Hakoah ready for futsal nationals
THIS weekend the best teams in Australia’s futsal domestic leagues will play in the Australian Futsal Club Championship in Melbourne.
And as the winner of the most recently held NSW Futsal Premier League two years ago, Hakoah Futsal Club – along with Mountain Majik – were invited to be the NSW representative teams at the nationals.
Hakoah is taking a strong team to Melbourne for the championship, led by half of the Australian team members that will go to the Maccabiah Games in Israel in July.
These include club captain Robbie Ezekiel, Gilly Schwartz, Jono Barzel, Noah Felich and 19-year-old Ethan de Melo who made an extended Australian Futsalroos men’s squad in 2019.
The tournament will feature teams from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.
Hakoah Futsal Club president Daniel Sharp said the team’s participation at the nationals “is a testament to the hard work by the players, and our head coach Miles Downey, and his vision for the club”.
“In the past two years, Hakoah’s victories in the NSW Premier League, the NSW F5 tournament, the Australian Southern Cross League, coupled with the state Indoor 5s competition, has really caused Hakoah to be noticed, and we are starting to get invitations to international competitions,” he said.
“But right now, with such a strong core of Jewish players, we are totally focused on trying to get past the exceptional Australian clubs at this championship.”
Sharp added that the timing of the championship is ideal for Hakoah’s Jewish players as they prepare to begin training for the Maccabiah Games.
“For some of them, the Maccabiah Games could be their futsal swansong, so it will be extra special, while others will continue playing and get a lot out of that experience.”
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