Bnei Herzliya held a season-ending event in Tel Aviv tonight (Monday), after which the foreign players of the State Cup holder and the runner-up began to leave Israel. As you may recall, Oren Aharoni’s team managed to surprise the league this season, winning the state cup for the first time since 1995 when they defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv in the final at Yad Eliyahu, and qualified for the playoff final for the first time in their history.
Most of Bnei Herzliya’s squad players have already signed for next season – Chris Bab, Quinton Hawker and Morris Kemp have contracts without exit clauses, Yair Kravitz and Dori Sahar have also signed. Sandy Cohen is due to return from Maccabi Tel Aviv and Andy Van and Lit have a contract with an exit option. Oren Aharoni and his assistant Yoav Shamir will continue for a second season.
During the event, Aharoni referred to the achievements of Bnei Herzliya last season: “I digest. It was definitely a dreamy and historic season for us, exciting. It is thanks to the work of many good people, I am very proud of the things we did. I had an amazing team. It is hard to say we are happy at the end of the season “But looking ahead, improving the things we need as a club is the key.”
On the continuity of the squad, the coach said: “Every year starts from scratch, as a club, as coaches and as players, and we have to prove ourselves. We give credit to the people who worked hard and extended the contracts to the players we wanted, but there is no doubt “If they succeed in building a core of supportive crowd, which was in the top house and in the second half of the season, it will be very significant for the team.”
Finally, Aharoni spoke about the increase in expectations for next season as a result of success: “You always stand the test, when we won at the beginning of the season the spotlight was on us and the pressure increased during the season. .