Chico

Central Defender - Hapoel Tel Aviv
20 Sep 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Chico

6 Edition

The Hapoel Tel Aviv Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emmanuel Boateng

Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Tel Aviv

Andrian Kraev 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.

Market

Or Israelov attracts admirers

The name of Or Israelov has come up in conversations Hapoel Tel Aviv were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Doron Leidner 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.

Match

Hapoel Tel Aviv find a way past Maccabi Petach Tikva

Maccabi Petach Tikva made Hapoel Tel Aviv work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Stav Toriel at his very best

Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Market

Bnei Yehuda expected to open talks for Daniel Dappa

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Hapoel Tel Aviv will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Chico is still paying for one afternoon at Hapoel Tel Aviv

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Player ratings

Chico will replay that one

1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Hapoel Tel Aviv Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Doron Leidner

Successful dribbles: 73. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Daniel Dappa, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70

A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Hapoel Tel Aviv sell Anas Mahamid for $1.2M

Anas Mahamid has left for Maccabi Haifa in a $1.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

Andrian Kraev in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Roei Alkukin attracts admirers

The name of Roei Alkukin has come up in conversations Hapoel Tel Aviv were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Chico 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 terraces

Hapoel Tel Aviv supporters have found a favourite in Daniel Dappa

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Dappa 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.

Match

Hapoel Tel Aviv find a way past Hapoel Kfar Saba

Hapoel Kfar Saba made Hapoel Tel Aviv work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Assaf Tzur left out for tactical reasons at Hapoel Tel Aviv

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

4 Edition

The Hapoel Tel Aviv Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Maccabi Netanya come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hapoel Tel Aviv did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Sagi Pinhas puts it in writing

“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 Hapoel Tel Aviv, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Tel Aviv

Chico 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.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Hapoel Tel Aviv

3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Tel Aviv training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrian Kraev 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.

Market

Dan Solomon steps up from the Hapoel Tel Aviv academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dan Solomon has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief

2 Edition

The Hapoel Tel Aviv Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Tel Aviv say no — this time

The offer from Hapoel Beer Sheva for Andrian Kraev 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.

Squad

Hamza Sakhi gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hamza Sakhi has just signed for Hapoel Tel Aviv, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Stav Toriel signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stav Toriel and Hapoel Tel Aviv agree another 5 years.

Squad

Andrian Kraev in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Chico 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.

Market

36 months and counting on Fernand Mayembo

Still no offer on the table, and Fernand Mayembo’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

In brief

1 Edition

The Hapoel Tel Aviv Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Mor Buskila damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.

Market

Anas Mahamid hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Tel Aviv can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

8 seasons of Anas Mahamid

198 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hapoel Tel Aviv know what they have.

Market

Hapoel Tel Aviv say no — this time

The offer from Hapoel Acre for Mor Buskila 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.

Squad

Emmanuel Boateng signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emmanuel Boateng commits to Hapoel Tel Aviv for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Tel Aviv

Chico 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.

In brief