Hapoel Petach-Tikva
Hapoel Petah Tikva is an Israeli association 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. 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 Israel 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 F.C. 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, known as the "War Cup" and boycotted by Beitar-affiliated clubs, is not recognised by the Israel Football Association.
The club was included in the new Israeli League 1949-50 in 1949 and finished fourth in the first post-Declaration of Independence (Israel) championship, with their 3-2 home defeat to Beitar Tel Aviv F.C. annulled.
In the Liga Leumit 1954-55 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 F.C. 2-1), before winning the title again in Liga Leumit 1958-59. They retained the title in Liga Leumit 1959-60, Liga Leumit 1960-61, Liga Leumit 1961-62 and Liga Leumit 1962-63, setting a record for the number of consecutive championships (the next best is three, achieved by Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. and Maccabi Haifa F.C.). 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 Liga Leumit 1964-65 and Liga Leumit 1966-68 and reached the cup final again in 1968, but lost 1-0 to Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C.. In the 1974 final they lost 1-0 to Hapoel Haifa F.C. after extra time.
At the end of the Liga Leumit 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 as Liga Artzit champions, but were relegated again at the end of the Liga Leumit 1981-82, 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, also winning the Liga Leumit Toto Cup.
Staduim
The club plays at the Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium, commonly known as HaUrva. The stadium is shared with city rivals Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. and has a capacity of 6,768. Both clubs are planning to move to the new Petah Tikva Stadium in 2009.
As of February 2008
Honours
- Israeli championships
- - Winners 1954-55, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1962-63
- Israel State Cup
- - Winners 1957, 1992
- Toto Cup
- - Winners 1986, 1990, 1991, 2005
- - Toto Cup Leumit winners 2007
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Related pages
Beitar Jerusalem, Bnei Saknin, Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Hakoah Maccabi Ramat-Gan, Hapoel Kiriat Shmone, Hapoel Petach-Tikva, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Netanya, Maccabi Petach-Tikva, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, MS Ashdod