Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C.

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Hapoel Tel Aviv

Full name

Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club
מועדון כדורגל הפועל תל אביב

Nickname(s)

The Red Demons

Founded

1923

Ground

Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa, Israel
(Capacity 15473)

Chairman

Moni Harel

Manager

Eli Guttman

League

Ligat ha'Al ליגת העל
(Premier League)

2007-08

7th place





Home colours





Away colours

Hapoel Tel Aviv (Hebrew: הפועל תל-אביב‎) is an Israeli football club that competes in Ligat ha'Al, the top division of Israeli football. Over the years, the club has won 13 championship titles and 11 state cup titles.

It is politically associated with a socialist, left-wing ideology and with the Histadrut, Israel's trade union congress, although in recent years this association has diminished.

1 History
2 Stadium
3 Current squad
- 3.1 Notable former players
4 Honours
5 UEFA Ranking
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

"Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C." was officially formed in 1923, but did not last long. The team was re-formed in 1925 and then for a third time in 1926, and has remained active since. In 1927, "Allenby F.C." merged with Hapoel to give it its final form. In 1928, Hapoel won the first ever Palestine Cup competition, beating Arab, British and Jewish sides. Hapoel won an additional cup in 1934 and three consecutive cups between 1937 and 1939. In 1934-1936 it won three consecutive championships, in a league that also contained teams of the British occupation forces. Hapoel Tel Aviv won three additional championships in 1938, 1940 and 1943, although there is still debate about the last.

[edit] The 1950s and '60s

After the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948, Hapoel Tel Aviv had to wait nine years before it won its first championship, in 1957. Then, it won another championship in 1966, and the first Asian champions cup in 1968, after a 2-1 victory over Selangor FA of Malaysia. Hapoel was crowned again as the Israeli champion in 1969, ending a fruitful decade.

[edit] The 1970s and '80s

Hapoel did not win a single championship throughout the 1970s. The 1980s proved much more successful, with championships in 1981, 1986 and 1988, and a national cup in 1983. In 1989, however, the team was relegated to the second division, mainly due to disorders in the management of the club and clashes between the players and management.

[edit] From the 1990s to the present

The team returned to the first league after one year, but failed to win any title during the 1990s, besides a national cup in 1999. A major event in this decade was the loss on 2 May 1998 of the championship to Beitar Jerusalem, after Beitar won the penultimate match of the season in a highly controversial game, called "Mischak Hasrochim" (the shoe lace game), in which at stoppage time the players of Hapoel's rival team stopped playing and tied their boots during a corner for Beitar, resulting in an unopposed winning goal for Beitar and allegations of fixing the game and the championship.

In 2000 Hapoel won a double, both a championship and a national cup. In 2001 Hapoel reached the quarter-final of the UEFA cup, losing to AC Milan 2-0 away after a 1-0 victory at home. On the way to the quarter-final Hapoel defeated teams such as Lokomotiv Moscow, Chelsea FC and Parma FC.

On 24 November 2006 Hapoel achieved one of its great wins against the tough French side, Paris Saint-Germain. A few weeks later, after drawing with FK Mlada Boleslav, Hapoel secured its place in the round of 32 for the first time since its amazing run in 2001 in the UEFA cup.

In 2007, Hapoel third in its group in the UEFA Cup and was drawn to face Rangers from Scotland in the last 32 of the competition. On 14 February, Hapoel beat Rangers 2-1. In the second leg, on 22 February, Hapoel was defeated 4-0 in Glasgow and knocked out of the UEFA cup.

On the 16th of August, 2007 Hapoel was scheduled to play NK Široki Brijeg in Široki's Pecara Stadium. Hapoel won the game 3:0. In the 17th minute of the game (after the first goal) Hapoel's fans threw burning torches to the stadium and to the gate of the rival fans. Due to that the game was stopped for 20 minutes and was continued later. Hapoel will be judged by UEFA court because of the incident.

On October 4th, 2007 Hapoel qualified to the groups phase of the UEFA Cup, winning in an away match vs. AIK Fotboll club from Sweden one nil from a free kick by Reuven Oved. They then went into Group G of the UEFA cup, alongside Anderlecht, Tottenham Hotspur, Getafe and Aalborg only to finish last in the group and knocked out of the competition, with only one win, against Getafe C.F..

With the former manager, Guy Luzon, the fans had quickly found their team on the last place in Ligat Ha'al. After losing 2-0 to Macabi Haifa Luzon quit to leave the team to the scout and the fitness couch- Yossi Abuksis and Ron Tziblin. After winning Getafe C.F. and losing to Ironi Kiriat Shmona, Eli Gutman revealed as the new manager, who helped the team survive (With help of the new players he brought- Shlomi Arbeitman, Omri Canada, Dimitar Telkiyski and Elin Topuzakov) in the league after 2-1 against Maccabi Petach Tikva one game before the last of the season. Eli Gutman signed for another year in the club.

[edit] Stadium

Hapoel Tel Aviv plays at the "Bloomfield" stadium in Jaffa. Hapoel supporters occupy gates 2, 5, 7 and 13, with the Ultras sitting at gate 5. Rival teams supporters seat at gates 8 and 11.

[edit] Current squad

As of February 2008

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Vincent Enyeama
3	DF	Tal Hen
5	DF	Elin Topuzakov
6	MF	Bibras Natkho
7	MF	Idan Srur
9	MF	Baruch Dego
10	MF	Walid Badir (Captain)
12	MF	Reuven Oved
14	MF	Nsumbu Mazuwa
18	MF	Shay Abutbul
19	FW	Adi Sabag
20	DF	Igal Antebi (Vice captain)
21	DF	Dani Bondarv
22	GK	Galil Ben Sha'anan

No.	Position	Player
23	DF	Omri Canada
24	MF	Itay Elkaslasi (from youth team)
25	DF	Gal Shish (from youth team)
26	FW	Roy Dayan
27	FW	Fábio Júnior
28	FW	Shlomi Arbeitman
29	DF	Rami Duani
30	DF	Amer Manzur
31	MF	Dimitar Telkiyski
33	GK	Ariel Talias (from youth team)
87	FW	Umut Güzelses (holds teudat zehut)
88	DF	Asher Tubi (from youth team)
91	MF	Eliezer Dadon (from youth team)
94	FW	Meir Asor (from youth team)