Haifa turn to Shum

Ligat ha-Al champions Maccabi Haifa appointed Izhak Shum as their new coach today.

Replacing Grant
He has big shoes to fill as he steps in to replace Abraham Grant, who has moved on to take over the Israeli national team. The 53-year-old, who has just led Hapoel Kfar-Saba to promotion as champions of the second division, signed a two-year contract with Haifa.

'We will succeed'
"I am proud to be at Maccabi Haifa," said Shum. "I know almost all of the players from the national team and I am sure that with hard work we will succeed." Shum is well known to the Israeli internationals in the squad after spending ten years as assistant coach under Shlomo Sherf and Richard Moller Nielsen in the national team.

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In fact, Shum was one of the candidates connected with the head coaching position following Nielsen's resignation at the beginning of the month. Experienced though he is, Haifa will be Shum's first major club position after having coached smaller club sides throughout his career such as Hapoel Haifa, Maccabi Shearaim, Beitar Tel-Aviv and Kfar-Saba.