Klemi Saban, an Israeli defender, grew up in Maccabi Netanya and debuted with the seniors in 1998. He then went on to play two seasons with the team from the City of Diamonds. In 2001, Saban received the opportunity to prove himself to Dror Kashtan and HaPoel Tel Aviv, whose uniform he wore for three seasons. It was only in his final season on the red team that Klemi Saban was awarded a regular slot on the squad and, at the end of that season, he left to HaPoel Petach Tikva. Upon arrival in Petach Tikva, Saban also debuted on the national team (4 September 2004 against the French team). At the end of his only season with HaPoel Petach Tikva, Klemi won the Toto Cup and then transferred to Maccabi Haifa, where he got his first taste of a championship.
Saban continued his gradual progression and his next stop was Steaua Bucharest, which he joined in 2006/07. Actually, instead of trying to making it to the Champions League with Maccabi Haifa, he did it with the Romanian team that made it to the Group stage. Saban played in these games against Real Madrid, but still ended his Romanian stint with Steaua Bucharest and its controversial owners, Gigi Becali, returning home to the team of his youth, Maccabi Netanya.
Saban played on his home team for three more seasons until he transferred to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the summer preceding the 2010/11 season. Klemi played in 21 league games and six Toto Cup games during his first season, scoring one goal in the derby game against HaPoel Tel Aviv. In addition to his debut performance in the national team in 2004, Saban appeared in blue and white another 24 times, making an official goal against Moldova in the 2010 World Cup qualifier.
Menachem (Miko) Bello, who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1960’s and 70’s, is remembered as one of the greatest ever left backs to play football for Maccabi Tel Aviv in particular and for Israel in general. He joined the club at age12 and made his first senior team appearance aged 16 in February of 1964 in an Israel Football Association (IFA) Cup match against Hapoel Kiryat Ono. It was the match that launched the campaign that ended in Bello and Maccabi lifting the Cup at the end of the competition, with Bello playing in every match along the way. The following season Bello continued to display his great abilities and consistency on the pitch and helped the club capture their second consecutive IFA Cup title.
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Bello had the reputation as a defender who could stop attacking players fairly and with great precision, witness to his relative rare appearances in the referee’s book during his 18 year tenure with the club. By contrast, the number of titles attributed to his name is almost unprecedented: five championships, five IFA Cups and two Asian Club Championship Cups. His time at Maccabi in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s represents one of the most successful and significant periods in the club’s history. It started with the IFA Cup in 1966/67, the championship in the 1966/68 season extended by the Six Day War, the Asian Club Championship Cup the following season, the championship in 1969/70 and once again the Asian Club Championship Cup in 1970/71.
In the first of Maccabi’s Asian Club Championship Cup victories, Bello played in every match of the competition and was on the pitch for Maccabi’s famous 5-0 derby triumph over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the championship year of 1970. He remained with the club until his retirement in 1982, 18 consecutive years shoring up the defences of Maccabi Tel Aviv during a particularly successful and title-filled period. Bello made 57 appearances for the Israeli national team, among others in the Olympic campaign in Mexico in 1968 and the matches at World Cup finals in Mexico in 1970.
picture courtesy of the Israel Football Association archives
Levin has been the Youth Division’s director of football since 2008 and during his tenure, the division has continued to amass titles and grow in the number of teams and players. Levin’s career with Maccabi Tel Aviv began 8 years prior to taking his current position, when he worked as the senior team’s head coach during the 2000/01 season, replacing Shlomo Scharf shortly after the season began. Under his guidance, the team won the prestigious State Cup two seasons in a row.
After the second victory, Levin left the club and returned as a coach in late 2007/08, after which he was appointed to his current position in the Youth Division. Even as director of football at the Youth Division, Levin has maintained his presence on the touchlines at senior team games. During the 2009/10 season, he served as assistant coach to Avi Nimni and in late 2011/12, the club asked him to take on the challenge of a third stint as Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach. When the season ended, Levin went back to focusing on the Youth Division.
As a player, Levin was known to be one of the more prominent figures of the 1980’s, when he played at Hapoel Petach Tikva in over 200 league games, scoring 93 goals. After several good years in Petach Tikva, he played for the Belgian side Gent for one season, after which he returned to Israel and played for Hapoel Petach Tikva, Bnei Yehuda and others, until retiring from active play in 1995.
