TASE Premier League opponents Ness Ziona are back in the top flight after a record 51 years in the lower divisions, they sport a coach who is well known to Maccabi fans and have bolstered their ranks and made changes for the challenges that lie ahead.
Ness Ziona will turn out for their first TASE Premier League match at the Moshava Stadium on Saturday at 20:30. It will be the first time in 51 years that they have been back in the top flight, which is a record between appearances for any Israeli team.
The newcomers gained promotion after an up-and-down season in the Second Division but they registered good results in the playoff rounds which secured a second-place finish, edging Hapoel Upper Nazareth (now called Nof Hagalil) into third place.
Ness Ziona are coached by Amir Turgeman, a former Maccabi player, who was a member of the 2002-03 championship winning side and a coach in the youth department and an assistant coach with the national team and coach with Ashdod SC and Bnei Sakhnin.
Ness Ziona’s new players are Omri Glazer, Darius Vantones, Guy Badash, Ophir Mizrahi, Yonatan Levi, Saku Torre, Ramarik Ettu, Noam Cohen, Raz Nahmias, Savien Lilai, Eylon Yerushalmi and Elad Shahaf.
Tzlil Nehemia, Ido Eksebrad, Ophir Hamo, Ben Shimoni, Naor Sabag, Ahmed Shaaban, Amit Shemesh, Guy Aviv, Kaba Anji, Adar Awat and Daniel Haba have departed.
In pre-league season play in the Toto Cup, Ness Ziona have played five matches and finished tenth after losing on penalties to Hapoel Hadera following a goalless draw in 90 minutes.
Prior to the Toto Cup, Ness Ziona played four warm-up games and registered a 2-1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, a 1-1 draw with Ashdod, a goalless draw with Raanana, and fell to a 2-1 defeat against Beitar Jerusalem.
