Tiberias Municipal Stadium ( he, האצטדיון העירוני של טבריה), is a football stadium in
Tiberias.
History
The Municipal Stadium is the second football stadium built in Tiberias, after the defunct Maccabi Tiberias Ground, which was opened in 1927,
[Inauguration of Maccabi ground in Tiberias](_blank)
Do'ar HaYom, 10 October 1927, Historical Jewish Press and was in use until the early 1950s, when the
IFA
IFA or Ifa may refer to:
Organisations
Economics
* Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK
* Index Fund Advisors
* Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK
* Institute of Act ...
deemed the ground unfit,
[The Tiberians' Leap](_blank)
Zvi Lavie, 19 May 1961, Ma'ariv, Historical Jewish Press leading the Tiberias clubs to play their matches in nearby settlements, with Hapoel Tiberias, playing in third division
Liga Bet forced to host its home matches in
Kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
Ma'agan
Ma'agan ( he, מַעֲגָן, lit. "Harbour") is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The vill ...
.
The stadium was opened on 28 March 1958 with a match between
Hapoel Tiberias and
Hapoel Haifa
The stadium hosted first division football during Hapoel Tiberias two stints in
Liga Leumit, between 1961 and 1965 and in
1988–89, before which a second stand was built on the east side of the ground with plastic seats. The ground hosted its final top division match on 26 May 1989, against
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...
, in which Hapoel Tiberias won 4–1.
Following the closure of both Hapoel Tiberias and Maccabi Tiberias,
Beitar Tiberias remained the only tenant in the stadium, playing in Liga Bet and Liga Gimel throughout the 1990s. Beitar merged in 2001 with nearby club Hapoel Mo'atza Ezorit Galil Tahton, to form Hapoel Galil Tahton/Tiberias. The merged club changed its name to
Ironi Tiberias in 2007 and played its
Liga Alef matches at the ground until 2014, when the club promoted to
Liga Leumit and was forced to host its matches in
Afula Illit Stadium
Afula Illit Stadium ( he, איצטדיון עפולה עילית, ''Itztadion Afula Illit''), is a football stadium in Afula, Israel. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Hapoel Afula.
Inauguration of the Stadium
Th ...
, as the ground was deemed to be unfit to second division football by the IFA. Following the club relegation back to Liga Alef at the end of the
season, the club returned to host matches in the ground.
Planned closure
In 2014, the Municipality of
Tiberias announced plans to build
a new stadium for the city which will be located in the hills above the city, near the junction of
Poriya Hospital
Poria may refer to:
Names
*Poria may refer to a branch or surname of Jethwa.
Places
* Poria - Kfar Avoda, formerly Poria, a village in northern Israel
* Poria - Neve Oved, a village in northern Israel
Biology
* ''Poria'' (fungus), a defunct f ...
as a part of a
sports complex also including a multi-purpose 2,500-seat
sports hall, a
training field and a
swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
. Following the inauguration of the new stadium, the ground is supposed to be demolished and built over.
From the Riviera to Tiberias
Dotan Levi, 27 January 2016, Calcalist
References
Tiberias Stadium
IFA
{{reflist
Football venues in Israel
Sports venues in Northern District (Israel)
Sport in Tiberias