Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club is devastated following the sudden death of the legendary former players Vicky Peretz who passed away at the age of 68. Peretz starred at Maccabi during the 70’s and 80’s and following the end of his playing career, was an assistant coach with the Maccabi senior side. Peretz’s bond with Maccabi continued in the past few years as he worked at the Club’s Youth Academy.
Maccabi’s CEO, Sharon Tammam, said: “The Maccabi Tel Aviv family, the owner Mitch Goldhar, the club’s management, the players, Youth Academy coaches and staff employees are deeply saddened following the sudden tragic death of the former player, Vicky Peretz We were all stunned to learn of the sudden death of someone who was one of the Club’s icons. One of the greatest players Maccabi Tel Aviv had known with a glorious career both in Israel and abroad. We would all like to extend our sympathies and condolences to Omer and the rest of the family at this extremely difficult time”.
Peretz began his playing career with Maccabi Ramat Amidar before the striker joined Maccabi in the 1973/4 season in a combined deal of money plus players at times when players didn’t much between clubs. Following his big success at the club Peretz became a leading Maccabi Tel Aviv player. 
In his first season at the club and at the young age of 20, Peretz swiftly became Maccabi’s top-scorer with 19 goals but had to wait three years before celebrating his first titles at the club. A total of 22 goals, 17 in the league and 5 in the State Cup saw the prolific striker win Israel’s top goal-scorer award but also lead Maccabi to the 1976/77 League and Cup double. Earlier that year at the 1967 Montreal Olympics Peretz scored for Israel in the 1-1 draw against France and the consolation goal in the 4-1 defeat to Brazil. In an international career that stretched between 1973-1983 Peretz scored 14 goals in 40 appearances for Israel.
Peretz continued scoring goals for Maccabi and helped the club win the Championship in the 1978/79 season with a total of 17 goals before joining French giants Strasbourg in 1980. After two successful seasons in which he scored 27 goals in 71 appearances, Peretz moved to Rennes for which he scored 17 goals in 33 appearances. In 1983 Peretz returned to Israel and re-joined Maccabi for two more seasons and completed a total of 101 goals in 250 appearances in all competitions that rank him 8th in the all-time scorers for the club. Peretz also played for Shimshon Tel Aviv, Beitar Netanya, Hapoel Lod before finally retiring in 1991 at the end of a long and successful career.
