Hapoel Haifa U18

Israeli Premier League U18
1 Jan 2028
Saturday
Process
74 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

27 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Yoav Gerafi

74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Evaristo Dieguiz

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

No end in sight to Hapoel Haifa's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Haifa has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ido Shahar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hapoel Haifa come up short against Hapoel Beer Sheva

Hapoel Beer Sheva left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Hapoel Haifa

4 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yoav Gerafi

“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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Shon Abada left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

Back issues
73 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

20 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yoav Gerafi damages knee ligaments — 81 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Hapoel Haifa

2‑5 against Hapoel Tel Aviv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Evaristo Dieguiz

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

A hand in 2 of them from Octavio Bianchi — 7.80

Marked 7.80. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

7 goals as Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Župarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ido Shahar

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ido Shahar, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Willy Agada in the eights

A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

72 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

13 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Yoav Gerafi

88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Evaristo Dieguiz keeps Hapoel Haifa in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Župarić 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hapoel Haifa against Maccabi Netanya

1‑2 to Maccabi Netanya, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alon Turgeman

“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.

The dugout

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 Shon Abada to a room that had heard them before.

Market

No place for Naftali Balay in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Naftali Balay has his answer from Hapoel Haifa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

Ido Shahar knocks on the manager's door

“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 Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

71 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

6 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Yoav Gerafi out for 95 days

95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Evaristo Dieguiz

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

Eitan Levy signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eitan Levy commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 3 years.

Match

Honours even between Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Alon Turgeman knocks on the manager's door

“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 Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Shon Abada chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Tamir Arbel

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.

The dugout

Dario Župarić left out for tactical reasons at Hapoel Haifa

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

70 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

29 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Yoav Gerafi

102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Match

Willy Agada the difference as Hapoel Haifa beat Bnei Sakhnin

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Willy Agada. 2‑1 against Bnei Sakhnin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Market

Manor Hemed steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manor Hemed 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.

Market

Lior Levy steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lior Levy 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.

Market

Dor Abada steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dor Abada 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.

Market

One of our own: Avi Natcho joins the Hapoel Haifa first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Avi Natcho is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Player ratings

Willy Agada was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.16. 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Itay Buganim

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

69 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

22 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Yoav Gerafi out for 109 days

109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Both of them Willy Agada's — 9.19

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 24. 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.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Willy Agada the difference as Hapoel Haifa beat Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Willy Agada. 2‑1 against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

Halfway: Hapoel Haifa sit in position 8

17 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naftali Balay 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 dugout

Shon Abada has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Shon Abada on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Hapoel Haifa

Something was said to Itay Buganim and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

68 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

15 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Yoav Gerafi out for 116 days

116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The wait goes on for Hapoel Haifa

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

The goals have deserted Hapoel Haifa

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Haifa can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Willy Agada reaches 200 appearances

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.

Player ratings

Shai Elias runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dor Malul 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Daniel Felczer

“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.

The dugout

Shon Abada on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Shon Abada after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

67 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

8 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Yoav Gerafi damages knee ligaments — 124 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman was unplayable

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Raheem Nugraha

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raheem Nugraha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Yoav Gerafi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yoav Gerafi and Hapoel Haifa agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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 dugout

Yoav Gerafi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

Bnei Yehuda take the points off Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Shon Abada faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Shon Abada after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

Liran Rotman named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Liran Rotman is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

66 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

1 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Yoav Gerafi out for 131 days

131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Evaristo Dieguiz stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Régis N'do 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 Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa come up short against Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi Haifa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

George Diba gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Naftali Balay 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 dugout

Shon Abada answers for it

“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.

In brief

65 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Yoav Gerafi

138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Eli Solomon out for 32 days

The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Eli Solomon, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Octavio Bianchi

7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hapoel Haifa had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Squad

Dor Malul 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Jonathan Agyapong

“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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Petach Tikva take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Ido Shahar knocks on the manager's door

“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 Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

64 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

18 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Yoav Gerafi out for 145 days

145 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hapoel Haifa leave it late against Hapoel Kfar Saba

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Hapoel Kfar Saba spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

The dugout

Evaristo Dieguiz keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hapoel Haifa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hapoel Haifa right now

3 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Liran Rotman

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Hapoel Haifa see off Hapoel Kfar Saba

Three points for Hapoel Haifa, 2‑1 the final word against Hapoel Kfar Saba in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Itay Buganim in the eights

A performance of 8.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Shon Abada has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Shon Abada on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

63 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Yoav Gerafi

152 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Willy Agada takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Market

Raheem Nugraha has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hapoel Haifa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Ido Shahar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Hapoel Haifa see off Hapoel Raanana

Three points for Hapoel Haifa, 3‑1 the final word against Hapoel Raanana in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Liran Rotman at his very best

Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Haifa.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bruno Ramires

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Ramires, and the manager let it.

Squad

Rotem Hatuel 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.

Player ratings

Willy Agada 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

62 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

4 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Hapoel Haifa tear Hapoel Acre apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Hapoel Acre, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Willy Agada scores twice — 9.21

Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Yoav Gerafi

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

The dugout

Rotem Hatuel: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Dario Župarić signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dario Župarić commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa end the wait against Hapoel Acre

It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Player ratings

One of those days for Liran Rotman

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Octavio Bianchi at his very best

Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Haifa.

In brief

61 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

27 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The small margins put Hapoel Haifa out

Out, 1‑1 to Bnei Sakhnin, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

The dugout

Ziv Morgan says Hapoel Haifa went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

5 matches without a win for Hapoel Haifa

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Hapoel Haifa are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Régis N'do runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Only the photograph left for Khairin Nadim Rahim

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khairin Nadim Rahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Lior Weissman signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lior Weissman commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 3 years.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hapoel Haifa against Hapoel Beer Sheva

0‑1 to Hapoel Beer Sheva, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Match

Bnei Sakhnin snatch it back from Hapoel Haifa

A goal on 112 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

In brief

60 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Hapoel Haifa

A 0‑3 beating by Hapoel Tel Aviv was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Felipe Longo stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

The step up is real for Felipe Longo

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A late step up for Octavio Bianchi

At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Hapoel Haifa

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Willy Agada's mistake

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.

The dugout

Shon Abada faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Shon Abada after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Player ratings

One moment undoes Willy Agada

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

In brief

59 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Rodrigo Borzone keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hapoel Haifa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Raheem Nugraha

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raheem Nugraha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Khairin Nadim Rahim

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Shai Elias has improved at 28, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Ido Shahar 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.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. 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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya take the points off Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Shon Abada: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

58 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A hiding for Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 1‑5 by Maccabi Tel Aviv, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

The dugout

Ido Shahar: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

12 seasons of Dor Malul

500 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hapoel Haifa know what they have.

Squad

Felipe Longo keeps Hapoel Haifa in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Boardroom

Hapoel Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making

18 in and 5 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Sali Pahima at Hapoel Haifa

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sali Pahima is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

57 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Khairin Nadim Rahim has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hapoel Haifa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Yaad Gonen is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Naftali Balay comes home

The shirt still fits. Naftali Balay is back at Hapoel Haifa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

Late improvement for Willy Agada

At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Liran Rotman

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

3 academy graduates step up at Hapoel Haifa

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Squad

Ido Shahar 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 dugout

Ido Shahar gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

56 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Felipe Longo at Hapoel Haifa

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Felipe Longo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Ido Shahar 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Octavio Bianchi

At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Hapoel Haifa

9 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.

Market

The Octavio Bianchi story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Octavio Bianchi signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Samuel Reis knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Reis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

55 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Raheem Nugraha

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raheem Nugraha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Khairin Nadim Rahim

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Late improvement for Shai Elias

At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Tamir Arbel stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Tamir Arbel and Hapoel Haifa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rotem Hatuel

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rotem Hatuel, and the manager let it.

In brief

54 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Sali Pahima

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itay Buganim 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.

Squad

Rotem Hatuel signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rotem Hatuel and Hapoel Haifa agree another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Itay Buganim

“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.

Market

The Alon Turgeman story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alon Turgeman signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Hapoel Haifa

46 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bruno Ramires has written the date down.

The dugout

Felipe Longo knocks on the manager's door

“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 Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

53 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Khairin Nadim Rahim is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Evaristo Dieguiz slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Evaristo Dieguiz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

Market

Willy Agada linked with a move away

The name of Willy Agada keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hapoel Haifa say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Felipe Longo: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Hapoel Haifa will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

Squad

A promotion for Omer Bonder

Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Omer Bonder has moved up it.

In brief

52 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Itay Buganim: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya tell Hapoel Haifa: Tomer Zarfati is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rotem Hatuel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The Octavio Bianchi story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Octavio Bianchi signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Yaad Gonen knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yaad Gonen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

51 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Raheem Nugraha 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 Haifa can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Raheem Nugraha has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hapoel Haifa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Raheem Nugraha has agreed to leave Hapoel Haifa for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Squad

Eitan Levy out for 16 days

The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Eitan Levy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rotem Hatuel 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Haifa turn down Hapoel Beer Sheva for Octavio Bianchi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Dor Malul 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 Haifa can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

Régis N'do has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Sali Pahima signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sali Pahima commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 3 years.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Hapoel Haifa

9 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.

Market

The Alon Turgeman story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alon Turgeman signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Hapoel Haifa have something to play for

Position 5 on 46 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

Market

Evaristo Dieguiz arrives on loan

Hapoel Haifa have taken Evaristo Dieguiz on loan from Lanús — cover where cover was needed.

In brief

49 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Khairin Nadim Rahim 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 Haifa can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Tel Aviv tell Hapoel Haifa: Daniel Dappa is not for sale

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.

Market

Khairin Nadim Rahim has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hapoel Haifa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Evaristo Dieguiz due for a Hapoel Haifa medical

Everything agreed with Lanús, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Ido Shahar 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

Hapoel Haifa sell Matan Ambar for $200.0K

Matan Ambar has left for Hapoel Kfar Saba in a $200.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Hapoel Haifa academy

7 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dor Malul

“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.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa take the armband off Willy Agada

It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.

In brief

48 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ido Shahar comes home

The shirt still fits. Ido Shahar is back at Hapoel Haifa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Rodrigo Borzone

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Haifa have done the hard part with Estudiantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Khairin Nadim Rahim

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A late step up for Sa'ar Fadida

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The terraces

The town asked, and Hapoel Haifa paid $3.7M

Ido Shahar was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Lisandru Olmeta

Hapoel Haifa asked and Voluntari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

No hiding place for Itay Buganim

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Itay Buganim, and the manager let it.

Squad

Daniel Felczer signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Felczer commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 3 years.

In brief

47 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Haifa turn down Hapoel Beer Sheva for Ivan Kričak

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa make their move for Ido Shahar

$3.7M on the table at Maccabi Tel Aviv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Hapoel Haifa get their man

The chase for Daniel Felczer ended with $680.0K changing hands and Hapoel Tel Aviv out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Real improvement from Felipe Longo at Hapoel Haifa

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Felipe Longo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Shai Elias stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Shai Elias and Hapoel Haifa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Market

Hapoel Haifa sell Shai Belhassen for $130.0K

Shai Belhassen has left for Hapoel Acre in a $130.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Transfer targets

Racing Club tell Hapoel Haifa: Francisco Gómez is not for sale

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.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa lose Eitan Levy

45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

46 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Haifa turn down Beitar Jerusalem for Willy Agada

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Hapoel Haifa get their man

The chase for Jonathan Agyapong ended with $560.0K changing hands and Bnei Yehuda out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sa'ar Fadida and Hapoel Haifa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Sa'ar Fadida 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.

Squad

Sali Pahima is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa rebuffed over Nəriman Axundzadə

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Hapoel Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Francisco Gómez is in the works

Hapoel Haifa have made the call to Racing Club. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Sa'ar Fadida knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sa'ar Fadida trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

45 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa agree $560.0K for Jonathan Agyapong

The clubs have shaken hands with Bnei Yehuda; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Shai Belhassen asks to leave Hapoel Haifa

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Khairin Nadim Rahim is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Khairin Nadim Rahim has agreed to leave Hapoel Haifa for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Willy Agada signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Willy Agada commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 4 years.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Sa'ar Fadida asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Hapoel Haifa than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

Boardroom

Open for business: Hapoel Haifa enter the window

The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.

In brief

44 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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

A year gone for Régis N'do

The loan was meant to give him football. 3 games and 0 goals later he is back at Hapoel Haifa no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.

The dugout

Alon Turgeman knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alon Turgeman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shai Belhassen 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 dugout

Matan Ambar gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Alon Turgeman talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

43 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Andrija Radulović is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hapoel Haifa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sa'ar Fadida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Felipe Longo gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Octavio Bianchi question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Octavio Bianchi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager makes Dor Malul a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hapoel Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

42 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Lior Weissman 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Itay Buganim gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi gets picked when it counts

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 Yoav Gerafi is on it.

Market

The Willy Agada talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Match

Hapoel Haifa in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 46 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

The manager makes Bruno Ramires a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hapoel Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Lior Weissman keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Lior Weissman plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Welcome back, Sali Pahima

Through a full week of training without a reaction, and already asking for a place. Hapoel Haifa will be careful with him and he will resent every day of it.

In brief

41 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Felipe Longo says Hapoel Haifa went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Sa'ar Fadida 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

Adi Atzili wants to come home

“I did not go to Hapoel Kfar Saba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hapoel Haifa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Rotem Hatuel

“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.

Loan watch

Yoav Gerafi’s loan is measured in nothing happening

8 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Hapoel Haifa. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.

In brief

40 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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

The Alon Turgeman talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Rotem Hatuel knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rotem Hatuel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Dor Malul

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.

The dugout

Octavio Bianchi keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Octavio Bianchi plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

In brief

39 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alon Turgeman 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matan Ambar gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Octavio Bianchi question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Octavio Bianchi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bruno Ramires has written the date down.

Squad

Questions about Omer Bonder on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief

38 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alon Turgeman

“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.

The dugout

When it matters, Yoav Gerafi plays

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.

The dugout

George Diba knocks on the manager's door

“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 Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Willy Agada question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Willy Agada’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

Hapoel Haifa in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 46 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Bruno Ramires plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Willy Agada is the talk of the training ground

Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.

In brief

37 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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

Hapoel Haifa promote Eli Peretz from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eli Peretz 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.

Market

One of our own: Dor Revivo joins the Hapoel Haifa first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dor Revivo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Loan watch

Adi Atzili wants to come home

“I did not go to Hapoel Kfar Saba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hapoel Haifa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Alon Turgeman asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Loan watch

8 clean sheets on loan for Yoav Gerafi

25 appearances at Hapoel Haifa and the goals have stopped going in. Hapoel Haifa lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.

Squad

“I want to play”: Felipe Longo speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

The dugout

A door opens for Rotem Hatuel

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.

In brief

36 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa take the armband off Alon Turgeman

It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.

Market

The Alon Turgeman question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alon Turgeman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager makes Bruno Ramires a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hapoel Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

Willy Agada handed the armband

The captaincy goes to Willy Agada. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.

In brief

35 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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

The Octavio Bianchi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

The manager makes Matan Ambar a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hapoel Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Octavio Bianchi keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Octavio Bianchi plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Samuel Reis has settled at Hapoel Haifa

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

Squad

Khairin Nadim Rahim takes up the language

The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.

In brief

34 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Ziv Morgan keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hapoel Haifa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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 dugout

Rotem Hatuel gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Yoav Gerafi plays

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.

Market

The Willy Agada question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Willy Agada’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

George Diba called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Hapoel Haifa that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Hapoel Haifa

46 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Squad

Lessons booked for Samuel Reis at Hapoel Haifa

Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Sa'ar Fadida

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sa'ar Fadida has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

33 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Itay Buganim

“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.

Loan watch

Adi Atzili counts the days

“I watch every Hapoel Haifa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Kfar Saba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Loan watch

Nobody is scoring past Yoav Gerafi at Hapoel Haifa

8 shut-outs in 25 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Yoav Gerafi has been having a lot of them.

The dugout

A door opens for Bruno Ramires

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.

In brief

32 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dario Župarić signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dario Župarić and Hapoel Haifa agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Boardroom

$1.9M on the table at Hapoel Haifa

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Dor Malul

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hapoel Haifa told Dor Malul something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Market

The Alon Turgeman question follows Hapoel Haifa around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alon Turgeman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

31 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alon Turgeman

“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.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Octavio Bianchi

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hapoel Haifa told Octavio Bianchi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Octavio Bianchi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

30 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The season ends: position 5 for Hapoel Haifa

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Squad

Alon Turgeman 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Willy Agada beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hapoel Haifa come up short against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

George Diba gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Shon Abada faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Shon Abada after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hapoel 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.

The dugout

Alon Turgeman left out for tactical reasons at Hapoel Haifa

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

29 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Willy Agada

13 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Willy Agada sends Hapoel Haifa past Beitar Jerusalem

It finished 1‑0, and it was Willy Agada’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hapoel Haifa.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Willy Agada at his very best

Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Haifa.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Octavio Bianchi did the work nobody counts — 7.14

9 combined actions and 7.14. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

The dugout

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.” Shon Abada, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dor Malul

“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.

In brief

28 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Octavio Bianchi's — 9.17

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Liran Rotman

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Andrija Radulović

14 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Match

Octavio Bianchi the difference as Hapoel Haifa beat Bnei Yehuda

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Octavio Bianchi. 4‑3 against Bnei Yehuda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

7 goals as Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Yehuda go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Yehuda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Itay Buganim signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Itay Buganim commits to Hapoel Haifa for another 3 years.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Yoav Gerafi

“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.

In brief

27 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Hapoel Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making

5 in and 2 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Business is business: Roei Zikri goes

Maccabi Netanya paid $100.0K and Hapoel Haifa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Boca Juniors tell Hapoel Haifa: Fernando Rodriguez is not for sale

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hapoel Haifa against Maccabi Haifa

0‑2 to Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alon Turgeman

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alon Turgeman, and the manager let it.

Market

Adi Atzili attracts admirers

The name of Adi Atzili has come up in conversations Hapoel Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Player ratings

Octavio Bianchi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

26 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Roei Zikri 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 Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Hapoel Haifa say no — this time

The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Roei Zikri 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.

Transfer targets

Bradel Kiwa will not be coming to Hapoel Haifa

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Haifa is enjoying the guessing.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Alon Turgeman 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Transfer targets

Estudiantes tell Hapoel Haifa: Rodrigo Borzone is not for sale

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.

Match

Octavio Bianchi sends Hapoel Haifa past Maccabi Petach Tikva

It finished 1‑0, and it was Octavio Bianchi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hapoel Haifa.

Player ratings

Octavio Bianchi stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Hapoel Haifa support went home talking about one name.

In brief

  • Transfer targets A loan move for Fernando Rodriguez is in the works
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout When it matters, Yoav Gerafi plays
25 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bruno Ramires damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Shai Elias delivers — 7.86

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Shai Elias scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Liran Rotman

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa rebuffed over Sayed Abu Farchi

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Roei Zikri attracts admirers

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

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Rodrigo Borzone is in the works

Hapoel Haifa have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

24 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Ramires

26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Felipe Longo

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Hapoel Beer Sheva join the queue for Régis N'do

Add another name to the list: Hapoel Beer Sheva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Régis N'do. The answer from Hapoel Haifa has not changed — yet.

Squad

Andrija Radulović is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.27 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Tel Aviv tell Hapoel Haifa: Dor Benyamini is not for sale

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.

Match

Andrija Radulović the difference as Hapoel Haifa beat Hapoel Raanana

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrija Radulović. 2‑0 against Hapoel Raanana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Market

Hapoel Haifa promote Ofir Shechter from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ofir 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.

Market

Eli Solomon steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eli 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

23 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bruno Ramires damages knee ligaments — 33 days out

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.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović scores twice — 8.43

Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Andrija Radulović is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hapoel Haifa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa get the job done against Hapoel Acre

A 3‑2 win over Hapoel Acre, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Andrija Radulović is carrying Hapoel Haifa

12 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

One of those days for Shai Elias

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa ask about Felipe Longo

A loan enquiry to Corinthians: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa ask about Bakary Konaté

A loan enquiry to Maccabi Netanya: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Roei Zikri
  • The dugout Bruno Ramires knocks on the manager’s door
22 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Bruno Ramires out for 41 days

41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Player ratings

Shai Elias was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hapoel Beer Sheva take the points off Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

200 appearances for Ivan Kričak

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Shon Abada left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Régis N'do

“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.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi gets picked when it counts

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 Yoav Gerafi is on it.

In brief

21 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Bruno Ramires out for 50 days

50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Lior Weissman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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 Haifa come up short against Hapoel Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel Aviv left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Shon Abada to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

Omer Bonder signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Omer Bonder and Hapoel Haifa agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Itay Buganim gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Hapoel Haifa keep their word to Itay Buganim

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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Ramires

59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Andrija Radulović

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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.

Match

Willy Agada the difference as Hapoel Haifa beat Maccabi Netanya

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Willy Agada. 2‑1 against Maccabi Netanya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

George Diba ran the middle of the pitch — 7.78

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.78, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Market

Tomer Peretz steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomer Peretz 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.

Market

Shon Shechter steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Shon Shechter 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Willy Agada

Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

19 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Lior Weissman: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Yoav Gerafi keeps Hapoel Haifa in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

George Diba signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” George Diba and Hapoel Haifa agree another 3 years.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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

Maccabi Tel Aviv take the points off Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bruno Ramires

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Ramires, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Willy Agada's mistake

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.

The dugout

Shon Abada faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Shon Abada after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

18 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alon Turgeman 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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.

Looking ahead

Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

Player ratings

Willy Agada in the eights

A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.23. 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.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Sakhnin take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hapoel 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.

The dugout

Shon Abada on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Shon Abada after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

17 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hapoel Haifa are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Hapoel Haifa find a way past Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona made Hapoel Haifa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Willy Agada in the eights

A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Sa'ar Fadida was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.22. 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.

Match

The half-term report on Hapoel Haifa

Position 3, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

A satisfied Shon Abada

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Shon Abada could afford to be generous.

The dugout

No hiding place for Régis N'do

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Régis N'do, and the manager let it.

In brief

16 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Player ratings

Vintage Alon Turgeman — 8.03

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hapoel Haifa find a way past Beitar Jerusalem

Beitar Jerusalem made Hapoel Haifa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout

Shon Abada has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Shon Abada on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Squad

Raheem Nugraha is a square peg at Hapoel Haifa

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matan Ambar

“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.

The dugout

Octavio Bianchi left out for tactical reasons at Hapoel Haifa

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

15 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Tamir Arbel signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tamir Arbel and Hapoel Haifa agree another 4 years.

Market

One of our own: Matan Refaelov joins the Hapoel Haifa first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matan Refaelov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Liran Rotman makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

The dugout

Bruno Ramires gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Willy Agada was the difference for Hapoel Haifa

Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Match

Honours even between Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Yehuda

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

14 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

A bad afternoon for Hapoel Haifa against Maccabi Haifa

2‑3 to Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Yoav Gerafi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.05. 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.

Match

Hapoel Haifa hit back inside 2 minutes

Maccabi Haifa held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Hapoel Haifa answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

Match

After 4 games, Hapoel Haifa finally taste it again

The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Maccabi Haifa; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

Andrija Radulović named player of the month

The award goes to Andrija Radulović, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Shon Abada left the room before anybody could ask which.

Player ratings

Octavio Bianchi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Yoav Gerafi named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yoav Gerafi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

13 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Andrija Radulović

Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Hapoel Haifa win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Maccabi Petach Tikva will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Match

Hapoel Haifa up to position 3

19 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hapoel Haifa right now

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa count the cost of losing Eden Shechter

34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Willy Agada sends Hapoel Haifa past Maccabi Petach Tikva

It finished 1‑0, and it was Willy Agada’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hapoel Haifa.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Willy Agada

Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout A promise honoured at Hapoel Haifa
  • The dugout No hiding place for Régis N'do
12 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Shai Elias leads the rout of Hapoel Kfar Saba

3‑0, and Shai Elias took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hapoel Haifa tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hapoel Haifa right now

3 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Sali Pahima

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.38. 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.

Player ratings

Shai Elias was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.20. 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Liran Rotman 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 Haifa.

The dugout

No hiding place for George Diba

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to George Diba, and the manager let it.

In brief

11 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hapoel Haifa tear Hapoel Raanana apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Hapoel Raanana, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Willy Agada scores twice — 9.00

Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Vintage Alon Turgeman — 7.98

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

The step up is real for Anis Ayash

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović in the eights

A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Shon Abada kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Lior Weissman asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

10 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Hapoel Haifa tear Hapoel Acre apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Hapoel Acre, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Liran Rotman

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović scores twice — 8.44

Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Hapoel Haifa are still strangers to each other

8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Shon Abada: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.

Squad

Andrija Radulović moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Hapoel Haifa than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

The dugout

Rotem Hatuel gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

9 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Yoav Gerafi stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The cup run ends for Hapoel Haifa

0‑1 against Bnei Sakhnin, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Willy Agada beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Itai Zafrani

At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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.

Match

Hapoel Beer Sheva snatch it back from Hapoel Haifa

A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

Match

Hapoel Haifa share the spoils with Hapoel Beer Sheva

A 1‑1 draw with Hapoel Beer Sheva leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Shon Abada on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

8 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Yoav Gerafi stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Willy Agada 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 Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hapoel Tel Aviv take the points off Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Shon Abada left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Régis N'do

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Andrija Radulović

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Willy Agada named player of the week

One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Willy Agada has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.

Looking ahead

Shai Elias goes back to face Hapoel Beer Sheva

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Shai Elias’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hapoel Haifa needing him to play as if none of it matters.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Régis N'do

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

7 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Hapoel Haifa run riot against Maccabi Netanya

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Willy Agada scores twice — 9.50

Two goals and a mark of 9.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Octavio Bianchi has a hand in both — 7.98

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Market

Hapoel Haifa promote Eden Shechter from within

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.00. 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 dugout

Sa'ar Fadida gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Shon Abada: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑1, already talking about the next one.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Hapoel Haifa

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 Tel Aviv.

In brief

6 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A hiding for Hapoel Haifa

Beaten 0‑3 by Maccabi Tel Aviv, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 13 signed and 2 gone

That is the business done at Hapoel Haifa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa baulk at the price for Ben Lederman

Maccabi Tel Aviv wanted more than $1.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Andrija Radulović

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa rebuffed over Srđan Hrstić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altach have kept their man, and Hapoel Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Andrija Radulović 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.

Squad

Ivan Kričak is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Kričak has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Hapoel Haifa

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad

8 new faces, and Hapoel Haifa 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Dor Malul gets it from the manager
  • Squad Octavio Bianchi moves up the pecking order
5 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Hapoel Haifa tear Bnei Sakhnin apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Bnei Sakhnin, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Alon Turgeman scores twice — 9.34

Two goals and a mark of 9.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Hapoel Haifa say no — this time

The offer from Beitar Jerusalem for Alon Turgeman 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.

Player ratings

Andrija Radulović scores twice — 8.24

Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

An offer of $1.3M for Ben Lederman

Hapoel Haifa have gone to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa baulk at the price for Ziv Ben-Shimol

Beitar Jerusalem wanted more than $1.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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

Business is business: Naor Sabag goes

Hapoel Tel Aviv paid $480.0K and Hapoel Haifa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Player ratings

Liran Rotman runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

4 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Octavio Bianchi gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Octavio Bianchi has just signed for Hapoel Haifa, and for once the answer mattered.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa make their move for Ziv Ben-Shimol

$1.2M on the table at Beitar Jerusalem. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Benjamín González turns down Hapoel Haifa

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: All Boys keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Alon Turgeman 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 terraces

$1.6M for Octavio Bianchi, and Hapoel Haifa supporters approve

Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Octavio Bianchi from Gimnasia y Esgrima for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.

Market

Hapoel Haifa sell Saar Elkayam for $150.0K

Saar Elkayam has left for Hapoel Kfar Saba in a $150.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Transfer targets

FC Metz tell Hapoel Haifa: Joseph Mangondo is not for sale

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.

Market

Hapoel Tel Aviv are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Hapoel Haifa will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

3 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Haifa say no — this time

The offer from Maccabi Petach Tikva for George Diba 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.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa bid $1.6M for Octavio Bianchi

The offer went to Gimnasia y Esgrima 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.

Market

Hapoel Tel Aviv join the queue for Naor Sabag

Add another name to the list: Hapoel Tel Aviv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Naor Sabag. The answer from Hapoel Haifa has not changed — yet.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Benjamín González

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Haifa have done the hard part with All Boys, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Iam González turns down Hapoel Haifa

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Universidad de Concepcion keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa rebuffed over Ziv Ben-Shimol

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beitar Jerusalem have kept their man, and Hapoel Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Hapoel Haifa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrija Radulović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Hapoel Kfar Saba are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Hapoel Haifa will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

2 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hapoel Haifa turn down Maccabi Tel Aviv for Dario Župarić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Lorenzo Barrera turns down Hapoel Haifa

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Agropecuario Argentino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Palermo tell Hapoel Haifa: Giacomo Corona is not for sale

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.

Market

Adi Atzili steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adi 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.

Market

Omer Refaelov steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omer Refaelov 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.

Market

Ori David steps up from the Hapoel Haifa academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ori David 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.

Squad

7 new faces, and Hapoel Haifa 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.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa ask about Iam González

A loan enquiry to Universidad de Concepcion: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

1 Edition

The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dor Malul has been here 11 seasons

477 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Dario Župarić signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dario Župarić and Hapoel Haifa agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hapoel Haifa

Willy Agada 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.

Transfer targets

Deportes Tolima tell Hapoel Haifa: Jeinner Fuentes is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Radulović 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

Talks stall between Hapoel Haifa and Dario Župarić

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa ask about Lorenzo Barrera

A loan enquiry to Agropecuario Argentino: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Market

The clock runs on Naor Sabag's contract

24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

The dugout

George Diba knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and George Diba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief