The will get back to action with a pair of soccer friendlies against Hungary on Saturday and Belarus on Tuesday as brand-new head coach Ran Ben Shimon will get his first taste of leading the blue-and-white. Following a number of disappointing campaigns under the leadership of Alon Hazan and Yossi Benayoun, the Israel Football Association decided to make a change and it brought in a battle-tested head coach, both in Israel and abroad, who also has international soccer experience on his resume. The 53-year-old Ben Shimon grew up as a player in the Maccabi Petah Tikva youth system, where he featured between 1987-1995.
But it was with Hapoel Haifa where the defender starred and captained the Carmel Reds to the 1999 league championship. The Petah Tikva native also played for the Israel National Team, making 34 appearances, before moving into coaching where he began to earn his stripes in the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth department in 2003. His first full time head coaching job was with , where he helped the team earn promotion from the Leumit League and then finished in third place in Premier Leauge action to earn a place in UEFA Cup play.
After a very short stint with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2008 it was back to Kiryat Shmona for a trio of seasons where he won a pair of Toto Cups. Most notable as well as the shocking 2011-2012 League championship with K8 that became an international story of success for a small team finding a way to finish atop the table against clubs with budgets much high.