Maccabi Haifa Faces Foreign-Player Overload Ahead of Rebuild

Maccabi Haifa are preparing a major squad overhaul before the start of next season, but the biggest problem for professional director Lior Refaelov is the club's large group of foreign players under contract. While Haifa have succeeded in extending the contracts of all their homegrown youngsters, several foreigners remain tied to the club for next season, and some for longer, despite not being part of the plans.

The current foreign list includes Jelle Bataille, Cedric Don, Manuel Benson, Pedrao, Peter Agba, Trivante Stewart, Show, Mathias Nahuel and Xander Severina. At this stage, only Bataille and Don, and probably Benson, appear guaranteed a place in the squad for next season. The future of the others is still unclear.

The club's problem is not only sporting. Haifa cannot register too many foreigners and still bring in new signings, and the existing contracts are also a heavy financial burden because some of the players were bought for high fees and now have no market demand. Nahuel and Severina have already been told not to come to the start of training. So far, however, the club has no concrete offers for any of the players it wants to move on.

Haifa's first option is to loan out or sell any foreign player who attracts interest in Israel or abroad. If that fails, the club may consider terminating contracts in return for compensation. At the same time, Refaelov and Barak Bachar are still building the squad and are looking for at least one foreign center-back, a foreign No. 10 midfielder, a foreign winger and at least one foreign striker.