Maccabi signed their first Israeli for the new season as Yiftach Ziv joined the club on a two year deal. The 26-year old point guard was a member of last season’s first team All-Stars and was named the Israeli Player of the Season as he led Hapoel Gilboa Galil to the league finals where his squad fell 2-1 in the best of 3 championship series.

Ziv has the ability to dictate the pace of a game and is a lockdown defender who shoots the ball well and has a nose for collecting rebounds despite featuring as a point guard. Maccabi saw up close and personal his size and strength during the finals as he scored 12 points per game, 4 assists and 6 rebounds in roughly 30 minutes per game. During the regular season Ziv averaged 12.5 points, 5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

Prior to playing with Hapoel Gilboa Galil for two seasons, Ziv played a couple of campaigns with Nahariya along with also featuring for Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Herzliya and Maccabi Ashdod.

Coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos spoke about the club’s news’s addition to the official website,”The signing of Yiftach Ziv is very important for us because we add a very good Israeli player to our squad that will help us in all competitions that we will participate in. Yiftah has many qualities and I want to welcome him to the family of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.”

Ziv also talked about joining the Yellow & Blue, “I am happy to start a new chapter in my career at a big, glorious and exciting home like Maccabi Tel Aviv. As a player who experienced the crazy power of this arena packed with amazing fans, I’m happy and wating to experience it again – Only this time from the other side when I play for them”.