Born in Germany Donis, played for Panathinaikos as a midfielder and won two League Championships and three Greek Cups between 1991-96. He then moved to England and joined Blackburn Rovers (96/97), returned to Greece and played for one season at AEK (97/98) before returning to England and playing for Sheffield United (99) and Huddersfield Town (99/00) where he finished his playing career. Donis made 24 international appearances scoring five goals for the Greek national team between 1991-1997.

Donis began his coaching career in 2002 with Ilisiakos in the fourth division and within two seasons won promotion to the second division. In 2004 he was appointed at AEL and in his first season in charge won promotion with the Larissa based club to the top flight. The following season Donis and Larissa finished eighth in the table and won the Greek Cup beating Panathinaikos in the final. Donis and Larissa began the 2007/08 season with a European campaign on the way to the UEFA Cup group stages, and ended the season sixth in the table.

After a six month period in 2008 as the coach of AEK Athens, Donis was appointed in 2009 as Head Coach of Atromitos and guided them to the Greek Cup Final twice in succession but didn’t win the trophy. Donis coached PAOK in the 2012/13 season before moving to Cyprus the following season to join APOEL Nicosia and guiding them to the double winning the Cypriot League and Cup. Donis successfully guided APOEL to the 2014/15 Champions League Group stage where they were drawn in a group with Barcelona, PSG and Ajax.

In 2015 Donis was appointment as manager of Al-Hilal as he guided the Saudi club to the semi Final of the AFC Champions League as well as victory in the Saudi King Cup of Champions. In 2016/17 Donis switched to the United Arab Emirates and managed Al-Sharjah before returning for second spells with APOEL Nicosia (17/18) and two more seasons with Panathinaikos (18/20) from where he is joining Maccabi.

Bitton began his playing career at Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Youth Department before moving to Sektzia Nes Ziona in 2010/11 and where he made his senior debut and 89 appearances in all competitions. After two seasons at Nes Ziona, Bitton joined Hapoel Nazareth Ilit who later changed its’ name to Nof Hagalil and made 37 appearances in all competitions. Ahead of the 2013/14 season, Bitton moved to Hapoel Be’ersheva and his second season scored his debut senior goal in a league match against Ironi Kiryat Shmona (2.12.14).

Bitton played a key role in Be’ersheva three successive league championships (15/16, 16/17 and 17/18) as to his personal trophy cabinet were also added a SuperCup medal (17/18) and a State Cup medal (19/20) in addition to appearances in the Europa League group stage.

 

Yaron Oz, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s energetic midfielder of the 1970’s, had the reputation as the leader of central midfield who exerted his influence upon the ability of the team at both ends of the pitch. He made his maiden appearance for the senior squad aged 18 as a substitute in the 2-1 State Cup victory over Hapoel Lod in September 1970, and shared in Maccabi’s triumph in the 1969/70 State Cup, whose final stages had been delayed till the beginning of the 1970/71 season. Later that season the young Oz was also part of the Maccabi squad that played in the Asian Club Championship Cup, and came on as a substitute in the match against the Indian side FC Punjab Police in the group stage of the competition that Maccabi Tel Aviv would ultimately go on to win for the first in their history.  

Oz played for ten seasons at Maccabi Tel Aviv and won during that time a total of six titles: Three league championships, two State Cups and one Asian Club Championship Cup. In addition to the abovementioned IFA and Asian Club Championship Cups of 1970 and 1971 respectively, Oz won another State Cup in 1976/77 and championship titles in the ’71/’72, ’76/’77 and ’78/’79 seasons. Oz scored a goal in a 1-1 draw in a Tel Aviv Derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv in October 1972, his first in a total of eleven that he would score for the club throughout his career.

Goal scoring may not have been Oz’s trump card, but his exceptional ability to direct play from the centre of midfield did not escape the attention of the then head coach of the Israel national team, Edmond Schmilovich. He gave Oz a call-up in February 1973 for his maiden appearance in a 1-1 draw against Argentina. In all Yaron Oz made 26 appearances for the national side, scored two goals and qualified with them for the 1976 Olympic Games, where he scored one of those goals against Mexico. At the end of the 1978/79 season Oz moved on for a successful stint playing for Maccabi Jaffa.

 

pictures courtesy of the Israel Football Association archives

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