Maccabi Haifa head coach Barak Bachar was fired after his side fell to Hapoel Haifa 5-1 in the derby which sent the greens into total disarray as sports director Gal Alberman was also let go from his post. The Derby win was the Carmel reds biggest over their city rivals since 1952 when they won 7-1. 

Bachar had returned to Maccabi Haifa at the start of this season with high hopes that he would replicate his success with the club between 2020-2023 when he captured three straight league championships. However, the 45-year old bench boss had trouble out of the gate with his squad as they were knocked out of UEFA Conference League contention in the second qualifying round, losing to Azerbaijani side Sabah in stunning fashion.

The alarms bells started going off early on in the season when Haifa drew with Bbei Reineh and then fell to Beitar Jerusalem but just as Bachar righted the ship, they lost of Maccabi Tel Aviv ahd Hapoel Beer Sheva, their chief rivals for league supremacy. Another draw to lowly Ironi Tiberias and yet another defeat to Beitar Jerusalem further stoked the flames while a loss to the yellow-and-blue in the second round along with draws against Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Jerusalem and Beer Sheva plus an stunning loss to Ashdod put huge pressure on Bachar as he entered the playoffs. 

More poor results that saw Haifa so far off the top of the table followed by the Derby thrash8ng was apparently enough for owner Yakov Shachar as the decision was made to relieve Bachar and Alberman of their duties.