Ironi Tiberias opened their 2026/27 campaign on Saturday evening the way the club would rather have avoided the headlines entirely: with a threadbare starting XI, a caretaker on the bench and a season already overshadowed by a doping investigation. Bnei Sakhnin were the visitors at Barel Stadium for the opening round of the Toto Cup, and ONE reports new forward Kais Ganem was handed the No. 9 shirt to lead the home attack.
Ganem's arrival was meant to be the good news of Tiberias's off-season. The club announced his signing from Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol after previous spells in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Beer Sheva and Hapoel Haifa, and Israel Hayom had billed his return to the top flight as a boost up front. Instead he took the field as one of the more experienced faces in a squad gutted by suspensions.
At the other end, Sakhnin's XI carried a familiar, more settled look. ONE's lineup sheet has Eyad Abu Abed starting in central defence alongside Maron Gantous, shielding goalkeeper Raoul Balbrau, with Mateo Cujo and Norberto Carlos anchoring midfield and Ahmad Ibrahim among the attacking options.
The backdrop to Tiberias's weakened team is the club's ongoing "banned infusions" case. Israel's national anti-doping authority provisionally suspended head coach Eliran Chodida and five players — goalkeeper David Klatins, captain Guy Hadida, Niv Gutlib, Sembinya and Yonatan Tafer — on July 5, after Maccabi Ashdod lodged a complaint on June 21 alleging Tiberias players received saline infusions beyond the volume permitted under anti-doping protocol before a league match between the two clubs.
Prosecutors are reportedly seeking sanctions ranging from six years' suspension to a lifetime ban for those implicated, according to Ynet. Tiberias has rejected the allegations, maintaining the infusions were administered within permitted limits and under professional supervision. No final ruling has been issued, and the suspensions handed down so far are provisional rather than findings of guilt.
The practical effect on Saturday was a matchday squad built almost from scratch. Sport5 reported that with the suspended players and coaching staff unavailable, Tiberias could name only four foreign players and five academy graduates among their options, with senior staff stepping in on an interim basis to run preparations and training in Chodida's absence.
Against that backdrop, both promoted-era northern clubs were simply chasing a winning start to the new season in the Toto Cup's regional group stage — for Tiberias, a rare piece of straightforward sporting business in a summer that has been anything but.
Ironi Tiberias XI: Ido Sharon; Gai Sanker, Itamar Guata, Nehorai Chen, Ondrej Bacu; Chris Quako, Bar Cohen, Nana Gamble, Ron Unger; Ariel Cohen, Kais Ganem.
Bnei Sakhnin XI: Raoul Balbrau; Ahmad Taha, Eyad Abu Abed, Basil Khoury, Maron Gantous; Modestas Vorobjovas, Mateo Cujo, Norberto Carlos, Sana Gomes; Amit Kardi, Ahmad Ibrahim.
