Maccabi names Effi Birenboim new coach
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Maccabi Tel Aviv named Effi Birenboim as the new head coach of the club on Thursday. Birenboim, 54, is a veteran Israeli who has made a name for himself by coaching 23 straight seasons in the top league in Israel. This marks the first time Birenboim will coach Maccabi, although he does have experience at the top European level. He coached Hapoel Jerusalem in the Euroleague in the 1997-98. Birenboim replaces Zvika Sherf, who led Maccabi to the Euroleague Basketball Final Four last season in Madrid. Sherf is still in talks with management regarding his role at the club.
Birenboim came through the ranks at Maccabi Ramat Gan and in the 1986-87 made his first appearance as a head coach at the club. Throughout the years he left his mark in numerous clubs in the top Israeli division including Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Eilat, Bnei Herzliya, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem and in the past two years at Bnei Hasharon. In 1995 he won his only title so far, the Israeli Cup, with Bnei Herzliya. He has reached the Cup final five teams with five different teams. In 1999, under his guidance, Hapoel Jerusalem won the regular season championship, the last team other than Maccabi to accomplish that feat until this past season. Year after year his teams have made it to the semifinals of the league, if not more. Two years ago with Bnei Hasharon, Birenboim eliminated Maccabi in the Israeli cup semifinals and later in the season qualified for the Israeli final four. This past season his Bnei Hasharon beat Maccabi in all three regular season games, becoming the first team in nearly 40 years to achieve that. In the semifinals, Bnei Hasharon lost by a single basket to Maccabi. Effi has also been the head coach of the Israeli women's national team, and during the 1990s was the assistant coach to Sherf with the senior men's national team.
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Yarone Arbel, Tel Aviv
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