

Head Coach Marko Balbul will have Dasa available for Thursday’s away match at Kosovo who are in third place with 6 points after 4 matches and at home against Germany next Tuesday at Ramat Gan Stadium. The Under-21 side currently has 4 points in three matches thanks to a home win over Azerbaijan and a draw in Norway.

Youth Club midfielder, Or Dasa, who has recently made the best of ...

Yellow & Blue Youth Department Results November 4, 2017

The Under-19 side fell to Maccabi Haifa, the U17’s defeated Sakhnin while the Under-15 South squad scored six goals against Ashkelon to move into first place. Check out all of the Youth results inside

Maccabi “Shmuel” Haifa 3:0 Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv
The club’s Under-19 side fell to their rivals from the Carmel on Matchday 7 of the Youth Premier League. The loss moves the team into 7th place, 8 points off of the top of the table. The young Yellow & Blue will now go on a 3-week break. For the full match report click here.

Bnei Sakhnin 0:4 Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv
Eliezer Ben Aharon’s squad continued their positive momentum with yet another win in league play by defeating Bnei Sakhnin on Matchday 7. The Yellow & Blue sit atop the table with 7 wins in as many matches thanks to goal scorers, Raava Assayag with a brace, Gil Ben Shalosh and David Dego. Ben Aharon summed up the win: “We played on a tough pitch which was very small. The win was thanks to the way that our players were able to perform and how the Sakhnin team played. We prepared for the match and it worked as we scored quality team goals at the highest of levels. Now it’s on to the next challenge.”

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv 2:2 Hapoel “Yoram” Rishon Le’Zion
The club’s Under-16 side split the points with Rishon Le’Zion on Matchday 8 after leading 2:0. Nehorai Bitton and Or Roizman scored for Maccabi. Head Coach Raymond Atteveld looked back at the match: “The match began very focused and very well as to what we had worked on this past week in training. After 5 minutes of play we should have been leading as we had a great chance but we failed to score. The attackers have to know the importance of scoring goals which is as important as the defensive work and not allowing goals. We scored the first and second goals but we weren’t able to kill the game, many chances but not enough goals. One mistake allowed the opponent to come back into the match. Mistakes happen during the game but the most important thing is to how the team reacts to those mistakes. We didn’t know how to deal with the mistakes and after an error a number of players were upset and displayed their frustration including at the referee. It’s time that one knows how to respect the referees regardless of their decisions. Rishon was able to draw even on a ridiculous penalty and the match ended in a disappointing draw. As a coach in the Academy I understand that there is a process of learning from mistakes and I hope that the players will learn quickly as it’s time that we understand that we are Maccabi and that we don’t give gifts to the opponents. We will continue to learn and improve.”

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv 6:0 Hapoel Asheklon
The Under-15 South side got back onto the winning track after defeating the southern outfit on Matchday 6. The young Yellow & Blue are in first place and are undefeated so far this season. Ariel Belhassen, Elad Kaplan, Itay Ben Kimon, Oscar Gloch, Mor Siman Tov and Ener Osmandi all scored in the win. Head Coach Ori David spoke about the victory: “We didn’t play as well as we could have in the first half and as we weren’t as quick and missed some chances. We were much better in the second half and played at an excellent pace which led to two fantastic goals.”

Hapoel Petah Tikva 4:3 Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv
The Under-15 North squad fell for the first time this campaign as they lost to Petah Tikva on Matchday 6. Despite the defeat, the young Yellow & Blue sit in 4th place just 3 points off the top of the table. Omer Senior scored a brace while Aviv Pelles added a single marker. Coach Asaf Heber commented: “After a long period of time that we played well, we didn’t play aggressively enough and we weren’t as focused. We led twice in the first half but the hosts tied us up twice and we went into the break even. We gave up two goals at the start of the second half and we were just able to get one goal back near the end of the match.”

Maccabi “Shmuel” Haifa 3:0 Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv The club’s Under-19 side fell ...

“We have to look in the mirror and correct our mistakes”

The Head Coach Guy Tzarfati spoke about the loss to Maccabi Haifa in league action: “We’re disappointed in how we played, we didn’t expect to lose”

About the play after the Derby match:
“Were disappointed in how we played and we didn’t except to lose, especially as to how we looked. But we have to tell the truth that Haifa beat us in all the parameters that a team must do to win a football match. There are games like this. We have to take a look at the video and also look at ourselves in the mirror to see what we did wrong and correct the mistakes. We will take that and move on to the upcoming matches.”

Did Haifa surprise you?
“They didn’t surprise us as the Youth League is very competative this season and they still have some quality players. I believe that we are more surprised in ourselves. We made many mistakes on defense and we weren’t able to control the ball as we lost it numerous times, which is something that I can’t accept and it’s something that we must correct.”

The refereeing:
“Refereeing is part of the game and there can be dialogue between the coach and the referee, that’s part of the game as well. But you can’t cross the line and perhaps the referee took it more seriously that he had to, but my concern is the match itself and not the refereeing.”

About the play after the Derby match: “Were disappointed in how we played ...

Maccabi “Shachar” falls 3:0 to Maccabi Haifa

The Club’s Under-19 squad came up short against the Greens of the Carmel on Matchday 7 of the Youth Premier League. The Yellow & Blue will now go on a 3-week break and will return later in the month against Ashdod

Matchday 7 of the Israel Youth Premier League saw Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv take on the Greens of Maccabi Haifa as the Yellow & Blue came into the contest with 3 wins put of their last 4 matches and in 5th place on the table after a Tel Aviv Derby win last week. Haifa came into the match in 12th place with one win out of 6 games.

Head Coach Guy Tzarfati’s Starting XI featured Daniel Peretz, Ran Vaturi, Amit Glezer, Fadi Najar, Tomer Mahlof, Eden Kartsev, Tomer Altman, Prince Thomas, Eylon Almog, Eyal Hen and Adir Hardon.

First Half
Haifa had the first chance of the match off a 3’ Yam Cohen corner kick as he found Hamoudi Kaanan in the box but his header went over the bar and out. Two minutes later Alon Deri tried a long range strike, but Daniel Peretz was in place to parry the ball away for a corner.

The Greens took the lead in the 14’ when Kaanan crossed the ball from the right wing to Cohen who beat Peretz for a 1:0 lead. Maccabi’s opening opportunity came a minute later but Almog’s shot went into the Haifa defenders and out. In the 30’ Timothy Mozi came down the left flank but Najar was able to stop the dangerous situation while a minute later Almog’s attempt from long distance went out. Cohen, the Haifa goal scorer found Ziv Morgan but his 34’ chance went out however, ten minutes later Kaanan put the ball in the far corner to give Haifa a 2:0 advantage going into the break.

Second Half
Prince Thomas began the half with a terrific chance from 30 meters, but the ball went out while a minute later the Greens again put Maccabi under pressure as Muhammad Jabar came down the left side and crossed the ball to Cohen but his chance went out.

In the 53’ striker Gal Katbi took a through ball and had a great chance on Peretz but the Yellow & Blue keeper made the stop. However, four minutes later Katbi’s shot was saved by Peretz but Mozi found rebound and put the ball into the back of the goal for a 3:0 lead. Mufleh Shalata came on as a substitute and left a fine ball for Altman, but his long range attempt was saved by the keeper in the 64’ while ten minutes later Almog’s chance flew over the bar and out. The sides traded chances for the final quarter hour but Maccabi couldn’t pull a goal back as the match ended in a 3:0 defeat to Haifa.

Matchday 7 of the Israel Youth Premier League saw Maccabi “Shachar” Tel ...

Youth Department Action Saturday November 4, 2017

Following the big Derby victory, the Under-19 side visits the league champions while the U17’s will look to keep their perfect record intact. The Under-16 club plays at Kiryat Shalom while both the U15 teams are also in action

Maccabi “Shmuel” Haifa – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 12:00 Ketsef Lower Pitch
Following the Derby win last week over Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi “Shachar” will look to keep up the positive momentum away at the league champs in the Carmel on Matchday 7. Guy Tzarfati’s squad find themselves in 5th place with 3 wins out of their last 4 matches as the Greens sit in 12th place with their only victory coming on the opening Matchday.

Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv, 14:45 Sakhnin Synthetic Training Pitch
The Under-17 side will look to maintain their perfect record on Matchday 7 in Sakhnin. The young Yellow & Blue are in 1st place while the hosts are in 13th place with one win in 6 contests. Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon’s goal will be to take home 3 points and another win.

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv – Hapoel “Yoram” Rishon Le’Zion, 10:30 Kiryat Shalom Synthetic pitch
After scoring 5 goals last match at Maale Adumim, the Under-16 team plays at home against Rishon Le’Zion on Matchday 8. The Yellow & Blue are in 6th place while the visitors find themselves in 5th as one point separates the two sides.

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv – Hapoel Ashkelon, 12:30 Kiryat Shalom Synthetic Pitch
The Under-15 South squad will play at home when they host the southern side on Matchday 6 as they sit in 2nd place with the same amount of points as the first place team. Ashkelon are in 13th position with one win out of 5 matches as Ori David’s club will look to keep there undefeated streak alive.

Hapoel Petah Tikva – Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv, 13:00 Moshava Synthetic Training Pitch
The Yellow & Blue Under-15 North team heads to Petah Tikva with a record of 4 wins and 1 draw good for 13 points while the hosts have collected 8 points so far and sit in 5th place.

Maccabi “Shmuel” Haifa – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 12:00 Ketsef Lower Pitch Following ...

Tzarfati: “There’s no one happier than me to win a Derby”

The Under-19 Head Coach looked back at his side’s 3:1 Derby win over Hapoel Tel Aviv while the Captain Tomer Altman summed up the game from his point of view as well

The Derby victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv wasn’t just any Youth Premier League win for the coach and the players. Head Coach Guy Tzarfati and Captain Tomer Altman spoke about their feelings on taking home the important win.

“There’s no one happier than me to win a Derby. I thought about it when I was on my way to the match, that I’ve experienced the Derby as a fan, player, a player who won the State Cup Final Derby and as the coach of the Under-19 team. There were a lot of emotions and special energy and I’m happy that we were able to win the match. We can still play better than we did today and we should have killed the game and led 2:0. In the second half we stayed back a bit but we should have still been able to quietly finish off the match much earlier.”

Message to the players following the win:
“I brought the players together in a circle after the match right on the pitch so the fans and parents could see how much I appreciated their hard work and what they did on the pitch. You have to take into account that these are players who are just at the beginning of their careers and there is always pressure in a Derby, by the media and it’s not that simple. I only have compliments and winning 3:1 is really great.”

About Or Dasa playing with the first team:
“Or is a player who is part of the whole youth department. I was the coach who integrated him into the Under-19 side but it’s all of his coaches from when he was younger that deserve credit for doing a great job with him. This is something that the whole department and management can be proud of.”

Captain Tomer Altman also discussed the important win:
“It’s a wonderful feeling especially as to how the match began. Our start to the season wasn’t the best, so it was important to take home the Derby win.”

Looking ahead:
“I think that the good Derby result and the way we played will give us a big push going forward. We just want to continue to improve.”

About the Hapoel fans:
“We weren’t going to let them influence the game. It’s part of the match, the fans and crowd and soon enough the players will be on the first teams where it is also part of the match.”

The Derby victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv wasn’t just any Youth Premier ...