Maccabi Yavne F.C.

Maccabi "Zvi" Yavne

Full name	Maccabi "Zvi" Yavne Football Club
Founded	1962
Ground	Jackie Levy Stadium, Yavne
Capacity	2,500
Chairman	Shuki Nagar
Manager	Moshe Shapira
League	Liga Alef South
2023–24	Liga Alef South, 11th of 16
Home colours Away colours

Maccabi "Zvi" Yavne (Hebrew: מכבי יבנה) is an Israeli football club based in Yavne. They currently play in Liga Alef.

History

The club was founded in 1962 and played in Liga Gimel, the lowest tier of Israeli football, up until the 1971–72 season, when they started their progress and reached Liga Bet for the first time.^[1] In the 1975–76 season, they won Liga Bet South B division and were promoted to Liga Alef. Four seasons later, in the 1979–80 season, they won Liga Alef South division and were promoted to Liga Artzit, the second tier of Israeli football at the time. After 9th-place finish in their debut season in the second tier, they finished 3rd in the 1981–82 season and were promoted to Liga Leumit (then the top division) for the first time in their history. In 1985 they won the Toto Cup, beating Beitar Jerusalem 2–1 in the final. After several lower-mid table finishes, Maccabi were relegated at the end of the 1986–87 season in which they finished 14th.

Maccabi narrowly missed out a return to the top division, on goal difference, in 1989–90, when they finished third, level on points with second-placed Hapoel Tel Aviv. In the following season they were promoted, but were relegated at the end of the 1991–92 season, having finished second bottom.

After a narrow escape in the 1996–97 season, in which they finished one place and one point above the relegation zone, Maccabi were relegated to Liga Alef (then the third tier) at the end of the 1997–98 season, in which they won only one match and gained eight points throughout the entire season. Due to league restructuring, at the end of the following season, they dropped into the fourth tier.

In 2000–01 Maccabi won the South Division of Liga Alef and were promoted back to Liga Artzit. However, they finished bottom of the league in 2001–02 and were relegated back to Liga Alef. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Maccabi beat Hapoel Asi Gilboa on away goals (2–2 on aggregate) in the promotion playoff final and were promoted to Liga Leumit. In the 2015–16 season, the club finished second bottom in Liga Leumit and relegated to Liga Alef.

Current squad

As of 5 November 2024

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ISR Palay Mesika 2 DF  ISR Avishay Sanker 5 MF  ISR Abdel Rahman Hamouda 6 DF  ISR Saig Ben Hananya 7 MF  ISR Ido Gonen 8 MF  ISR Shaked Carrillo 9 FW  ISR Tauderos Asmalesh 10 FW  ISR Niv Mizrahi 11 FW  ISR Oded Biro 14 DF  ISR Guy Mishpati 15 MF  ISR Dudu Edri 16 MF  ISR Yuval Haliva

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  ISR Amit Maneisko 18 MF  ISR Shalev Maimon 19 MF  ISR Shaked Navon 21 DF  ISR Liad Nevet 23 DF  ISR Ron Gabay 26 DF  ISR Or Zuzut 27 DF  ISR Adi Mundia 55 GK  ISR Dudi Alon 77 FW  ISR Ido Exbard 98 MF  ISR Omer Lakao — MF  ISR Ron Levi

Honours

Cups

• Toto Cup
  • Winners 1984–85

League

• Second Division:
  • Runners-up 1988–89, 1990–91
• Third Division:
  • Champions 1975–76, 1979–80, 2011–12
  • Runners-up 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1976–77
• Fourth Division:
  • Champions 1970–71, 2000–01

Former notable managers

• Rafi Cohen (born 1965)

References

1. 12 New faces among 64 Liga Bet football teams Davar, 13 September 1971, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)

External links

• Maccabi Yavne Israel Football Association (in Hebrew)