Israel's National Anti-Doping Agency has escalated the intravenous-infusions scandal engulfing Ironi Tiberias, filing a formal disciplinary complaint against six club officials and demanding suspensions of at least seven years for the gravest charges — with some counts carrying the possibility of a lifetime ban.
The complaint names head coach Eliran Chodeda, technical director Chen Sol, club owner Miki Bitan, club manager Gabriel Cohen, staff member Aviv Jibli and fitness coach Shlomi Vadrero. The agency, represented by attorney Assaf Alrom, is also seeking a minimum of 500,000 shekels in costs against the defendants.
At the heart of the case are intravenous fluid infusions of between 500 and 1,000 millilitres allegedly administered to Tiberias players around April 29-30, without medical justification, proper authorization or a doctor present — far beyond the 100-millilitre-per-12-hours ceiling the World Anti-Doping Agency allows outside a genuine medical emergency.
According to the complaint, the infusions were carried out in non-sterile conditions by a Magen David Adom paramedic who was not authorized by his employer to perform the procedure. The timing places the incident around the club's relegation-playoff survival matches at the end of last season.
The charges filed go well beyond simple doping-rule breaches: prohibited-method use, possession of banned equipment, trafficking or attempted trafficking in prohibited substances, assisting a prohibited practice, and — notably — witness intimidation and obstruction of the ensuing investigation.
The suspicions first surfaced after Maccabi Ashdod complained to the Israel Football Association that Tiberias players had received infusions before a match between the two sides that Tiberias won 3-0, a result that helped push Ashdod toward the relegation zone.
This is not the first sanction to come out of the affair. Chodeda and five Tiberias players were already handed temporary suspensions in early July while the anti-doping agency's investigation continued, a precautionary step short of the full disciplinary case now filed.
Bitan, one of the club's two owners alongside businessman Arye Kalmanzon, is already serving a separate seven-year removal from all club activity dating to June 1, imposed in a related ruling — and his continued involvement in club affairs since then has reportedly been referred for further examination, a complication that could yet produce another case against him.
Tiberias has pushed back hard throughout the process, accusing the federation's investigator of bias and threatening a defamation suit, and arguing that players were given only standard 0.9% saline as routine treatment for dehydration after an unusually heavy fixture schedule. The club has also alleged, without providing the Football Association's agreement, that infusions are common practice elsewhere in Israeli football.
Under the terms of the new complaint, the six defendants have 20 days to respond or to request an expedited hearing before the disciplinary tribunal. A separate club-level disciplinary case is also expected to follow the outcome of the individual proceedings.
The size of the sanctions being sought — a floor of seven years and the prospect of career-ending bans — marks one of the most severe disciplinary actions pursued against a top-flight Israeli club's staff in recent memory, and the case is likely to keep Ironi Tiberias, promoted only a season ago under Bitan and Kalmanzon's ownership, in the headlines well into the new campaign.
