The Serbian midfielder Nikola Mitrovic arrived at Maccabi Tel Aviv at the beginning of the 2013/14 season from the Hungarian side Videoton FC, where he played for two seasons and scored seven goals in 55 league appearances. Of those two seasons, one and a half were played under current Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa, for whom he scored three goals and made 15 assists in 62 appearances in all competitions. In his two seasons at Videoton, the 27 year-old Mitrovic left an impressive legacy of nine assists and one goal in his first season and six goals and five assists in his second.

Mitrovic was born in the Serbian town of Krusevac and rose through the ranks of the youth set-up at the local side FK Napredak, where he ultimately played three seasons for their senior squad. In 2007 the holding midfielder left his hometown club and joined one of the biggest teams in Serbia, FK Partizan Belgrade, where in his first season he celebrated with the club the league and cup double. After a further two seasons at FK Napredak, interrupted by a single season at the Russian side FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod, Mitrovic left Serbia in the 2010/11 season for the Hungarian side Ujpest FC. where his passing talents in his role as holding midfielder finally emerged. In his one season at Ujpest, Mitrovic registered twelve assists and a goal before moving on to Videoton in the 2011/12 season, winning there the League Cup and two Hungarian Super Cups.

Mitrovic’s maiden appearance for Maccabi Tel Aviv came in matchweek 1 of the 2013/14 season when he came off the bench in his side’s 0-2 away win against Hapoel Acre.

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Ohayon joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth department at the age of 15 and in his first year with the Under-17 side he played a big part in helping his team win the league title. Ohayon moved to the Under-19 team in his second season and was an integral part of the club that won the 2014/15 championship.

The keeper made his First Team debut in August 2015 when he played against Maccabi Petah Tikva in the Toto Cup competition as well as against Bnei Yehuda in the same tournament later on that same season.

In the summer of 2016, Ohayon signed a five year contract extension and was loaned to Premier League outfit Watford for a season. June 2018 saw the shot stopper take part in Maccabi’s preseason training camp.

Nigerian midfielder Nosa Igiebor joined Maccabi Tel Aviv at the start of the 2014/15 season after two years at Spanish side Real Betis. The 23 year-old Igiebor began his professional career at the age of 15 when he joined the senior squad of Nigerian Premier League side Sharks F.C. After two years at the club he moved on for an additional two years to Lagos based outfit Warri Wolves F.C. In 2009 he first left his homeland to make the almost 4,000 mile trek to Norway, where he made his breakthrough at Lillestrom SK. In his third season at the Norwegian first tier Tippeligaen club, Igiebor made his name by scoring 8 goals in 17 appearances.

In 2011, at the age of 21, Igiebor chose to further his career in Israel but wound up spending just one season at municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv. There he collected his first title after scoring the winning goal in the final of the Israel Football Association State Cup. From there he moved on to Spain and the then top tier La Liga side Real Betis. The highlight of his 16 appearances in his maiden season at the club was when he came off the bench in the last minute of the Seville derby against Sevilla FC and scored a dramatic equaliser. In his second season he made 12 appearances and scored one goal, a matchwinner against La Liga rivals Villarreal that could not prevent his club from being relegated at the end of the season.

Igiebor has made eight appearances for the Nigerian national team and scored two goals. One of those goals came in Nigeria’s 2-0 victory over Liberia in the qualifiers for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, helping his side with a further two performances on their way to winning the competition. He scored his second international goal in a friendly against Venezuela in November 2012.

Eden Ben Basat joined the ranks of Maccabi Tel Aviv at the start of the 2014/15 season after signing from French club Toulouse FC. The 27 year-old striker began his career in his hometown of Kiryat Haim, playing in the youth division of Hapoel Haifa. He later “crossed the road” to municipal rivals Maccabi Haifa, where he took his first steps on the senior squad. After two and a half seasons, Ben Basat left Maccabi Haifa for successive loan spells at Maccabi Herzliya, Hapoel Haifa, Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Tel Aviv. The best of these seasons was at Hapoel Haifa in 2007/8, where he scored 13 goals in 26 appearances.

In 2009 Ben Basat returned to Hapoel Haifa and recorded his top season to date, 27 goals in 59 appearances, a feat that paved the way for the start of a European career.  His first stop was with the then French Ligue 1 side Stade Brestois 29, where he scored a respectable four goals in his first season. But it was not until his second season in France’s northwestern Brittany that the striker made his breakthrough, scoring nine goals in the first half of the 2012/13 season and drawing the attention of another club in the French top tier, Toulouse, who signed him in the January transfer window. In the season and a half he spent in south-west France Ben Basat scored seven goals before making his move to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Ben Basat has also made an impressive start to his international career, scoring seven goals in his first twelve appearances for the Israeli national team. Six of them came during Israel’s unsuccessful 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, one in each game against Portugal, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg.

Eli Dasa was born in 1992 and grew up in the town of Nes Ziona where he played for the local youth club. The defender would then move to the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth department and subsequently join the Beitar Jerusalem youth system where he would end up making his first team debut on July 31, 2010 against Hapoel Ashkelon in the Toto Cup Tournament.

Dasa would go on to play in 113 matches and score three goals during his time with Beitar before being purchased by Maccabi Tel Aviv on August 10, 2015. He would make his debut a number of days later against Kiryat Shemona in the Champions Cup. He played in three Champions League matches against Chelsea and Dynamo Kyiv while appearing in 32 official matches. Dasa scored two goals (his first was against Hapoel Beer Sheva) and recorded 4 assists.

In 2016/17 Dasa made 47 appearances and assisted on 7 goals. His best game of the campaign was when he picked up 2 assists on a pair of Vidar Kjartansson goals in a 3:0 win over Kiryat Shemona.

2017/18 saw the defender return from injury in December and made 18 league appearances, scoring one goal and assisting on 4 others. In total, Dasa played in 24 matches and also scored a goal against Tirana in Europa League qualifying.

2018/19 Dasa won the Toto Cup  as well as the League Championship.

The defender has represented Israel at many youth levels, most notably for the Under-19 and Under-21 sides. Dasa earned his first National Team Cap on September 3, 2015 in a 4:0 victory over Andorra and played phenomenally in his second match just three days later in Cardiff against Wales in 0:0 draw.

Avi Rikan was born in 1988 and joined the Beitar Jerusalem youth department in 2000 where he stayed until going on loan to Maccabi Herzliya for the 2007/08 season. In 2008/09, Beitar again loaned out the midfielder to Hapoel Petach Tikva where he made 30 appearances. Beginning in 2009/10 and until his move to FC Zurich in 2013, Rikan would become a mainstay in the Jerusalem lineup where he would play in 121 matches while scoring 15 goals. He would also win the Toto Cup in his first full campaign with the club in 2010.

Rikan joined FC Zurich from Beitar Jerusalem at the start of 2013/14 and in his first season won the Swiss Cup. In two seasons in Switzerland, the left footed midfielder who can also play as a wing-back made 50 appearances scoring 10 goals and adding 8 assists.

On July 23, 2015 Rikan returned to Israel signing a three-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv and his impact was felt almost instantly during the club’s run to the UEFA Champions League Group Stages for the 2015/16 season. He brilliantly assisted on Eran Zahavi’s first goal in the Champions League first leg playoff match in Basel where his free kick pass inside the box gave Maccabi a 1:0 lead. He played in 5 of the club’s Champions League Group Stage matches and has appeared as both a defender and midfielder for the Yellow & Blue. His first goal for Maccabi came in November 2016 at Hapoel Haifa and he ended the campaign with 2 goals and one assist in 41 matches.

In 2016/17, Rikan’s second with the club, he made 28 appearances, recorded one assist and scored 3 goals including one at Maccabi Haifa on Matchday 34.

The 2017/18 season was a successful one for the midfielder. Making 52 appearances across all competitions (33 league), Rikan scored 9 goals (6 league) and added 3 assists. During the course of the campaign he also signed a new contract with the Club.
At the National Team level, Rikan played for both the Under-17 and Under-21 squads while making his first senior team appearance on February 6, 2013 in a friendly against Finland.

Daniel Lifshitz was born in Sweden in 1988 and moved to Kibbutz Nir Oz as a seven year old. The goalkeeper was part of the Maccabi Haifa youth department between 2004-2007 before moving to Maccabi Netanya where he made his first team debut in November of 2007 against Bnei Sakhnin in the Toto Cup Tournament. Almost two years later he would make his first Israel League against Hapoel Haifa on August 22, 2009.

Between 2010-2015 the Lifshitz would play for a variety of teams across a number of levels in Israel including Hapoel Ashkelon, HaKoach Ramat Gan, Maccabi Herzliya and last season at Hapoel Raanana where he appeared in 26 matches. The ‘keeper came to Maccabi Tel Aviv on loan and joined the club on September 1, 2015.

Lifshitz’s debut was in a 2:1 league win over Maccabi Petah Tikva, a match that he was ejected from after touching the ball with his hand outside of the box. He then continued as the club’s first choice keeper in State Cup matches.

In June 2016, took the option on the keeper and he made 2 appearances during the 2016/17 season.

During the 2017/18 season, Lifshitz suffered a shoulder injury that caused him to miss most of the campaign. At the end of his contract the keeper announced his retirement.