Maccabi will kickoff their 73rd season in the top-flight since the State of Israel was established. Maccabi is the only side in Israel that were not relegated and played in the top division while Hapoel Tel Aviv are second with 70 seasons.
Maccabi’s record in 2,246 matches currently stands on 1,140 victories, 597 draws and 509 defeats with a total goal tally of 3,742-2,111.
Maccabi is the club that won the highest number of championships winning the league title 25 times. Maccabi Haifa are ranked second with 15 league titles.
In fact, Maccabi hold onto almost every possible league title:
The highest success rate per season in both eras:
2 points per victory (until the 1981/82 season):
An 89.6% success rate in the 1949/50 season.
3 points per victory (from the 1982/83 season):
An 82.4% success rate in the 2018/19 season.
In 2018/19 Maccabi won the league with a staggering 31 point-gap from the runners up spot – the highest in Israel’s history. The title was secured 8 matches before the end of the season which is also the earliest won.
A 13-0 win over Maccabi Rishon Lezion on 7/1/1950 – the highest victory in the league history.
A 20-match-long-winning streak recorded between July 1949 and October 1951.
The largest number of goals scored in one season: Maccabi scored 100 goals in 23 matches of the 1949/50 season averaging 4.3 goals per game.
Eran Zahavi scored the highest number of goals per season managing 35 league goals in the 2015/16 season.
The league’s top goal scorer emerged for Maccabi 16 times – more than any other Israeli club.
The longest stretch of a clean sheet was recorded by Daniel Tenenbaum in the 2019/20 season keeping his goal locked for 1,272 minutes without conceding.
The 2019/20 season also saw Maccabi keep the highest number of matches without conceding in 29 of 36.
573 players represented Maccabi in the league over the years with Miko Belo holding the appearance record with 498.
Avi Nimni is Maccabi’s all-time top goal-scorer with 174 while Eran Zahavi is ranked behind him with 138 league goals in Yellow and Blue.
18,769,000 fans attended Maccabi’s league matches averaging 8,550 fans per game.
Maccabi’s record on the opening day of the season since the State of Israel was established stands on: 39 victories, 15 draws, 18 defeats with a total goal tally of 139-82.
A 9-1 victory over Maccabi Rishon Lezion on the opening day of the 1951/52 season is Maccabi’s best start to a league campaign. Yosef ‘Yosale’ Merimovich scored six goals in that match which places him as Maccabi’s top scorer on the opening day of any season.
Maccabi scored twice inside injury time on the opening day of a season as both goals were scored by Sheran Yeini in 2008/09 and the 2009/10 campaigns.
Barak Yitzhaki scored Maccabi’s fastest goal on the opening day of the 2013/14 season. Yitzhaki got his name on the scoresheet after only 48 seconds away to Hapoel Acco.
Sunday’s match against Maccabi Petah Tikva will be the third time Maccabi kicks off their league campaign at Hamoshava stadium. A 3-0 victory away to Maccabi Petah Tikva in the 2014/15 season and a 2-0 victory over Sektzia Ness Ziona in the 2019/20 season resulted with Maccabi winning the league title.
This will be the 11th time Maccabi begins their league campaign against Maccabi Petah Tikva – the season Maccabi began the season against more than any other club.
After 9 successive seasons in which Maccabi began their league campaign in August – the postponement of the MD1 home match against Hapoel Jerusalem will see Maccabi start the league in September for the first time since the 2014/15 championship winning season.
