David Terans was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Silva Kani. The answer from Maccabi Haifa has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ali Mohamed has his answer from Maccabi Haifa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Trivante Stewart is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $7.4M has been paid because Diego Rossi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Kenji Gorré has left for Bnei Yehuda in a $450.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Maccabi Haifa spend $7.4M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $7.4M for Diego Rossi, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Maccabi Haifa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedrão is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Michael Ohana has his answer from Maccabi Haifa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The offer went to Monterrey this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The chase for Elad Madmon ended with $6.0M changing hands and Maccabi Tel Aviv out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Hapoel Raanana for Ali Mohamed was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.7M has been paid because Bar Cohen is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Maccabi Tel Aviv paid $1.6M and Maccabi Haifa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Elad Madmon was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $6.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ethane Azoulay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lior Kasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ethane Azoulay and Maccabi Haifa agree another 3 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Ali Mohamed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Maccabi Haifa than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Maccabi Haifa that is a harder question to answer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yagel Tarshish trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. João Trevisol has, at Maccabi Haifa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lior Kasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ethane Azoulay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Maccabi Haifa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lior Kasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kenji Gorré will call it something else in private.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Maccabi Tel Aviv moved on, Shareef Kayouf reports back to Maccabi Haifa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Peter Agba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bnei Yehuda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hapoel Tel Aviv moved on, Kenji Gorré reports back to Maccabi Haifa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lior Kasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Maccabi Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Ali Mohamed delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ali Mohamed scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Maccabi Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The phone has started ringing about Kenji Gorré again, and this time the name on the line is Hapoel Tel Aviv. Maccabi Haifa are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bruninho obliged against Bnei Sakhnin. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Maccabi Haifa.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Maccabi Haifa scored in the 115th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maccabi Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gil Cohen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Maccabi Haifa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maccabi Haifa, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruninho. 1‑0 against Beitar Jerusalem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ben Weissman on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona next, and one man in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ethane Azoulay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Haifa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
3 goals in 5 games at Saba — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Next up on the road: Hapoel Haifa, position 5. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ben Weissman on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Position 2, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Maccabi Haifa had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ali Mohamed
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ali Mohamed has come out of that comparison in the side, and Maccabi Haifa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 on the bounce on the road for Maccabi Haifa. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ben Weissman, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Xander Severina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and David Terans takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Terans provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Maccabi Haifa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maccabi Petach Tikva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jelle Bataille was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 1‑0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I watch every Maccabi Haifa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A mark of 7.45, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ben Weissman, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Hapoel Beer Sheva.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Maccabi Haifa have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.