Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi Haifa
	Maccabi Haifa
Basic data
Surname	Maccabi Haifa Football Club ; מכבי חיפה
Seat	Haifa
founding	1913
president	Ya'akov Shachar
Website	mhaifafc.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Guy Luzon
Venue	Sammy Ofer Stadium
Places	30,820
league	Ligat ha'Al
2019/20	2nd place

Maccabi Haifa is an Israeli sports club from Haifa founded in 1913 . The most important departments of the club are football and basketball . In football, Maccabi is one of the most successful teams with twelve championship titles and six men's cup wins and was also the first Israeli team to qualify for a main round in Europe's most important club competition, the UEFA Champions League .

In the club's coat of arms, the Star of David is prominent in the execution of the Maccabi movement, the aim of which is to promote the awareness of Jewish youth for religious, cultural and national values. The term Maccabi is derived from the name of a priestly family, the Maccabees , whose members are viewed as freedom fighters.

Soccer

history

1913 to 1980

Maccabi Haifa was founded in the port city in 1913. The association was initially rather insignificant and only got a structure through the integration of Austrian immigrants. In 1942 they made it to the cup final, but with 1:12 it was a clear defeat against Beitar Tel Aviv . In 1946 they were promoted to the first division, but in the following time they constantly shuttled back and forth between the first and second division. The first major success came in 1962 when they beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 5-2 in the final of the State Cup, the national cup. The title could almost have been defended, but the following year they lost 1-0 to Hapoel Haifa in the final . In 1971 they lost to Hakoach Ramat-Gan 1: 2 in the fourth final .

1980s

1981 succeeded again the promotion to the first division. Since then, Maccabi has been first class. In 1983/1984 the club won the title when they overtook Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv in a dramatic final phase. The success was all the more surprising because the "total offensive" game system with four strikers in previous years often resulted in poor defensive work and clear defeats. But the young goalkeeper Avi Ran proved to be strong support. In the following year the title could be defended, but the "double" failed. In the final of the State Cup they lost to Beitar Jerusalem 0: 1. However, the Israeli Supercup went to Haifa when Beitar Jerusalem was defeated 5-2. In 1987 the cup final was lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv on penalties. In 1989 the third championship was achieved. The cup final in the same year was again lost on penalties, this time against Beitar Jerusalem.

1990s

In 1991 Maccabi won the double when, in addition to the championship title, they also won the cup final against Hapoel Petach Tikwa 3-1. Ya'akov Shahar bought the club in 1992. The management was improved in order to adapt it to the major professional leagues in Europe. In 1993 the State Cup was won for the third time, 1-0 against Maccabi Tel Aviv . The following year they made it to the round of 16 in the European Cup. At the same time Maccabi became undefeated Israeli champions and won the league cup .

In 1995 the trophy was won again when they beat local rivals Hapoel Haifa 2-0. After some players went to Europe, three years without a title followed, before winning the cup again in 1998. Hapoel Jerusalem was beaten 2-0. In 1999 they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup, where Paris Saint-Germain and SV Ried were beaten.

2000s

2001 won the championship again after seven years of dry spell. The festivities were overshadowed by an accident when a young fan was pushed against the security line and fell into a coma . The title could be defended the following year. In 2003 Maccabi Haifa became the first Israeli team to make it into the group stage of the Champions League . From 2004 to 2006 Maccabi managed the title " hat trick " in the championship of Israel . At the beginning of the 2006/07 season, they narrowly failed in the last qualifying round against the English record champions FC Liverpool , although they had to play their home game in Kiev because of the Lebanon War and the 1: 2 from the first leg could not be made up with a 1: 1. But one reached in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup , the knockout games of the best 32 teams. For the first time, two Israeli teams were represented here: Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv . In contrast to Hapoel, Maccabi qualified for the round of 16, in which they were eliminated by Espanyol Barcelona . In the Israeli championship one reached at the end of the season, however, after the three championships in a row only the fifth place.

Haifa versus FC Red Bull Salzburg (2009)

From 2009 on

In the 2008/09 season, the team lost the cup final against Beitar Jerusalem , but won the eleventh championship title, which entitles them to participate in the UEFA Champions League . In the second qualifying round the Northern Irish club Glentoran FC was defeated, in the third round the Kazakh champions FK Aqtöbe (0-0 and 4-3). In the play-offs, Haifa beat the Austrian champions FC Red Bull Salzburg 2-1 and 3-0 in two legs. Haifa was drawn in Group A together with Juventus Turin , Girondins Bordeaux and FC Bayern Munich . The team lost all six games without scoring a goal.

Things went much better for Haifa in the championship in 2009/10. After the end of the regular season, the team was in first place with 77 points. After the play-offs, however, the team was only second on points due to the worse goal difference with Hapoel Tel Aviv . This entitles them to participate in the third qualifying round for the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League . The first leg against FK Dinamo Minsk could be won 1-0, but after the 1: 3 defeat in the second leg, the team was eliminated. In the 2010/11 championship, however, as in the previous year, Haifa was in first place after the regular season ahead of Tel Aviv (70 points), but this time was also able to defend the position in the play-offs and thus won the club's twelfth championship title. The team lost the final in the cup, however, 0-1 against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

In qualifying for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League , FK Borac Banja Luka from Bosnia and Herzegovina was defeated in the second round, and the Slovenian champions NK Maribor in the third round . In the play-offs, however, Haifa lost to KRC Genk . The draw for the group stage of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League placed Haifa in Group J together with Steaua Bucharest , AEK Larnaka and FC Schalke 04 .

Stadion

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium (2006)

Sammy Ofer Stadium (2013)

Maccabi Haifa played its games in the Kiryat Eliezer Stadium until 2014 . The stadium, built in 1955, offers space for around 14,000 spectators. It was also the venue for local rival Hapoel Haifa .

For the 2014/15 season, the club is moving, alongside Hapoel, to the new Sammy Ofer stadium named after Sammy Ofer . It was completed between 2009 and 2014. The stadium has a capacity of 30,780 spectators.

successes

Israeli Masters (12 ×): 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2001 , 2002 , 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2009 , 2011
Israeli Cup winners (6 ×): 1962, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2016
Israel League Cup (4 ×): 1994, 2002, 2006, 2008