Tiberias set to promote former Maccabi Haifa prospect to senior debut

Ironi Tiberias is expected to give Gambian winger Mansour Badj the first top-flight chance of his career after two loan seasons at Maccabi Yaffa. According to Sport5, the 21-year-old will not be loaned out again and will instead be moved up to the first team for the 2026/27 Israeli Premier League season.

Badj came to Israel in summer 2023 from an academy in Gambia and initially joined Maccabi Haifa’s youth setup. After only about a month, Haifa released him, and he moved to Tiberias’ youth team, which at the time played in the northern division of the National Youth League. The article highlights his path as especially notable because of the comparison with his former rival, Josselin Tabi.

Tabi, who played for Beitar Tubruk in the 2023/24 youth season before breaking through at Hapoel Petah Tikva, was sold to Sunderland in January for 4 million euros. That same season, Badj led Tiberias, beat Tabi in the race for the scoring title, and finished with 17 league goals and 19 goals in all competitions.

After two seasons with Maccabi Yaffa, where he scored 3 goals and added 7 assists in the National League this season, Tiberias believe he could become one of the hottest names in the Israeli market and eventually bring the club a major profit. Badj is already attracting interest from clubs abroad, is under contract for the next three seasons, and has no release clause. He is currently one of three foreign players signed for 2026/27, alongside Ondrej Bacso and Sambinya, while coach Eliran Huda’s side is expected to keep busy in the transfer market and add five more foreigners soon. The club had decided to sign eight foreign players this season for the first time.