From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ido Cohen 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luis Mena 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ariel Lugassy 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Luis Mena 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aviv Salem 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Hapoel Beer Sheva spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Eitan Tibi for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Maccabi Petach Tikva will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luis Mena 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 Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Hapoel Beer Sheva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Abdurahmonov 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Maccabi Petach Tikva game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Raanana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Maccabi Petach Tikva have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luis Mena still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Maccabi Petach Tikva would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Damián Ramírez 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Maccabi Petach Tikva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Mena 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Hapoel Tel Aviv left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Damián Ramírez
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Maccabi Petach Tikva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Aviv Salem
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Maccabi Petach Tikva support went home talking about one name.
Market31 Aug 2026
No place for Omer Shirazi in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Omer Shirazi has his answer from Maccabi Petach Tikva; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed José Cortés to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maccabi Netanya, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Idan Dahan 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 Maccabi Petach Tikva can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Aviv Salem 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tal Natcho 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eitan Weissman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market24 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ofir Weissman has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Maccabi Petach Tikva would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
The shop window has Idan Dahan in it
Maccabi Petach Tikva have let the market know Idan Dahan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adar Ratner and Maccabi Petach Tikva agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Mohammed Hindi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market10 Aug 2026
Yuval Kretzo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Petach Tikva has been clear about where Yuval Kretzo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market10 Aug 2026
Damián Ramírez arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eyal Inbrum has been here 8 seasons
81 appearances across 8 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Cortés and Maccabi Petach Tikva agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eitan Tibi 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 Maccabi Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months and counting on Samuel Owusu
Still no offer on the table, and Samuel Owusu’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
Idan Dahan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Petach Tikva has been clear about where Idan Dahan stands, which is more than many ever get.