page_title: Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. / History / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: עברית: ראובן ריבלין נשיא המדינה מציג לראשונה במשכן הנשיא את "מגן הכבוד"- "נותנים כבוד לכדורגל".
context_page_description: Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club is an Israeli football club and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv sports club.
  Founded in 1906 as the HaRishon Le Zion-Yafo Association, it is the oldest, largest, and most decorated football club in Israel. With the establishment of the city of Tel Aviv in 1909, the club changed its name to Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 1922, it became the first Jewish football club to participate in local competitions. The meaning of the name Maccabi – 'there is no one like you among the gods' – forms an integral part of the character of the team, which took the Star of David as their logo to represent the Jewish people. Maccabi Tel Aviv have won more titles than any other Israeli club, winning 24 League Championships, 23 prestigious State Cups and an additional seven Toto Cups, as well as two Asian Champion Club Tournaments until Israel were expelled from the AFC in 1974.
  Maccabi Tel Aviv is the only Israeli football team that have never been relegated from the Israeli Premier League and one of only three Israeli teams to ever progress to the UEFA Champions League group stage.
context_section_description: The 1980s saw a period of below par achievements for Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, earning the decade the nickname the "thin years". While adding two Israel Football Association (IFA) Cups to the trophy cabinet, the club remained without a league title throughout the decade. The first of the two consecutive IFA Cup triumphs, however, was won in dramatic fashion in a final against Maccabi Haifa in the 1986–87 season. While Maccabi Tel Aviv, third in the table, finished six places above their northern namesakes, the Cup final was a tight affair that ended, 3–3, after extra time and was decided in a penalty shoot-out. And it was striker Benny Tabak's final kick that saw Maccabi Tel Aviv lift their first IFA Cup in ten years.
  The following season Maccabi Tel Aviv, now under the stewardship of Giora Spiegel, underwent their worst defeat in the club's history, a 0–10 rout suffered at the hands of that same Maccabi Haifa. Yet only three weeks later the club appeared in their second consecutive intriguing IFA Cup final, this time against their arch big city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv. Despite the fresh memories of their lacklustre performance in Haifa the team succeeded in returning to form thanks to a wonderful goal by midfielder Mickey Cohen and yet another from Benny Tabak that led to a 2–1 victory and a second straight IFA Cup title.
  Another memorable event of the 1980s occurred at the beginning of the decade, in a match against Beitar Jerusalem held at the YMCA Stadium in Jerusalem in the second matchweek of the 1981–82 season. The match referee Avraham Klein, of international reputation, disallowed a Beitar goal but the players continued to celebrate. Maccabi defender Menahem "Miko" Belo quickly resumed play, passed on to midfielder Moti Ivanir who found himself facing the Beitar keeper Yossi Mizrachi on his own. To the great ire of the local fans he scored the goal that would ultimately lead to a 1–2 Maccabi victory.
  Despite the less than scintillating nature of Maccabi's performances throughout the decade, the club was blessed with a number of outstanding players, including Moti Ivanir, midfielder Alon Natan, goalkeeper Bonni Ginzburg and striker Eli Driks who succeeded in leaving their mark on the club's history. Ivanir, who made his maiden performance for Maccabi aged 16, scored 67 times playing for the club throughout the decade, with the exception of the two years he spent at Dutch side Roda JC Kerkrade. Alon Natan found the net 40 times before leaving the club for Bnei Yehuda at the end of the 1989–90 season. He was subsequently forced into retirement at age 23 due to injury.
  Bonni Ginzburg protected the Maccabi goal from the beginning of the decade until the 1987–88 season. He earned himself a place on the national squad and two years later became the first Israeli goalkeeper to play abroad. Eli Driks, one of the club's all-time greatest strikers, came through the youth ranks at the beginning of the 1980s and began a successful career at the fulcrum of the Maccabi Tel Aviv attack that lasted 20 years.
caption: Oded Machnes and Bonni Ginzburg (from left to right), both played for Maccabi in the 80s.
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