A few hours before Hapoel Jerusalem open their Ligat Ha'al season against Maccabi Tel Aviv, the club's own dressing-room royalty delivered a pointed message: results on the pitch will not be enough on their own to fill the stands.
Speaking on ONE's podcast "Shichat HaYom" (Today's Talk), club legend Michel Dayan said Hapoel Jerusalem still has work to do off the field. "The club also needs to change its policy a bit, certainly if you want to grow the crowd," he said, adding bluntly: "You can't increase the crowd without achievements and good, attractive football."
Dayan knows the club from the inside better than almost anyone. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he came through Hapoel's youth ranks to make his first-team debut in 1978/79, went on to captain the side for nine seasons and retired as the club's all-time appearance leader with 508 games and 60 league goals. These days he works as a football pundit for Radio Jerusalem.
Part of his prescription for the club: patience with its own academy graduates. Dayan argued that young players who break through should be given two to three seasons inside the first team to develop before being moved on, a policy he believes would serve both the team's football and its relationship with supporters.
Fan figure and club commentator Haim Levinson struck a more optimistic note about what is achievable on the pitch this season. Reaching the upper playoff group, he said, is "very difficult and slim, but everything is possible," pointing to what he sees as an improved squad after a summer rebuild.
Levinson did not hold back on the opponent waiting on matchday one, either, saying Maccabi Tel Aviv "look bad" heading into the new campaign.
The context for the optimism: last season was a genuinely difficult one in Jerusalem, remembered as a relegation-threatened slog short on both results and quality football, so any signs of life carry extra weight with the fan base heading into 2026/27.
There has already been a concrete reason for confidence. On August 17, Hapoel Jerusalem won 1-0 away to Maccabi Haifa in a Toto Cup fixture, with 17-year-old Israel Dafa scoring the winning goal — exactly the kind of academy contribution Dayan wants to see more of.
The league opener against Maccabi Tel Aviv kicks off on Sunday evening, with Hapoel playing away from their usual Teddy Stadium base at the start of the season due to the venue's unavailability. A result of any kind against one of Israeli football's traditional powers would go a long way toward answering Dayan and Levinson's cautious optimism with something concrete.
