Gili Landau

Landau developed in Hapoel Tel Aviv's youth system and spent his entire 16-year professional career with the club, accumulating 298 top-flight appearances and scoring 43 league goals, with 56 goals across all competitions.[1]

His time as a player was defined by several major honours. He was a significant contributor to Hapoel Tel Aviv's championship victories in 1981, 1986, and 1988, and to the club's 1983 State Cup victory.[1]

The 1986 title decider, played on 24 May at Bloomfield Stadium against league leaders Maccabi Haifa, produced the most celebrated moment of his career. Landau entered as a substitute roughly 15 minutes before the end and scored the only goal of the match after receiving a lofted pass from Moshe Sinai.[2] Before the game, he had told coach Dovid Schweitzer that he had dreamed of entering as the first substitute and scoring the championship-winning goal—and the match unfolded precisely that way.[3] Maccabi Haifa's players claimed he had been offside, but referee Tzvi Shrir and assistant referee Rachamim Shasho allowed the goal to stand.[2]

Landau later reflected on the significance of the two goals most associated with his name: "The important thing is that in the history of Hapoel Tel Aviv I am associated with two of the most important goals."[3] He also recalled that he had been injured early in the 1985–86 season and began scoring during the club's championship run in the second half of the campaign.[3]

Landau began his coaching career in 1991.[4] His reported appointments include Hapoel Bat Yam, Maccabi Herzliya, Hapoel Be'er Sheva in several separate spells, Hakoah Ramat Gan, Maccabi Netanya, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Petah Tikva, Maccabi Kiryat Gat, and Ironi Kiryat Shmona.[5][4]

At the start of the 2004–05 season he took charge of Hapoel Tel Aviv for a brief period, representing his first stint at the helm of a top Israeli club.[6] In the early 2000s he coached Maccabi Netanya, where the team finished fourth.[7] He later described arriving at Netanya in September to a squad that contained no international players, only to see eleven players representing Israel's youth, Olympic, and senior national teams eight months later.[3]

In May 2011, Landau was appointed head coach of Hapoel Petah Tikva on a contract through the following season. He described the team's immediate objective as remaining in the top division.[5] The club entered the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League under the additional burden of a nine-point deduction. After 11 rounds, Petah Tikva defeated Hapoel Beersheba 2–0 to move from a negative points total to two points, prompting Landau to declare that the league had only truly begun for his team at that point.[8] Later in the same season, Petah Tikva defeated Maccabi Haifa 3–1; Landau dismissed any suggestion that the result was miraculous and praised his players for maintaining their belief through a difficult period, with the club's new foreign striker scoring twice.[9] At the end of the season, Hapoel Petah Tikva replaced Landau with Nisan Yehezkel.[10]

For the 2012–13 campaign, Landau took charge of Ironi Kiryat Shmona after Ran Ben-Shimon left the club.[6] He inherited nearly the same squad that had won the 2011–12 Israeli championship and immediately led the club into the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds.[6] Ahead of the first qualifying tie against MSK Žilina, he expressed his outlook plainly: "If we believe in ourselves anything is possible."[6] In the Champions League playoff against BATE Borisov in August 2012, Landau switched the team's shape to a 4-4-2 at halftime, replacing defender Ben Vahaba with midfielder Ahmed Abed, a change that noticeably improved Kiryat Shmona's play—though BATE ultimately won the first leg 2–0.[11]

Landau was dismissed by Kiryat Shmona in October 2012, after just five league rounds, with the club citing substantial differences and reports describing tense relations between Landau and owner Izzy Sheratzky.[12] The sacking came one day before the club's first home Europa League group-stage match, against Lyon. Barak Bachar took over temporarily before going on to guide Kiryat Shmona to the State Cup final and a fifth-place league finish.[12][13]

After a gap of nearly six years away from management, Landau was appointed coach of Hapoel 'Adumim' Ashdod in September 2018.[4]

Landau served as temporary head coach of Israel's senior women's national team during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying campaign.[14] He expressed a desire to remain involved with the women's programme long-term and proposed that leading Israeli men's clubs establish properly funded women's sections.[14]

In May 2022, Landau and the Israel Football Association agreed to end his tenure following a professional dispute between the coach and the players.[15] The association's statement found no misconduct on his part and thanked him for his contribution, while players alleged disrespectful and offensive remarks, insufficient attention to medical advice, and inadequate professional preparation.[15]

In February 2023, Landau became the professional director of the Israel Football Association's Pro coaching licence course, which had begun in November 2022.[16] He oversaw the course through its completion and noted that the programme was unusually long and extensive partly because of security-related challenges, while incorporating international lecturers and content designed to prepare Israeli coaches for elite-level football.[16]

Landau's playing legacy is closely tied to Hapoel Tel Aviv's success during the 1980s. All 298 of his top-flight appearances came for the club, for which he scored 43 league goals and 56 in all competitions while participating in three championship seasons and a State Cup victory.[1] He has said that his place in the club's history is defined above all by the two famous goals he scored in the 1986 championship decider and the 1983 cup final, although both remained controversial.[3]

Landau's championship-winning goal in the 1986 title decider against Maccabi Haifa was contested by the losing side's players, who argued he was offside. The officials allowed the goal to stand.[2]

Landau later acknowledged that his goal in the 1983 State Cup final against Maccabi Tel Aviv—a derby at Ramat Gan Stadium that Hapoel won 3–2—was scored with his hand. Referee Ovadia Ben Yitzhak did not spot the handball and allowed the goal; Landau disclosed what happened only after a long period of silence.[3]

The circumstances of his departure from the Israel women's national team in May 2022 are also contested. The Football Association said it found no misconduct in his conduct, while players reported a range of professional and conduct-related concerns.[15]