After the ‘100% Maccabi’ slogan entered our lives last season, the blueprint continued this season as well as the home grown players took centre stage in Maccabi’s almost imaginary statistics under Vladimir Ivic.
A large part of the club’s success was the methodic way in which young talents were cultivated to form the backbone of the first team. A moment after securing a second successive dominant championship, we checked how influential were the players who graduated from Maccabi’s Youth Academy on this achievement.
Appearances:
A total of Twenty Four players made league appearances for Maccabi this season.
Of this list, not less than 11 players are Maccabi Youth Department graduates: Sheran Yeini, Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz, Dor Micha, Yonatan Cohen, Schahar Piven, Matan Hozez, Ruslan Barsky, Eylon Almog, and Parfait Guigan.
Omer Katz, was also part of the squad as the third choice keeper, but the talented young keeper who is also a youth department graduate didn’t register any minutes but was an unused substitute on several occasions. As with midfielder, Nadav Nidam, who stepped up to join the senior squad on for parts of the season.
Goals and Assists:
Most of the squad is home grown, but how influential are they? The answer is very.
For now, Maccabi scored 61 league goals this season in 34 matches. No less than 31 of those were scored by the home grown players, which is just short of 50% of Maccabi’ goals this season.
Yonatan Cohen is Maccabi’s top goal scorer with 11 while 7 other home grown players found the back of the net during the league campaign.
Home grown players goal chart:
Yonatan Cohen 11
Omer Atzili 8
Eylon Almog 4
Dor Micha 3
Matan Hozez 2
Schhar Piven 1
Dor Peretz 1
Ruslan Barsky 1
In addition, 43 times Maccabi players registered assists to their names, 26 of which were contributed by the home grown players (60%).
Glazer’s season:
The contribution to the team’s success is obviously measured by helping the defensive game, especially in such a wonder of a season Maccabi is experiencing in that aspect. One of those responsible for that is Dan Glazer, obviously another graduate of the Academy at Kiryat Shalom, who is without a doubt one of the best players of the season.
Glazer is in fact the player who leads the league for successful tackles (121 of 191 he made).
He is also second in the league for winning balls in the opponents’ sown half (58) and fifth in successful challenges on the ground (218 of 339 he made).
The central midfielder is ranked after Jair Amador (228) in the number of times he won the ball back (216).
Glazer equals the Portuguese central defender however, as the duo share the same number of blocks on shots directed at Maccabi’s goal with 16 each. 
