Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Acre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑4 to Maccabi Netanya, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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 Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michael Merenstein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Acre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Acre have done the hard part with Honved, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Acre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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 Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Hapoel Acre close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Roei Shukrani 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.
Hapoel Acre asked and Botev Vratsa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Hapoel Acre dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Barnabás Németh is in the works
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hapoel Acre people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Roei Shukrani.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
0‑3 to Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roei Shukrani 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.
Hapoel Acre asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 22 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑4 to Beitar Jerusalem, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guy David is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dor Weissman 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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Hapoel Acre dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Roei Shukrani 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liberty Professionals have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Hapoel Acre dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Ya'acov Abeba 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ange Messi did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ange Messi 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Avi Hemed to a room that had heard them before.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nitai Greis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hapoel Acre needing him to play as if none of it matters.
0‑3 against Hapoel Kfar Saba, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Manor Shechter has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ori 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roei Shukrani 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ange Messi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ellis Spikner is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roei Shukrani 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Osama Khalaila. 1‑0 against Bnei Yehuda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Saar Schwartz 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Louai Taha
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
0‑3 against Hapoel Beer Sheva, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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 Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ofek Antman 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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 Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Roei Shukrani 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gil Melikson 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Avi Hemed after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louai Taha 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Tel Aviv in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hapoel Acre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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 Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ange Messi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hapoel Acre have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ange Messi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 goals in one match, Raz Twizer on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Acre and Bnei Sakhnin.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Acre can tell you which week it ends in.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sagiv Atzili has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Yoni El Malem 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Acre can tell you which week it ends in.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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 Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 against Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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 Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑3 to Maccabi Petach Tikva, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Maccabi Haifa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
At 30 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Hapoel Acre have a decision that made itself.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Osama Khalaila will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hapoel Acre escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Roei Shukrani 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Uri Dabbur is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Omer Abada has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Osama Khalaila was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Levan Kutalia
6Edition
The Hapoel Acre Gazette
7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Hapoel Acre close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 3 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.
500 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dewa United have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Avi Hemed was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Hapoel Acre dressing room was either.
In brief
SquadA Hapoel Acre teenager takes the young player award
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zbrojovka Brno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Acre and Bnei Yehuda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Hapoel Acre are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at LNZ is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Acre is enjoying the guessing.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roei Shukrani 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 loan enquiry to Hapoel Tel Aviv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
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 Bnei Yehuda.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at OFK Beograd is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Acre is enjoying the guessing.
Roei Shukrani 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.
Zbrojovka Brno have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romi Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Romi Cohen are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Ange Messi
Everything agreed with Viktoria Plzen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Maccabi Tel Aviv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eden Shechter has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uri Atzili 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sagiv Revivo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roei Shukrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hapoel Acre, another week without a signature from Junior Traoré.
Ya'acov Abeba 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Matyáš Šilhavý is in the works