The Underdogs is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team based in the north of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, playing in the Israeli Football League (IFL). The Underdogs was established at 2005, the year that the IFL was established. In 2007 team became a part of the IFL which was at the time joined under the AFI (American Football in Israel).

History

The 1990s and 2000s - Unofficial games

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

has been played weekly since the 1990s and in 2000s (decade) was mainly located at Haifa's "Sportec" field. The games were unofficial, and gathered players from Haifa,

Krayot The Krayot ( he, הקריות, "townships") (plural of ''Kirya'') are a cluster of four small cities and two neighbourhoods of Haifa founded in the 1930s on the outskirts of the city of Haifa, Israel, in the Haifa Bay area. The Krayot include Ki ...

Nahariya Nahariya ( he, נַהֲרִיָּה, ar, نهاريا) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In it had a population of . Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is ''nahar'' in Hebrew), which bisects it. Hist ...

Ein HaShofet Ein HaShofet ( he, עֵין הַשּׁוֹפֵט, ''lit.'' Spring of the Judge) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Menashe Heights region around 25 km southeast of the city of Haifa, close to Yokneam, it falls under the jurisdic ...

, and from other places in the North of Israel. Parallel to those games, similar games took place at

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

's "Sportec" field played by the residents of

Gush Dan Gush Dan ( he, גּוּשׁ דָּן, ''lit.'' "Dan bloc") or Tel Aviv metropolitan area ( he, מֶטְרוֹפּוֹלִין תֵּל אָבִיב) is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no sing ...

. Once a month or so, friendly games were scheduled between the Haifa's players and Tel Aviv's players. Most of those games ended with the victory of Tel Aviv's team, which in turn led to the Haifa's team name, the Underdogs, reminding the players that the team's place and respect must be earned each time they take the field.

2005-06 Season - The Israeli Football League

In 2005 the club was established as Haifa's first and only representative in the

Israeli Football League The Israel Football League (IFL; he, ליגת הפוטבול הישראלית), also known as the Kraft Family Israel Football League for sponsorship reasons with the Kraft Family, is an amateur American football league consisting of eight tea ...

. In the season of

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

- 06, the club won the first ever IFL championship. In the finals, that took place at the Baptist village, on June 23, 2006, the Underdogs defeated the

Tel Aviv Pioneers The Tel Aviv Pioneers are an amateur American football team based in Tel Aviv, Israel, playing in the Israel Football League (IFL). History The Pioneers were one of the four founding teams of the IFL in 2005. They previously played in Ramat ...

by the score of 37-14.

2006-07 Season - First fully equipped season

In 2007, the IFL, and the Underdogs along with it, joined forces with the AFI to form the first fully equipped tackle football league in Israel. The equipment meets the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

standards. In its first season, the league featured 4 teams: Haifa Underdogs, Tel Aviv Sabres,

, and

Jerusalem Lions The Jerusalem Lions, commonly known as the Jerusalem "Big Blue" Lions, are an amateur American football team based in Jerusalem. The Lions were a founding member of and currently compete in the Israel Football League. History The Lions bega ...

. Some of the players that participated in the unofficial games in Haifa were the ones to become the coaches and captains of the Underdogs club, and together with their colleagues from Tel Aviv, and the AFI, founded the Israeli (tackle) Football League.

2007-Present - Israeli Football League

In the season of

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

- 08, Haifa Underdogs won over Ha'Sharon Pioneers team in the semifinals, but lost in the finals to the Jerusalem Lions in overtime, at the end of the inaugural season, after a very tight game. In the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

- 09 season, the league grew to five teams. That season, the Underdogs were undefeated for most of the season, losing their last two games to the Jerusalem Lions and Modi'in Pioneers. Haifa Underdogs finished the regular season in second place. The Underdogs were again knocked out of the playoffs by the Jerusalem Lions on a touchdown pass with five seconds remaining in the game. The Underdogs later won the consolation game against the Jerusalem Kings. In the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

- 10 season, the league grew to seven teams, and the Underdogs were coached by Jay Armstead and Alan Hearn. Captained by Itamar Levin, Niv Medlinger, Roei Ziv, and Shahar Yeshurun, the Underdogs got off to a good start to the season with a 4-1 record good enough for first place mid-season. Nevertheless, the Underdogs could not get another victory for the rest of the season, losing their final five regular season matches and the wild card game against the Judean Rebels. In the 2010-11 season the team accepted a large number of new inexperienced young players. Their results dropped with the Underdogs finishing in fourth and last place in the North Division. In the 2011-12 season the team made it to the wild card stage. Surprisingly, they defeated previous champions ''Judean Rebels'', scoring 91 points when the Rebels' had no answer to the Underdogs' rushing game.

Logos and uniforms

The team's uniforms are black and white with yellow detail, with the club's logo of a blazing bulldog on the crest.

Stadium

The lack of fields in Haifa is a problem for the Underdogs. There is one soccer stadium in the city (

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium The Haifa Municipal Stadium ( he, האצטדיון העירוני חיפה, ''Etztadion HaIroni Haifa''), more commonly known as Kiryat Eliezer (), was a multi-use stadium in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It was mostly used fo ...

) but cannot be used for any purposes other than soccer. Many venues have rejected the Underdogs' requests to be named as the Underdogs' home field. As of the 2007-08 season, the Underdogs played their home games at Kibbutz Ein HaShofet, outside of Haifa. Shortly after the start of the 2008-09 season, the Underdogs changed their home stadium to Yokneam Stadium. The new field, located near the Yokneam Mall, is closer to Haifa and overall a better field. As of 2017 The Underdogs host their home games at Kibbutz

Hahotrim HaHotrim ( he, הַחוֹתְרִים, , The Rowers) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located near Tirat Carmel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The beginnings of the kibbut ...

Roster 2017-2018

''*Captains''

Coaching history

* before the merge of IFL and AFI

Managerial history

External links

Haifa Underdogs Official Website

Haifa Underdogs at Official IFL Website

Underdogs facebook

Underdogs Instagram
{{American football in Israel American football teams in Israel Sport in Haifa American football teams established in 2005 2005 establishments in Israel