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)

2006-07

4th place





Home colours





Away colours

Hapoel Tel Aviv (Hebrew: הפועל תל-אביב‎) is an Israeli football club that competes in Ligat ha'Al, the primary Israeli football league. 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 Squad changes for 2007-08 season
- 3.2 Notable Former players
4 Honours
5 UEFA Ranking
6 References
7 External links

"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.

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.

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.

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 has qualified to the groups phase of the UEFA Cup, winning in an away match vs. AIK Fotboll club from Sweden 1:0 from a free kick by Reuven Oved. They will now play in Group G of the UEFA cup, alongside Anderlecht, Tottenham Hotspur, Getafe and Aalborg.

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.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Vincent Enyeama
3	DF	Tal Hen
4	DF	Gabriel dos Santos
29	DF	Rami Duani
6	MF	Bibras Natkho
7	MF	Idan Srur
9	MF	Baruch Dego
10	MF	Walid Badir (Captain)
11	FW	Lior Asulin
12	MF	Reuven Oved
14	MF	Yakir Luski
15	MF	Abedi
16	FW	Adi Sabag
17	MF	Masaai Dego

No.	Position	Player
18	MF	Shay Abutbul
26	FW	Roy Dayan
20	DF	Igal Antebi (Vice captain)
21	DF	Dani Bondarv
22	GK	Galil Ben Sha'anan
2	MF	Nsumbu Mazuwa
25	DF	Gal Shish
19	FW	Kobi Suissa
24	DF	Lior Bakshi
28	MF	Itay Elkaslasi
27	FW	Fábio Júnior
30	DF	Amer Manzur
87	FW	Umut Güzelses (holds teudat zehut)