Gaon Stadium () was a football stadium in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

part of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

, home of former club Maccabi Jaffa.

History

Members of Maccabi Jaffa built a ground for the club at the location in 1951, after receiving some agricultural land on the outskirts of Jaffa, which belonged to the Dajani family and was abandoned during the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...

.The Tin Ground of Maccabi Jaffa / Nessim Gaon Stadium
Danny Recht, Tel Aviv 100 The club used the ground until it became unsuited for the club matches, forcing Maccabi Jaffa to move temporarily to play in other nearby stadiums. In 1971 the old ground was demolished and a new stadium was built, opening in 1977. The ground was named after

Nessim Gaon Nessim David Gaon (, 22 February 1922 – 10 May 2022) was a Sudan-born Swiss financier who founded a trading conglomerate known as Noga SA. Outside the business world, he was very prominent in Jewish affairs, acting as president of the World Sep ...

and his wife Renée, who helped financially with the construction of the stadium. Maccabi Jaffa played in the ground until 2000, when the club was dissolved due to heavy debts. The club was merged with A.S. Ramat Eliyahu, which took over the stadium, until it was forced to merge with another local club, Hapoel Ihud Bnei Jaffa due to financial problems, and the merged club, under the name F.C. Bnei Jaffa, continued to play in Bnei Jaffa's ground. In April 2008 an agreement was reached between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Liquidator of Maccabi Jaffa on the purchase of the stadium for the sum of 5.5 million NIS. The ground was abandoned and was finally demolished in 2009. In its place currently stands a public garden.Gaon's Antenna
Ron Amika, 30 September 2011, yaffa.co.il

References

Defunct football venues in Israel Maccabi Jaffa F.C. Sports venues in Tel Aviv Sports venues demolished in 2009