Omri Glazer walked out of arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday night with his wife, Shira, and their family in tow, the final leg of a journey that will end, barring a hitch in his medical, with a return to Maccabi Haifa.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper agreed personal terms with the Greens earlier that day, and Israeli outlets reported the contract at three years with a salary in the region of €400,000 a season plus bonuses, one of the higher goalkeeper wages in the Israeli league. Haifa are believed to have paid Red Star Belgrade somewhere between €250,000 and €300,000 to release him, with reports differing slightly on the exact figure.
Before anything becomes official, Glazer has to pass a medical and sign the paperwork that will formally bind him to Barak Bakhar's squad. That process was expected to run through the week.
For Glazer, it's a reunion rather than a first meeting. Bakhar coached him during his first Haifa spell, crossed paths with him again during a short stint in charge at Red Star Belgrade in 2023, and now takes charge of him a third time after being reappointed as Haifa's manager for the upcoming season.
He arrives to replace Georgiy Yermakov as the club's first-choice goalkeeper. Yermakov, a Ukrainian-Israeli dual national who joined Haifa in August 2024, will now compete for the shirt rather than assume it as his own.
Glazer's history with Haifa runs deep. He first joined the club at 20, in 2016, and spent five seasons in green before leaving as a free agent in 2021 — a spell that included a Israeli championship medal in 2020/21.
It was afterward, at Hapoel Beersheba, that he built his reputation. Glazer was the goalkeeper who won Beersheba the 2021/22 State Cup, saving three consecutive penalties — from Dolev Haziza, Godsway Donyoh and Mavis Chibota — in a shootout final against the very club he is now rejoining.
That form earned him a move to Red Star Belgrade in the summer of 2023, where he spent three seasons, won Serbian league titles and picked up Champions League experience, including a 13-save display away to Manchester City. He lost his starting spot during his second season in Belgrade, however, and made only a handful of appearances in 2025 before this move became live.
Glazer has also become a fixture for Israel's national team, with 18 caps to his name, and his arrival gives Bakhar a proven, internationally tested option between the posts as Haifa reshapes its squad for the new campaign.
