Ironi Tiberias will open their Ligat Ha'Al season on Saturday evening missing their head coach and six players, a squad hollowed out by a suspicious-infusions scandal that has engulfed the club just as preparations for the new campaign were supposed to be getting under way.
The northern club host Bnei Sakhnin at 20:30 in the first round of the Toto Cup's northern group, and ONE reports the team will be without head coach Eliran Chodeda, technical director Chen Sol and captain Guy Hadida, all of whom have been suspended, along with players Niv Gotlib and David Kaltin.
The suspensions stem from an investigation into banned infusions, opened after Maccabiat (MS) Ashdod, relegated following a playoff meeting with Tiberias, filed a complaint alleging that Tiberias players received prohibited substances followed by large volumes of saline solution before a match on May 3 — a method the complaint says was meant to mask the substances from any post-match doping test.
Israel's anti-doping authority acted on the complaint by suspending the coaching staff and the implicated players pending further proceedings, and prosecutors have since pushed for severe sanctions, reportedly ranging from lengthy bans of several years to lifetime suspensions for some of those named.
Tiberias have strongly disputed the findings, calling the suspensions a "populist and scandalous" decision reached without a proper hearing or laboratory testing, and insisting the substance administered was a legal saline solution given within World Anti-Doping Agency limits. An urgent appeal to have the suspensions lifted before the new season is already under way, according to Ynet.
Two more first-teamers are unavailable for reasons unconnected to the infusions case. Gal Meatuq remains sidelined amid an unresolved transfer-fee dispute with Maccabi Petah Tikva, while Samir Farhoud is still serving out a suspension carried over from an altercation in last season's State Cup final.
With Chodeda barred from the touchline, Tiberias have turned to Maurice Ozen, currently the club's youth academy technical director, to take interim charge of the first team. Ozen previously managed Tiberias in the 2019/20 season and remains a well-known figure locally from his time at Hapoel Beit She'an.
The arrangement is expected to be short-term: assistant coach Moti Krispel is completing the professional coaching certification required to take permanent charge, with Ozen holding the fort in the meantime.
"This preparation is far from ideal," the club said in a statement carried by ONE, "but we have no excuses. Those who play well enough will come and give everything to win."
It is an unusually turbulent way for a Ligat Ha'Al club to begin a season, with the Toto Cup opener against Sakhnin now serving as an early test of how much a squad and a makeshift coaching staff can absorb before the league campaign itself gets under way.
