Ironi Tiberias is bracing for a second serious disciplinary indictment this year, with the Israel Football Association's prosecutor, Gilad Bergman, expected to file charges against the club within days, ONE reports, over allegations that players received banned intravenous infusions before a match that decided the club's survival in the top flight.
The affair traces back to a complaint filed by Ashdod after Tiberias beat them 3-0 in a relegation-deciding fixture last season. Ashdod alleged Tiberias players had been given saline infusions far exceeding the limit set under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, which cap permitted IV volume at 100 millilitres in most circumstances because larger infusions can be used to mask the presence of other prohibited substances in a player's system.
Israel's National Anti-Doping Agency responded by provisionally suspending five Tiberias players — among them Guy Hadida, Niv Gottlieb and Yonatan Tefer — along with three staff members, including head coach Eliran Hudeda, technical director Chen Sol and fitness coach Shlomi Dardo. The agency has singled out Hudeda as the central figure in its inquiry.
According to ONE, roughly ten people connected to the club have already been questioned as part of the investigation, which was carried out by investigator Din-Or Prager on the federation's behalf. Bergman has said the prosecution is working to complete its evidence and that the indictment will land imminently.
Tiberias is not taking the threat quietly. Through attorney Eyal Yafe, the club petitioned the federation's disciplinary court this week seeking to disqualify Prager and halt the indictment altogether, arguing the investigation was biased and that the investigator has a disciplinary history of his own, including a prior finding against him for threatening and cursing at judges.
The club has also accused the federation of selective enforcement, pointing to material that surfaced during the probe suggesting other Israeli Premier League clubs may have used similar infusions without facing comparable scrutiny.
The federation has pushed back hard. It accused Tiberias of leaking investigative material to the press and framed the club's legal maneuvering as an attempt to dodge accountability. "Embarrassing and transparent attempts to evade responsibility, feign innocence and use underhanded tactics will not succeed," the federation said in a statement reported by Walla! Sport, adding that the club would get its day in court.
Club owner Aryeh Kalmanzon has denied any wrongdoing specific to the infusions, telling Israeli media the club conducted its own checks and found nothing improper. "We ran tests — everything is fine. Ashdod filed a complaint about banned substances... we don't understand what's wrong here," he said.
The timing is brutal for a club already reeling from a separate scandal. Tiberias was found to have run a parallel, undisclosed payment system with players for roughly four years — the so-called "double contracts" affair — and reached a plea bargain approved by the disciplinary court on April 1, 2026, that cost the northern club a combined 14 league points across two seasons, a 500,000-shekel fine and a ban on registering new players from January 2027.
Tiberias only reached the top division three years ago on the back of heavy investment, and Kalmanzon has previously described the double-contracts punishment as harsher than the club deserved but one it accepted for the sake of its players. A second indictment, this time carrying the added stigma of an anti-doping case, threatens fresh points penalties and suspensions just as the club tries to plan for the coming season.
For now, the disciplinary court must first rule on Tiberias's bid to knock out the lead investigator before Bergman can formally file. If that petition fails, as the federation expects, the indictment ONE describes as imminent would open a new and more damaging front for a club still absorbing the fallout from its last brush with the football association's enforcement arm.
