Hapoel Machane Yehuda have wrapped up their Liga Bet promotion campaign with a piece of housekeeping: striker Yair Shpungin, whose goals down the stretch helped drag the Petah Tikva club up to Liga Alef, has agreed to stay on for the step up, the club confirmed on Friday.
Shpungin's route to the promotion was unusual. The 30-year-old spent the first half of the season with Beitar Tel Aviv/Holon, where he scored four goals, before switching to Machane Yehuda mid-campaign. He was prolific in his new colours too, netting five more and adding assists as the club finished top of its Liga Bet South A group.
The combined haul made him one of the division's most productive forwards across the season, and manager Rami Tzvi, who remains in charge for the Liga Alef campaign, wanted him kept rather than let go after the job was done.
It is familiar territory for Shpungin. A product of the Hapoel Tel Aviv youth academy, he has built a reputation as something of a promotion specialist in Israel's lower divisions, having previously played a part in Maccabi Herzliya's rise to Liga Alef in the 2022/23 season and in Hapoel Kfar Shalem's promotion in 2019/20, among other clubs he has turned out for on the way up.
He will not be the only attacking threat Machane Yehuda take into the new season. Forward Avi Chai top-scored for the club with ten goals, while midfielder Tal Atar chipped in with three, giving the squad a spread of goals that ONE credited as central to the title-winning campaign.
For Hapoel Machane Yehuda, the promotion ends a seven-season stretch in Liga Bet and returns the club to the third tier of Israeli football. Keeping hold of Shpungin, according to the club, is meant to give them a proven scorer as they try to establish themselves rather than bounce straight back down.
