The left-back returns to his boyhood club: "Excited to come back, I truly believe we're heading toward a good season."
Left-back Doron Leidner is coming home on a one-year contract, with a purchase option from Olympiacos at the end of the season. Doron will wear jersey number 16.
Leidner (23) joined Hapoel from Maccabi Petah Tikva at the U-16 level and has since played for all of the club's youth teams. He made his debut for the senior team in May 2020, in a 2–1 win over Maccabi Haifa – and went on to play in all matches that season (11 in all competitions).
In the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, he was a key player for the team, making 55 appearances across all competitions, scoring once and providing five assists.
In the summer of 2022, Leidner was sold to Greek powerhouse Olympiacos. After half a year, he was loaned to Austria Wien, where he made 10 appearances, scoring and assisting once. In the past season, he was loaned again from Olympiacos, this time to Swiss club FC Zurich, where he made five appearances for the first team.
Additionally, he has made eight appearances for Israel’s senior national team and nine for the Olympic team.
After signing, Leidner said: "There’s no one more excited than me to return to the club where I grew up. Even when I played elsewhere, I always felt connected to Hapoel. I was moved by the many messages I received from fans – and the great love I got from them is one of the reasons I came back. I truly believe we’re heading into a good and successful season. Yalla Hapoel!”
Good luck, Doron!