The Yellow & Blue begin their European quest tonight, Thursday against Gorica from Slovenia so now’s a great time to check out all of the interesting facts and stats going into this campaign:
- Maccabi has played 50 Europa League matches including qualifiers. They have won 19 games, lost 19 and drew 12 contests.
- 2013/14 was Maccabi’s most successful season in the Europa League. The Club advanced to the Round of 32 after finishing the group stage with 11 points when they faced Frankfurt, Bordeaux and APOEL Nicosia.
- 2011/12 was Maccabi’s first year in the group stages of the competition and they played against the likes of Besiktas, Dynamo Kyiv and Stoke City as they ended the campaign with only two points. Interestingly enough the points were from two draws against Dynamo Kyiv.
- This will be the first year that Maccabi Tel Aviv will participate in the opening round of Europa League qualifying matches.
- The Yellow & Blue will make their fourth appearance in the Europa League qualifying tournament. 2010/11 marked the first time they participated when they defeated Paris St. Germain 4:3 in Israel but were eliminated by the French outfit. Maccabi also were part of the 2011/12 and 2014/15 qualification competition. In 2013, the Club automatically advanced to the group stages when Ukrainian side Kharkiv were disqualified from the Europa League thereby cancelling the side’s two legged tie with PAOK.
- The leading goal scorers in qualification matches and Europa League from the current Maccabi Tel Aviv squad are Haris Medunjanin with 5 goals, Barak Itzhaki with 3 and Dor Micha with a pair.
- The Head Coach Shota Arveladze is Georgia’s all time leading goal scorer with 26 goals in 61 appearances for his national team. In Club play he ranks as the fifth leading scorer of all time in the UEFA CUP/Europa League with 27 goals just behind Henrik Larsson, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Radamel Falcao and Dieter Muller.
- Yossi Benayoun is the only player from the Club’s current squad and the only one in Israel who has won the Europa League and it took place when he was with Chelsea in 2012/13 when he played in 5 matches.
