Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C.

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Hapoel Petah Tikva

Full name	Hapoel Petah Tikva Football Club
Short name	HPT
Founded	1934; 87 years ago (1934)
Ground	HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva
Capacity	11,500
Owner
Manager
League	Liga Leumit
2020–21	Liga Leumit, 15th
Home colours Away colours

Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. (Hebrew: הפועל פתח תקווה‎) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. Their most successful period was the late 1950s and early 1960s, in which the club won six championships, five of them in consecutive seasons. Although they have not won the title since 1963, Hapoel still hold the record for the number of back-to-back titles.^[1] The club's last piece of major silverware came in 2005 when they won the Toto Cup, and of all the clubs to have won the State Cup, Hapoel have the worst record in the finals, having won on only two of their nine appearances in the final.

History[]

The club was established in 1934. In 1945 they reached the cup final, but lost 1–0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv in a final that was abandoned after 89 minutes due to a Petah Tikva player refusing to leave the field after being sent off for insulting the referee. That year's tournament, which was known as the "War Cup" and was boycotted by Beitar-affiliated clubs, was not recognised by the Israel Football Association until recently.^[2] Nowadays, the IFA recognize this cup edition (along with the 1943 Palestine Cup) as part of the competition's history.^[3]

The club was included in the new Israeli League in 1949 and finished fourth in the first post-independence championship, with their 3–2 home defeat to Beitar Tel Aviv annulled.^[4]

In the 1954–55 season the club won their first championship, but missed out on doing the double when they lost the cup final 3–1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv. They finished second for the next three seasons, winning the cup for the first time in 1957 (beating Maccabi Jaffa 2–1), before winning the title again in 1958–59. They retained the title in 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62 and 1962–63, setting a record for the number of consecutive championships (the next best is three, achieved by Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa). In both 1959 and 1960 the club also reached the cup final, but lost on both occasions, 4–3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv and 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv respectively.

Hapoel finished second in 1964–65 and 1966–68 and reached the cup final again in 1968, but lost 1–0 to Bnei Yehuda. In the 1974 final they lost 1–0 to Hapoel Haifa after extra time.

At the end of the 1975–76 season the club were relegated for the first time in their history, and dropped into Liga Artzit. They returned to the top flight in 1978, but were relegated again at the end of the 1981–82 season, in which they finished bottom of the table with only three wins from 30 matches. The club returned to Liga Leumit in 1984. In 1986 they won the Toto Cup for the first time.

Despite a two-point deduction for breaking budget rules,^[4] Hapoel finished second in 1988–89 and qualified for the Intertoto Cup. They also finished as runners-up in 1989–90 and 1990–91, winning the Toto Cup in both seasons. In the latter they also reached the State Cup final, but lost 3–1 to Maccabi Haifa. The following year the club also reached the final, this time winning, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 3–1 after extra time, qualifying for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

In their first season in Europe, Hapoel beat Strømsgodset 4–0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, before losing on away goals to Feyenoord. Domestically, Hapoel struggled during the 1992–93 season, finishing second from bottom, only avoiding relegation after beating Maccabi Jaffa in a play-off.

In 1996–97 Hapoel finished second, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. After beating Flora Tallinn and Vejle in the qualifying rounds they were knocked out by Rapid Vienna. In 2005 they won the Toto Cup for a record fourth time (the record has since been equalled by Maccabi Haifa).

In 2006–07 the club finished bottom of the Israeli Premier League (which had replaced Liga Leumit as the top division), and were relegated after 23 successive seasons at the top flight. However, they made an immediate return to the top division after finishing as runners-up in the 2007–08 Liga Leumit,^[5] also winning the Liga Leumit Toto Cup.

The club have developed a yo-yo pattern. Relegated in 2011–12, the club were promoted in 2013–14, before being relegated immediately.

Stadium[]

The home ground of Hapoel Petah Tikva is HaMoshava Stadium which opened at the end of 2011, and replaced Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium as the home ground of the team.

Current squad[]

As of 8 July 2021

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ISR 3 DF  ISR 4 DF  ISR 5 MF  ISR 6 MF  ISR 7 MF  ISR 8 MF  ISR 9 FW  ISR 10 MF  ISR Yarden Cohen 11 MF  ISR 12 DF  ISR 15 MF  ISR 16 FW  ISR

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  ISR 18 MF  ISR 21 MF  ISR 22 GK  ISR 23 DF  ISR 25 DF  ISR 26 FW  ISR 27 DF  ISR 55 DF  ISR Ofek Fishler 77 DF  ISR 98 FW  ISR 99 FW  ISR Yossi Asayag

Honours[]

League[]

Cup competitions[]

Managers[]

References[]

External links[]

• Academy WebSite (in Hebrew)
• Hapoel Petach Tikva Museum (in Hebrew)