Hapoel Nazareth Illit F.C.

Hapoel Nazareth Illit
Full name	Hapoel Nazareth Illit Football Club
Founded	1962
Ground	Green Stadium, Nazareth Illit
Capacity	4,000
Owner	Nazareth Illit Municipality
Chairman	Roni Likwernik
Manager	Yaron Hochenboim
League	Liga Leumit
2016–17	Liga Leumit, 14th

Hapoel Nazareth Illit Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל הפועל נצרת עילית‎, Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Natzrat Illit) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Nazareth Illit. The club currently plays in Liga Leumit.

History

The club was founded in 1962 as Hapoel Kiryat Nazareth and competed in Liga Gimel for several seasons, before promoting to Liga Bet at the end of the 1971–72 season. The club changed its name in 1973 after Kiryat Nazareth gained city status and was renamed Nazareth Illit.

The club won 1975–76 Liga Bet, but, due to the league system restructuring, the club remained in the league system's third tier, which became Liga Alef. In 1978–79 the club won Liga Alef North division and was promoted to Liga Artzit, then the second tier. In 1983–84 they finished second from bottom, and were relegated to Liga Alef. Two seasons later the club finished second from bottom in Liga Alef and dropped to Liga Bet.

In 1998–99 the club finished as runners-up in Liga Alef North, and was promoted back to Liga Artzit, which was now the third tier following the formation of the Israeli Premier League in 1999. After narrowly avoiding relegation in 2000–01 when they finished one place above the relegation zone, the club finished as runners-up the following season, and were promoted back to the second tier. In 2003–04 they finished as runners-up (on goal difference), and were promoted to the top division for the first time in their history.

In their first season in the Premier League the club finished fifth. Home matches were initially played at Maccabi Ahi Nazareth's Ilut Stadium, whilst their home ground had floodlights installed. They returned home in February 2005. However, the following season, 2005–06, they finished second from bottom (on goal difference), and returned to Liga Leumit. In 2007–08 they finished bottom of Liga Leumit, and were relegated to Liga Artzit.

Despite only finishing seventh in Liga Artzit in 2008–09, F.C. Nazareth Illit were promoted back to Liga Leumit as restructuring meant the top seven clubs were automatically promoted. Since then, Nazareth Illit hasn't been relegated for 3 consecutive seasons, finishing seventh in 2009–10, 11th in 2010–11 and twelfth in 2011–12.

In the 2012–13 season the club signed several new players, including Ibrahim Basit, Eran Malchin and Moti Malka; they finished second in the league, but lost 3–1 at home in a crucial match against Hapoel Ra'anana in the play-offs,^[1] with Ra'anana eventually promoted to the Israeli Premier League, whilst Nazareth Illit finished third and remained in Liga Leumit.

Current squad

As of 24 August 2018.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Avi Ivgi
3	DF	Alon Netzer
4	DF	Ofek Fishler
7	FW	Julio Cesar
8	MF	Eithan Velblum
9	FW	Gal Katabi
10	MF	Guy Dayan
11	FW	Jonatan Levi
13	MF	Itamar Gata
14	MF	Avishay Gata
15	DF	Eli Balilty
16	MF	Ohad Hazut
17	MF	Pedro Sass
20	MF	Liad Elmaliah
21	FW	Ahmed Kasoum

No.	Position	Player
22	GK	Adi Tabachnik
27	DF	Haroun Shapso
28	DF	Reuven Gal
29	MF	Oded Checkol
55	MF	Vyacheslav Orchov
77	DF	Achlau Deres
88	MF	Adam Lauz
94	GK	Sagi Malul
99	FW	Ezaat Khlayli
—	DF	Jurica Grgec
—	MF	Ali Dahla
—	FW	Yuval Shawat
—	FW	Eyal Danin
—	FW	Mohsana Kna'ana

Honours

League

Honour	No.	Years
Third tier	2	1975–76, 1978–79
Fourth tier	1	1971–72

Cups

Honour	No.	Years
Liga Bet North A Division Cup	1	1986–87^[2]

References

↑ Three on top: 3–1 for Ra'anana over Nazareth Illit Best Ball, 26.4.2013 (in Hebrew)
↑ A Victory to Nazareth Illit over Bnei Nazareth in the City Derby Ma'ariv, 28 December 1986, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)

External links

Hapoel Nazareth Illit Israel Football Association (in Hebrew)

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[1] Three on top: 3–1 for Ra'anana over Nazareth Illit Best Ball, 26.4.2013 (in Hebrew)

[2] A Victory to Nazareth Illit over Bnei Nazareth in the City Derby Ma'ariv, 28 December 1986, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)

Liga Leumit
Clubs	Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla Hapoel Afula Hapoel Bnei Lod Hapoel Hadera Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Marmorek Hapoel Nazareth Illit Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Ramat HaSharon Hapoel Rishon LeZion Hapoel Tel Aviv Ironi Nesher Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Maccabi Herzliya
Stadia	Afula Illit Stadium Green Stadium Grundman Stadium Haberfeld Stadium HaMoshava Stadium Herzliya Municipal Stadium Ilut Stadium Levita Stadium Lod Municipal Stadium Nesher Stadium Ramla Municipal Stadium Teddy Stadium Winter Stadium
Seasons (second level)	1937 1938 1939 1940 1941–42 1946–47 1947–48 1949–50 1951–52 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18

Israeli Premier League
Clubs	Beitar Jerusalem Bnei Sakhnin Bnei Yehuda F.C. Ashdod Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Hadera Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Ra'anana Hapoel Tel Aviv Ironi Kiryat Shmona Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Tel Aviv
Stadiums	Doha Stadium HaMoshava Stadium Kiryat Shmona Stadium Netanya Stadium Sammy Ofer Stadium Teddy Stadium Turner Stadium Yud-Alef Stadium
Former clubs	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan Hapoel Acre Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Rishon LeZion Hapoel Nazareth Illit Hapoel Tzafririm Holon Hapoel Ramat HaSharon Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Maccabi Herzliya Maccabi Kiryat Gat
Competition	Champions Foreign players Players with 100+ goals Records All-time table
Seasons	1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19