To date Maccabi has played 51 times in the State Cup Quarterfinals. Before the founding of the State the Yellow & Blue featured 12 times and after 39 times. A fascinating statistic is that 46 of the 51 times Maccabi advanced to the Semifinals.
There have been 11 Quarterfinals in which two matches were played (3 before the founding of the State). Seven of those were two legged ties and the other 4 were replays after the first match ended in a draw.
Other than the 1973 quarterfinal (0:0 and 2:1 loss to Maccabi Petah Tikva), Maccabi has advanced in their last two match quarterfinal series.
Maccabi has met Bnei Sakhnin three times in Cup play over the years. Maccabi won a semifinal bout in 2016 but lost to Sakhnin twice, in the 2007 Round of 16 and the 2004 quarterfinals on penalties.
The biggest win in quarterfinal play was 6:0 three times: Hapoel Hadera in 1955, Haporl Pardes Chana in 1962 and Kiryat Shemona in 2002.
3 players have scored quarterfinal hat-tricks: Eliezer Vilensky in 1962 (6:0) against Pardes Chana, Moshe Griani in 1987 (3:1) over Maccabi Jaffa and Rodrigo Goldberg in 2002 (6:0) against Kiryat Shemona.
Benny Tabak and Eli Driks scored the most goals in the quarterfinals – 6 each.
This month will see the Yellow & Blue play Bnei Sakhnin three times (2 State Cup, 1 League) and history shows that Maccabi has faced the same opponent three times just twice.
December 1961 – 3 Cup matches (Round of 16) against Shimshon Tel Aviv (before penalties decided matches and replays were played). After two draws, Maccabi won 4:1 in the 3rd contest.
August 2009 – Sakhnin once again (twice in the Toto Cup, once in League play) – 2 wins and a draw.
