15 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.
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Dario Župarić 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.
Add another name to the list: Maccabi Haifa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sagiv Atzili. The answer from Hapoel Haifa has not changed — yet.
Zolani Nkombelo arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Marked 5.70. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
22 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.
30 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jo'rabek Mannonov and Hapoel Haifa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Ivan Kričak was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.24. 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Itay Buganim wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Itay Buganim found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Hapoel Acre went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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 ratings1 Jan 2029
Itay Buganim was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.15. 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.
38 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.
Jenluis Pérez 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Beer Sheva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
47 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
56 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.
Jenluis Pérez 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
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.
Marked 8.82 — 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.
17 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
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 ratings4 Dec 2028
Régis N'do was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
72 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
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.
Youssef Erraoui scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Bnei Sakhnin, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Youssef Erraoui was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.96. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Youssef Erraoui has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
At 28 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.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
79 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Dario Župarić 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.
14 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
0‑3 against Beitar Jerusalem, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 13 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
Nobody left the Hapoel Haifa dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
95 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Dario Župarić 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.
104 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.
12 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
111 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
120 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.
Position 13 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Giuliano Gurrieri wants continental football; whether Hapoel Haifa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ivan Kričak 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.
129 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.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
136 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.
A 1‑1 win over Maccabi Petach Tikva, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
143 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.
Itay Buganim had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Hapoel Beer Sheva were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marked 9.07 — 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Hamza Shibli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.85. 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.
150 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jenluis Pérez 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ivan Kričak 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.
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
Player ratingsThe one thing Jenluis Pérez could not do
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
1‑5 to Bnei Sakhnin, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Sakhnin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 27 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Hapoel Haifa
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad28 Aug 2028
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gil Hemed is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jenluis Pérez has just signed for Hapoel Haifa, and for once the answer mattered.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Hapoel Haifa have paid $730.0K for Jenluis Pérez, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
In brief
SquadJwan Halabi is a better footballer than he was
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ivan Kričak 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.
At 34 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Giuliano Gurrieri wants continental football; whether Hapoel Haifa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hapoel Haifa
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tomi Tzizoshvili is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ori Levi is a Hapoel Haifa player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Noam Gissin 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
In brief
SquadDario Župarić falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Haifa is running low.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Beitar Jerusalem arrived with $3.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ofek Biton was one of the reasons people came, and $3.1M does not replace that by itself.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hamza Shibli is living that version at Hapoel Haifa, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
The terracesHapoel Haifa spend $1.4M on the signing the town wanted
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hapoel Haifa can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The offer from Hapoel Tel Aviv for Ofek Biton 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
A conversation is coming this week. Hapoel Haifa will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hapoel Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom$2.0M taken back off the Hapoel Haifa table
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Ofek Biton
96Edition
The Hapoel Haifa Chronicle
29 May 2028
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad29 May 2028
Naor Sabag falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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 easiest signature of my career.” Youssef Erraoui and Hapoel Haifa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Hapoel Haifa will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bekzod Suvonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
“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.
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.
In brief
SquadDario Župarić falls out with a teammate over standards
“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.
“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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
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.
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
Mahmoud Zizo 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.
“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.
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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadYair Mordechai falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Dario Župarić 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.
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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.
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 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
6 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.
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Dario Župarić 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.
“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.
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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bekzod Suvonov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bekzod Suvonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Kričak 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.
6 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.
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 39 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
6 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Raz Baruchian is living that version at Hapoel Haifa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Dario Župarić 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Yair Mordechai 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Dario Župarić.
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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
Bandar Nasser is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Alon Turgeman
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.63 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Omer Shirazi has just signed for Hapoel Haifa, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ivan Kričak 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.
“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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Yoav Gerafi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Kričak signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Hapoel Tel Aviv go through and Hapoel Haifa go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Dario Župarić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ofek Biton trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
29 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Maccabi Netanya defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Yoav Gerafi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Kričak signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Yoav Gerafi
BoardroomThe Hapoel Haifa production line keeps running
“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.
5 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.
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai 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.
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.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Bnei Yehuda the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Hapoel Haifa will enjoy reviewing.
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.
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Naor Sabag 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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.
“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.
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Dario Župarić 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 ratings18 Oct 2027
Yair Mordechai was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.11. 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.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
Marked 9.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Haifa.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Hapoel Raanana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hapoel Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Ivan Kričak 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A brace, and Alon Turgeman takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alon Turgeman provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amit Lemkin did not need any: 8.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Yehuda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
10 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Amit Lemkin, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yair Mordechai is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Itay Buganim 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amit Lemkin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Reza Mirzaeian is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Marked 8.58 — 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.
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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Sakhnin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Dario Župarić 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Itay Buganim 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yair Mordechai 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.
At 26 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.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Hapoel Haifa have gone and got theirs early.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Reza Mirzaeian is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadYair Mordechai falls out with a teammate over standards
89 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.
The offer from Maccabi Haifa for Liran Rotman 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
98 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Maccabi Petach Tikva paid $140.0K 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
107 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.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Dario Župarić has improved at 35, 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.
In brief
SquadNaor Sabag falls out with a teammate over standards
114 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.
Ivan Kričak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadYair Mordechai falls out with a teammate over standards
Squad7 new faces, and Hapoel Haifa are still learning each other
Add another name to the list: Bnei Yehuda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yaad Gonen. The answer from Hapoel Haifa has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Naor Sabag 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rustam Turdimurodov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Rustam Turdimurodov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadItay Buganim has improved at 26, which nobody expected
SquadWords at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Shai Belhassen 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.
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.
The fee is $480.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Bnei Yehuda drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Noam Gissin ended with $250.0K changing hands and Bnei Yehuda out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Ivan Kričak 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.
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: Stav Israeli from Bnei Yehuda for $480.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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 instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Naor Sabag falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofek Biton signs something — a contract at Hapoel Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ivan Kričak 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.
“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.
A season's verdict on Daniel Dappa: the best of his age
Hapoel Haifa have a 19-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hapoel Haifa have had the benefit of it.
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.
In brief
SquadNaor Sabag falls out with a teammate over standards
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hapoel Haifa, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
“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.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Naor Sabag falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hapoel Haifa, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
SquadYoav Gerafi has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Naor Sabag 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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Naor Sabag 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.
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag 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.
“I watch every Hapoel Haifa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maccabi Netanya runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
SquadYoav Gerafi has become a man the manager trusts
244 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.
“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.
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.
Ivan Kričak 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Hapoel Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naor Sabag is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Youssef Erraoui, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.41
A mark of 8.41 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Dappa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.