{"id":866424,"date":"2026-08-24T07:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866424\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T07:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:24:12","slug":"miki-berkovich-israeli-basketball-legend-faces-serious-health-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866424\/","title":{"rendered":"Miki Berkovich, Israeli basketball legend, faces serious health battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miki Berkovich<\/a>, one of the greatest athletes in Israeli history and an enduring symbol of Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball, has been dealing with a complex medical condition for the past two and a half years.<\/p>\n

In recent days, social media has been flooded with rumors about the condition of the 72-year-old former star, who has made few public appearances in recent years. Throughout the period, he has been supported closely by his wife, Shelly Berkovich, as well as longtime friends including former basketball stars Tal Brody and Motti Aroesti and members of Maccabi Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9<\/p>\n

Miki Berkovich <\/p>\n

(Photo: Moti Kimchi)<\/p>\n

One of Berkovich\u2019s most recent major public appearances came in 2024, when he received the Israel Prize, one of the country\u2019s highest civilian honors.<\/p>\n

Born in Kfar Saba in 1954, Berkovich joined Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s youth system at age 11 and made his senior-team debut at 17. He went on to become one of the defining figures of Israeli basketball, playing a central role in Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s historic European Cup triumph in 1977 and starring for Israel as the national team finished second at the 1979 European Championship.<\/p>\n

Maccabi Tel Aviv chairman Shimon Mizrahi described Berkovich as \u201can exemplary athlete in every sense of the word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a true winner who also knew how to bring the whole team with him,\u201d Mizrahi said. \u201cI will never forget the game against CSKA Moscow in Virton, which was played on his birthday. We celebrated both occasions together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mizrahi said signs of Berkovich\u2019s illness began appearing about two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very painful to discover that signs of the disease had appeared, even though you could not see it in his outward appearance or physical build,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mizrahi, who lives near Berkovich, said he often saw Brody and Aroesti walking with him around the neighborhood and also encountered Berkovich regularly himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Wednesday, I had the pleasure and honor of presenting his son with the jersey when Miki was inducted into the Israel Basketball Association Hall of Fame,\u201d Mizrahi added.<\/p>\n

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv star Doron Jamchi spoke emotionally about Berkovich, whom he described as his childhood hero.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy beloved Miki, my childhood hero. The pain I feel is deep,\u201d Jamchi said. \u201cWe protected his privacy over the past few years, but we remained very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamchi said their conversations rarely centered on basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about my grandchildren and his grandchildren,\u201d he said. \u201cI also met him quite a few times and saw the deterioration. Every time, I would go home with tears in my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miki<\/a>\"Miki<\/p>\n

Miki and his wife Shelly <\/p>\n

(Photo: Reuven Schwartz)<\/p>\n

For Jamchi, the contrast between Berkovich\u2019s extraordinary career and his current condition has been particularly difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy greatest pain is that after all the achievements of the greatest Israeli basketball player of all time, he reached an age when I wanted so much for him to enjoy the best years of his life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is so sad. I cannot stop thinking about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamchi recalled countless emotional moments with Berkovich and said the former star repeatedly emphasized the importance of family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to call me, and I would call him, on all kinds of occasions,\u201d Jamchi said. \u201cHis motto was always, \u2018Doron, forget everything else. It is all nonsense. The grandchildren and the children are what matter most.\u2019 He loves them so much, and they love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamchi said Berkovich had long been a model for generations of Israeli players, including himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiki is the idol of so many players, certainly mine,\u201d he said. \u201cI always watched how seriously he treated his body, how he prepared himself for games, how he tied his shoelaces, how he put on his socks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an incredibly painful situation. He was always so sharp and organized. I have not seen him for many months, and I simply miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berkovich\u2019s family declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miki Berkovich, one of the greatest athletes in Israeli history and an enduring symbol of Maccabi Tel Aviv…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-866424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}