Maccabi Haifa has informed midfielder Dolev Haziza that he is not part of the club’s plans for the coming season and is free to look for a new team. The message was delivered on Sunday in a meeting with the professional staff, just a day before the squad is due back in training.
Haziza, 30, was one of Haifa’s captains this season and still has a contract for next season, but the club decided he will not continue as part of a broader overhaul of the roster. He joined Haifa seven seasons ago after being bought from Bnei Yehuda and became one of the team’s most important players in green.
His form dropped sharply over the past season, in part because of an injury he struggled to recover from. Club officials said that decline, along with the planned changes to the squad, led to the decision to move him on.
Haifa will resume training tomorrow with a very large squad and no new signings, apart from Yair Mordechai, who is arriving from Ironi Kiryat Shmona. In the coming weeks, the club will also need to find solutions for several foreign players who are under contract but not in the plans of sporting director Lior Refaelov and coach Barak Bakhar, including Matthias Nahuel, Xander Severina, Manuel "Show" Kapomana, and likely Pedrão, who missed most of last season with a knee injury.
