Maccabi Haifa F.C. begins rebuilding effort after disappointing season

Maccabi Haifa F.C. is undergoing a significant rebuilding effort following a disappointing 2025/26 season, where they finished fifth and missed European qualifiers. Despite an 0-2 start in the Toto Cup, head coach Barak Bachar and sports director Lior Refaelov expressed optimism at their season-opening press conference. Bachar stated, "It's great to begin anew. We had a couple of very tough seasons, and we needed to learn from what went wrong." Refaelov added, "We're happy and excited to begin a new season, and we were able to take a lot from last season and learn from it." The club has brought in new players, including foreigners Wenderson Tsunami, Nigel Lonwijk, Bruninho, and Andrija Novakovich, along with Israelis Omri Glazer, Yair Mordechai, and Yarin Levy, to reshape the squad. They also announced Kenji Gorre as one of the team captains. Both Bachar and Refaelov emphasized that results will be the ultimate measure of their efforts, aiming to compete for the league championship and return to European play.