The Berkovich name is going back onto an Israeli Premier League roster. Ariel Berkovich, the 17-year-old grandson of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israeli national team legend Miki Berkovich, has been promoted to the senior squad of Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan, the club has announced, according to ONE.
Berkovich, a 1.85-metre point guard, spent this past season working his way through Ironi Ramat Gan's youth department, where the club describes him as an athletic, aggressive presence who likes to drive to the basket rather than settle for jump shots.
He will not be limited to the senior bench, either. Under Israeli basketball's double-roster rule, Berkovich will also be registered with Hapoel Gezer/Naan in the National League, the system clubs use to give promising teenagers real minutes in a competitive league while they continue developing alongside the top team.
"Ariel successfully completed his time in our youth department at the club," Ironi Ramat Gan coach Elad Chasan said, per ONE. "Ariel is a wonderful kid, talented, hard-working, and comes from an amazing basketball family."
For Berkovich himself, the step up is the realisation of a childhood goal. "From a young age I've dreamed of playing in the Premier League, and I'm very excited that I've been given this opportunity," he said. "It's a great honour to join Maccabi Ramat Gan's senior team, a prestigious club run with full professionalism."
The surname carries serious weight in Israeli basketball. Miki Berkovich, Ariel's grandfather, is a FIBA Hall of Fame inductee and one of the greatest players the country has produced — a shooting guard who won 16 championships and two European Champions Cups with Maccabi Tel Aviv, including the club's breakthrough 1977 title, and who was later voted MVP of EuroBasket 1979 after leading Israel to a silver medal.
Ariel's father, Roi Berkovich, also played professionally, meaning the teenager's promotion to Ironi Ramat Gan's top flight marks a third generation of the family stepping onto an Israeli senior basketball roster.
Ironi Ramat Gan itself has been on an upward trajectory in recent seasons, winning the National League title in 2022-23 before returning to the Israeli Basketball Premier League, where Berkovich now begins his senior career under close watch — and inevitable comparison to the grandfather whose number hangs in Israeli basketball lore.
