Hapoel Jerusalem
Full nameHapoel Jerusalem Football Club
מועדון כדורגל הפועל ירושלים
Nickname(s)Katamon
Founded1926
GroundTeddy Stadium, Jerusalem
Capacity31,733
OwnerFan-owned
ChairmanYotam Karmon (Chairman),
Uri Sheradsky (CEO)
ManagerZiv Arie
LeagueIsraeli Premier League
2022–23Israeli Premier League, 4th of 14

Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל הפועל ירושלים, Mo'adon Kaduregel Hapoel Yerushalayim) is an Israeli professional football club based in Jerusalem. It competes in Israeli Premier League, the top flight of Israeli football. Founded in 1926, their home ground is the Teddy Stadium. As a protest against the conduct of the club's owners since the 1990s, the Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem football club was established in 2007, the first football club in Israel owned by its fans. The club was named after Katamon Stadium, which was formerly used by Hapoel Jerusalem. The club existed in parallel with Hapoel Jerusalem for 12 years.

In 2019 Hapoel Jerusalem was disbanded and in August 2020, Hapoel Katamon acquired the rights to the name Hapoel Jerusalem and officially became Hapoel Jerusalem. Since then, the club is owned by its fans and is managed by a board of seven members.

The team's record achievement is winning the State Cup and third place in the First League in 1973.

History

Old logo
Old logo 2

Hapoel Jerusalem Club was established in 1926 and played in the inaugural season of the EIFA league, playing the league's first match against local rivals Maccabi Hasmonean Jerusalem.[1][2] The club played in the league for its first three seasons, however, the club was restricted to playing mainly in the Jerusalem area due to travelling difficulties. The club participated occasionally in the Palestine Cup, reaching the cup final in 1943, losing to a team from the Royal Artillery 1–7.[3]

After the establishment of Israel, the club registered to play in the makeshift second-tier league, Liga Meuhedet, in the Jerusalem-Central division, which the club won. The club continued to play in the second division (Liga Bet until 1956 and Liga Alef afterwards), until it was promoted to the top division at the end of the 1956–57 season, after finishing second in promotion play-offs. Following the promotion, the club stayed in the top division for 21 seasons, achieving its best position, 3rd, in 1972–73. In 1971–72 the club reached the State Cup final, losing to Hapoel Tel Aviv 0–1. A season later, the club reached the cup final again, this time winning the cup.[4]

The club was relegated to the second division in 1979, but bounced back the following season. The club continued to yo-yo between the two top divisions in the following seasons, playing his last season at the top division in 1999–2000. In 1998, the club reached its fourth cup final, but lost to Maccabi Haifa in extra time.

In the early 1990s, the club was transferred to businessmen Yossi Sassi and Victor Yona. The two ran the team together until falling out, leading to a long business and legal dispute[5] which lasted until 2009, when Yona left the club.[6] During the dispute, a group of supporters, tired of the feuding between the two businessmen, decided to establish a group, first in an attempt to purchase control of the club, and then in a bid to establish a fan-owned club, Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem. The fan-based club was established in 2009 (after a short period of existence as a merged club with Hapoel Mevaseret Zion) and progressed to the Liga Leumit in 2013–14, where the two clubs met for the first time.

The club played in the third tier Liga Aleph after being relegated from the second tier Liga Leumit in the 2016–17. On 26 August 2019 the Israeli Football Federation refused to list the club for 2019–20 season due to financial problems.

On August 9, 2020, the club has been officially recreated, as Hapoel Katamon renamed to Hapoel Jerusalem.

On April 30, 2021, Hapoel Jerusalem won against Sektzia Nes Ziona, thereby securing promotion to the top flight, after an absence of 21 years from the top flight.

Stadiums

Since the establishment of Israel, the club played in three stadiums, YMCA stadium, in which the club played between 1949 and 1955, when the club moved to its own Katamon Stadium, in the neighborhood of Katamon. Katamon Stadium was razed in 1982, with the intention to build a bigger modern stadium in its place, and in the meantime the club returned to play in YMCA stadium. The new stadium in Katamon was never built, and instead Teddy Stadium was built in the Malha neighborhood, to which the club moved in 1992.

Support

During the early years, support of the club came mostly from the labour organizations in Israel. City rivals Beitar were identified with the right-wing nationalist organizations. All this played out to create the Jerusalem derby. To this day the rivalry exists, though it is not nearly as heated as when both clubs played in the top division of Israeli football. In 2007 a large majority of fans, unhappy with the management of the club, defected and founded Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem F.C., the first fully fan-owned club in the country.

Current squad

As of 13 September 2023
No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Nigeria NGA Adebayo Adeleye
2 DF Israel ISR Shahar Piven
3 DF Israel ISR Noam Malmoud
4 DF Israel ISR Amit Glazer (on loan from Maccabi Tel Aviv)
5 DF Ivory Coast CIV Yao Eloge Koffi
6 MF Ethiopia ETH Awaka Ashta
7 FW Israel ISR Matan Hozez (on loan from Maccabi Tel Aviv)
8 FW Israel ISR Or Roizman (on loan from Maccabi Tel Aviv)
9 FW Netherlands NED Jelle Duin
10 MF Israel ISR Tomer Altman
11 FW Ivory Coast CIV Cédric Franck Don
14 DF Israel ISR Amir Ariely (on loan from Hapoel Be'er Sheva)
15 MF Israel ISR Ofek Bitton
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 DF Israel ISR Omer Agvadish
17 FW Israel ISR Karem Zoabi
19 FW Israel ISR Idan Dahan
20 DF Israel ISR Ofek Nadir
21 MF Israel ISR Ayano Preda
22 DF Israel ISR Yoray Maliah
24 MF Israel ISR Nadav Nidam
29 FW Angola ANG Capita (on loan from Estrela Amadora)
33 DF Israel ISR Max Grechkin
37 DF Czech Republic CZE Ondřej Bačo
55 GK Israel ISR Nadav Zamir
77 FW Israel ISR Lior Kasa
— FW Estonia EST Rauno Sappinen

Former players

Hapoel Jerusalem (1926–2019)
Hapoel Katamon (2007–2020)

Coaching staff

As of May 24 2019
Position Staff
ManagerIsrael Ziv Arie
Assistant managerIsrael Lior Zada
Israel Yitzhak Sherman
First-team coachIsrael Yitzhak Sherman
Goalkeeper coachIsrael Guy Hakmon
Fitness coachIsrael Lidor Ganon
SportstherapistIsrael Shlomi Zimmermann
PhysiotherapistIsrael Itay Azulay
Director of the youth departmentIsrael Yehuda Herzog
Logistics ManagerIsrael Moshe Zakaria
Professional ManagerIsrael Shay Aharon

Honours

League

Honour No. Years
Second tier 3 1949–50, 1979–80, 1987–88
Third tier 3 2001–02, 2007–08, 2010–11

Cups

Honour No. Years
State Cup 1 1973

Other titles

Honour No. Years
Raghib al-Nashashibi Cup 1 1929[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Maccabi Hashmonai Hapoel Jerusalem 8 – 0 (2–0) Do'ar HaYom, 13 November 1931, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
  2. ↑ 80 Years to the Israeli League Archived 8 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine Asher Goldberg, 17 November 2011, IFA (in Hebrew)
  3. ↑ Gunners Team Won the War Cup 1943 HaBoker, 17 October 1943 (in Hebrew)
  4. ↑ Jerusalem's First Cup! Pinhas Zahavi, 21 June 1973, Hadshot HaSport, p. 1 (in Hebrew)
  5. ↑ So What If Constructor Victor Yona Owes 6 Million NIS to Hapoel Jerusalem and Its Creditors? No'am Sharvit, 17 August 2008, Globes (in Hebrew)
  6. ↑ Victor Yona: I Hope My Resignation Will Help the Team Lee Nof, 8 October 2009, One (in Hebrew)
  7. ↑ Palestine from Day to Day – Hapoel Wins Nashashibi Cup The Palestine Bulletin, 26 April 1929, Historical Jewish Press
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.