Ronny Levy
Encyclopedia
Ronny Levy is a former Israeli international football player and now works as a manager. Levy was one of the best defensive midfielders in Israeli football while playing, and won championships with both Bnei Yehuda and Maccabi Haifa
.
As a manager
Levy is considered very thorough and an extremely dedicated professional, dictating very high standards and uncompromising in what he demands from players. He also has an "eye
" for talent, signing in his time some of the best foreign talents that ever played in Israel, such as Gustavo Boccoli
and Roberto Colautti
.
in the youth teams of Maccabi Netanya. He was a prolific scorer and was promoted to the first team in 1985. After five seasons in the shadow of then domestic superstars Oded Machnes
and David Lavi
, he was loaned to Bnei Yehuda in the transfer window of season 1989–90, where he won his first championship
title.
After two good years back in Maccabi Netanya, Levy transferred to Maccabi Haifa
in 1992 where he was positioned first as a defender
. After a few games his role was changed to defensive midfielder, the position he would occupy until the end of his playing career. Levy played a major role in Maccabi Haifa's championship in the season of 1993–94. He retired from playing in 1997 due to a serious injury
of his knee
.
ing position in one of Maccabi Haifa
's youth
teams. After two years in the youth department, he was made assistant manager of the first team, under the management of Eli Cohen. Cohen resigned his position in the last stages of the 1999–2000 season, and was replaced by Levy for a few games. At the end of the season, Levy returned to the youth department, this time as head coach of the first youth team for the next three years, where he was very successful, making both cup and league titles in his last year there.
As the season of 2002–03 ended, and manager Itzhak Shum
left the club to go to top Greek club Panathinaikos, Levy was given the position of first team manager. His appointment met serious doubts from both news media
and fans
, who suggested he was not experienced enough to fill one of the most desirable and prestigious roles in Israeli football.
Levy answered the critics with three domestic championships in a row in his first 3 years of managing Maccabi Haifa
(2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06), one Toto Cup Al
(2006), and a qualification to the UEFA cup group stage in 2006–07.
Levy is one of the first managers in Israeli football to use computer
software as a tool for measuring the players' performance and a means for tactical analysis. In 2006, Levy received a "manager of the year" award from both major Israeli newspapers, 'Yedioth Ahronoth
and Maariv
.
After seasons 2006–07, 2007–08 which were considered as failure after failing to challenge for the title, finishing 5th in both seasons, he decided to leave the club and was replaced by Elisha Levy
.
On 22 December Levy signed with Maccabi Petah Tikva for a year and a half. One the 22nd of November after less than a year with the Petah Tikva side Levy decided to quit.
On 31 December 2009 Levy signed with Unirea Urziceni for a contract worth $600,000 to manage the team for a year and a half. His first game in charge was against Liverpool
at Anfield
in the UEFA Europa League on 18 February 2010 where the visitors lost 1–0.
On 17 January 2011, Levy signed with Beitar Jerusalem.
On 10 June 2011, Steaua Bucharest presented Ronny Levy as the new head coach of the team. He was fired on 30 September 2011 after a draw against AEK Larnaca
in the UEFA Europa League
. The next day, 1 October, he signed a contract for a year with Anorthosis Famagusta
.
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...
.
As a manager
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
Levy is considered very thorough and an extremely dedicated professional, dictating very high standards and uncompromising in what he demands from players. He also has an "eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
" for talent, signing in his time some of the best foreign talents that ever played in Israel, such as Gustavo Boccoli
Gustavo Boccoli
Gustavo Boccoli is a Brazilian footballer. He is a versatile midfielder/forward who plays for Maccabi Haifa.-Career:...
and Roberto Colautti
Roberto Colautti
Roberto Damián Colautti is a naturalized Israeli football striker who plays as a striker for Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the Israeli Premier League, and internationally for the Israel national football team.-Personal life:...
.
Playing career
Levy started his career as a strikerStriker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
in the youth teams of Maccabi Netanya. He was a prolific scorer and was promoted to the first team in 1985. After five seasons in the shadow of then domestic superstars Oded Machnes
Oded Machnes
Oded Machnes is a retired Israeli footballer who was a striker, and is the second-greatest goal-scorer in Israeli history with 196 goals in the Israeli Premier League....
and David Lavi
David Lavi
David Lavi is a retired Israeli footballer who is one of the top ten goal-scorers in Israeli history with more than 140 goals in the Israeli Premier League.-National:*Israeli Premier League :**1977/78, 1979/80, 1982/83*State Cup :**1978...
, he was loaned to Bnei Yehuda in the transfer window of season 1989–90, where he won his first championship
Championship
Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...
title.
After two good years back in Maccabi Netanya, Levy transferred to Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...
in 1992 where he was positioned first as a defender
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
. After a few games his role was changed to defensive midfielder, the position he would occupy until the end of his playing career. Levy played a major role in Maccabi Haifa's championship in the season of 1993–94. He retired from playing in 1997 due to a serious injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
of his knee
Knee
The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the fibula and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated. The knee is a mobile trocho-ginglymus , which permits flexion and extension as...
.
As a manager
With retirement, Levy was given a coachCoach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
ing position in one of Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...
's youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
teams. After two years in the youth department, he was made assistant manager of the first team, under the management of Eli Cohen. Cohen resigned his position in the last stages of the 1999–2000 season, and was replaced by Levy for a few games. At the end of the season, Levy returned to the youth department, this time as head coach of the first youth team for the next three years, where he was very successful, making both cup and league titles in his last year there.
As the season of 2002–03 ended, and manager Itzhak Shum
Itzhak Shum
Itzhak Shum is a retired Israeli football player and was lastly the manager of Cypriot First Division side Alki.-Playing career:He played 78 times and scored 10 goals for Israel national football team and was a participant at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 1968 and 1976 Olympic Games.-Manager...
left the club to go to top Greek club Panathinaikos, Levy was given the position of first team manager. His appointment met serious doubts from both news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
and fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
, who suggested he was not experienced enough to fill one of the most desirable and prestigious roles in Israeli football.
Levy answered the critics with three domestic championships in a row in his first 3 years of managing Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa F.C.
Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...
(2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06), one Toto Cup Al
Toto Cup
The Toto Cup is an association football tournament that exists separately in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Premier League and Liga Leumit....
(2006), and a qualification to the UEFA cup group stage in 2006–07.
Levy is one of the first managers in Israeli football to use computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
software as a tool for measuring the players' performance and a means for tactical analysis. In 2006, Levy received a "manager of the year" award from both major Israeli newspapers, 'Yedioth Ahronoth
Yedioth Ahronoth
Yedioth Ahronoth is a daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since the 1970s, it has been the most widely circulated paper in Israel. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Yedioth Ahronoth retained the title of most widely read newspaper in Israel...
and Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
.
After seasons 2006–07, 2007–08 which were considered as failure after failing to challenge for the title, finishing 5th in both seasons, he decided to leave the club and was replaced by Elisha Levy
Elisha Levy
Elisha Levy is a former professional football player and is currently manager of Israeli side Maccabi Haifa.-Player:Levy was born in Jerusalem and in the beginning of the 60s moved with his family to Beit She'an. At the age of 11 he joined Hapoel Beit She'an children's club. He continued to play...
.
On 22 December Levy signed with Maccabi Petah Tikva for a year and a half. One the 22nd of November after less than a year with the Petah Tikva side Levy decided to quit.
On 31 December 2009 Levy signed with Unirea Urziceni for a contract worth $600,000 to manage the team for a year and a half. His first game in charge was against Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
in the UEFA Europa League on 18 February 2010 where the visitors lost 1–0.
On 17 January 2011, Levy signed with Beitar Jerusalem.
On 10 June 2011, Steaua Bucharest presented Ronny Levy as the new head coach of the team. He was fired on 30 September 2011 after a draw against AEK Larnaca
AEK Larnaca
AEK Larnaca FC |Kition]] Athletic Union") is a Cypriot Sports club, based in the port of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two Larnaca clubs: EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club has football section, basketball sections for men AEK Larnaca B.C...
in the UEFA Europa League
2011–12 UEFA Europa League
The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League is the third season of the competition since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with the first legs of the first qualifying round, and will end on 9 May 2012 with the final to be held at Stadionul Național in Bucharest, Romania...
. The next day, 1 October, he signed a contract for a year with Anorthosis Famagusta
Anorthosis Famagusta FC
Αnorthosis Famagusta FC is a Cypriot football and volleyball club which is originally based in Famagusta, but is now temporarily based in Larnaca, due to the Turkish invasion. Anorthosis is one of the most successful clubs in Cypriot football, having won 13 league titles, 10 Cypriot Cups and 6...
.
As a Player
- Israeli Premier League (2):
- 1989–90, 1993–94
- State CupIsrael State CupThe State Cup , is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israeli Football Association.The State Cup was first held in 1927–28 as the Palestine Cup...
(2):- 1993, 1995
- Toto Cup AlToto CupThe Toto Cup is an association football tournament that exists separately in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Premier League and Liga Leumit....
(1):- 1993–94
As a Manager
- Israeli Youth Championship (2):
- 1998–99, 2002–03
- Youth State Cup (3):
- 1999, 2000, 2003
- Israeli Premier League (3):
- 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06
- Toto Cup AlToto CupThe Toto Cup is an association football tournament that exists separately in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Premier League and Liga Leumit....
(3):- 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08
- Liga ILiga ILiga I, or in full, due to sponsorship reasons, Liga I Bergenbier, is the top division of the Romanian football league system. Before the 2006/2007 season, it was called Divizia A, but the name had to be changed following the discovery that someone else had registered the trademark "Divizia A"...
:- Runners-up (1): 2009–102009–10 Liga IThe 2009–10 Liga I season was the ninety-second since its establishment. Unirea Urziceni were the defending champions.- Teams :Farul Constanţa, Otopeni and Gloria Buzău were relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season after finishing in 16th through 18th place...
- Runners-up (1): 2009–10