In any position on the field you put him in, Suf Podgoreanu will not get lost. Since his early youth career in Maccabi Haifa's youth department, starting from the U-11 age group, he stood out not just because of his height.

Podgoreanu arrived at "Ketzef" (Youth academy facility) from Hadera. His grandfather and father played for the local Hapoel team, and the third-generation descendant didn't slack off, making the journey from Hadera to Haifa twice a week, either by his father's car or by public transportation.

Every season, he played for two teams in the department: one in his age group and the other with players a year older. In the 2013/14 season, he scored 40 goals in the U-13 team and another four in the U-14 team. A season later, he was part of the U-14 team's State Cup victory, scoring twice against Hapoel Rishon Lezion (3:3) and adding a successful penalty in the shootout. In that same season (14/15), he also participated in the goal fest in the U-15 team, scoring four goals.

A year later, Podgoreanu continued to shake the nets. In the U-15 team, he scored 11 goals and was in the team that won the cup while also playing for the U-17 team, with whom he won the Sharon District championship and scored four goals.

In his original team, the U-17s, during the 2016/17 season, he scored just one goal, but his presence was felt by the goalkeepers in the U-19 league, where he scored 20 goals despite being a year younger. This trend continued in the 2017/18 season. He was part of the U-19 squad (one goal) and, in most games, wore the U-20 jersey, contributing a fantastic tally of 17 goals.

In the 2018/19 season, it was decided to promote him to the youth team's squad. He managed to score twice for the U-20 team and scored his debut goal for the youth team. The highlight for him was being part of the Maccabi "Hardy" Haifa youth team's championship win, despite the league being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From there, at just 18 years old, the path to the senior team's squad was short, and his debut match, albeit for a few minutes, was held at Bloomfield Stadium against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

However, the young footballer's journey with Maccabi Haifa ended very quickly. He received an enticing offer to move and play for the prestigious youth team of AC Roma in Italy, which he accepted. He did not make it to the senior team but achieved his dream of playing in the Italian league with Spezia in Serie A.

The Staff