The Greek goalkeeper joined Maccabi in the summer of 2019 and won the Super Cup before suffering an injury at the start of the season. Gianniotis made 3 appearances in the league and 10 in all competitions as well as winning the 24^th league championship in the club’s history.

 

 

On June 2019 the 26-year-old Greek keeper joined Maccabi on a free transfer from Olympiacos. Gianniotis, joined Olympiacos as a 19-year-old and gained experience on loan at APO Fostiras and PAS Giannina before Olympiacos loaned him out to Panionios. The tall custodian was then voted keeper of the season at 2016/17 while similar success the following season at Atromitos earned him the best keeper award once again this time with another club. Gianniotis, who will wear the number 1 shirt at Maccabi, made 2 international appearances for the Greek national team and has 4 more appearances for his country’s U21 side.

 

Midfielder Moshe Schweitzer played an important role in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s successes at the end of the 1970’s, one of the most dazzling periods in the club’s history. Son of the late and legendary Israeli coach David (Dovir) Schweitzer, who spent most of his playing and coaching career at Maccabi’s municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv, Moshe matured as a player in the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division. In the 1972/73 season he was brought into the senior squad by another legendary coach, the late Yitzchak Shnior, and made his maiden appearance against Maccabi Netanya in November 1972. He finished the season in the first team and then moved on to Hapoel Petah Tikva, where he spent four successful seasons before returning to Maccabi a mature and seasoned football player.

In his first season as a returning Maccabi midfielder, Schweitzer impressed with his technical skills and his goal-scoring and play-making abilities. In the 1977/78 season he racked up eleven goals in just 26 appearances in all competitions, promising him a fixed place in the starting eleven and even more appearances in his following season. And indeed, he maintained his level the year after, scoring 15 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions, including braces against Hapoel Hadera, Beitar Netanya and Hapoel Rishon Lezion. In consort with fellow players like Giora Spiegel, Yaron Oz and Meir Nimni, Schweitzer provided the club with a particularly fierce attacking force. His goals helped Schweitzer to celebrate his only league championship as a player for Maccabi Tel Aviv, who pipped Beitar Jerusalem to the 1978/79 title.

Schweitzer continued to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv until the end of the 1982/83 season, scoring at season’s end in two of the most memorable matches of the time. He scored in the exciting semi-final of the prestigious State Cup against Maccabi Haifa that ended in a 4-4 draw and was finally decided, in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s favour, in a penalty shoot-out. He then went on to score in the final that Maccabi lost 3-2, thanks to a handled goal from Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Gili Landau, still a subject of much controversy even today. As a Maccabi player Schweitzer scored all told 61 goals in 203 appearances in all competitions. The talented midfielder also scored eight goals in 23 appearances for the national Israeli team.

photographs courtesy of the Israel Football Association archives

Avi Cohen joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth system at the age of nine and played for many years in the various youth teams of the club. His maiden appearance for the senior squad came in March 1974 against HaKoach Ramat Gan at the National Stadium in Ramat Gan. His maiden goal would not come until his second season for the club, but it was a match-winner in a 1-0 Maccabi victory over Hapoiel Hadera. From that point on Cohen had established his reputation as an attacking defender, which earned him the nickname “Libero”, from the Italian word for “free”, or a more versatile type of centre-back.

One of Cohen’s more memorable goals came during the Tel Aviv Derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv in the 1978/79 season, when in front of 20,000 spectators and in a pouring rain he followed up on striker Moshe Goldenberg’s 67^th minute goal and six minutes later struck a high ball with his right foot into the Hapoel net and sealed Maccabi’s 2-0 victory. The same season he celebrated with the club his second league championship: Two years earlier he had won the double and later, in the 1986/87 season, he would win the Israel Football Association (IFA) Cup. In between with English giants Liverpool FC he won a league title in the 1979/80 season, the Community Shield (a match between the league and FA Cup winners) in 1979 and 1980, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in the 1980/81 season and finally, with Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers,  the League Cup in 1987.

Before retiring from football at the beginning of the 1990’s, Avi Cohen returned for one more term at Maccabi Tel Aviv. He also made 64 appearances for the Israel national team between the years 1976 and 1988, scoring one goal. On the 20^th of December 2010 Avi Cohen was seriously injured in a road accident when his moped was struck by a commercial vehicle and died from his injuries nine days later, aged 54.

picture courtesy of the Israel Football Association archives

The Belgrade born attacking midfielder who is a product of Partizan’s Youth Academy, made his senior debut for Hungarian outfit Videoton in 2012 before returning to Serbia and joining Jagodina in 2015.

Nikolic represented his country at U19 and U23 levels – scored 14 goals and added 15 assists in 72 appearances for Dinamo Minsk.

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