Maccabi Haifa Football Club () is an Israeli professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in the city of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club plays in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

. Maccabi Haifa home games are played at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The stadium, which is shared with rivals Hapoel Haifa, is the second largest in Israeli football, with a capacity of 30,942. Maccabi Haifa is one of the "Big Four" clubs in Israeli football. The meaning of the name Maccabi – 'there is no one like you among the gods' – also refers to the

Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...

in the team's logo. The side has won fifteen league titles, second only to the club's biggest rivals, Maccabi Tel Aviv, six State Cups and five

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup (, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League Ligat ha'Al, Ligat Ha'Al; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of the ...

s. Maccabi Haifa has won the championship and the cup in the same season (referred to as winning the "double") once, and was the first Israeli club to qualify for the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League season. Maccabi Haifa holds the record, for the most Champions League group stage qualifications for an Israeli team in three occasions. In 2020–21, Maccabi Haifa won the Israeli Premier League, their first championship in a decade. The club won the next two titles on their way to three consecutive championships. Maccabi Haifa is currently coached by Barak Bakhar, who returned to the team after a short journey in the Serbian League, the same coach the led the club to three league titles in a row along with qualification for the Champions League group stages in 2022.

History

Early years

Maccabi Haifa Football Club was established in 1913 in the port city of Haifa in the

Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (, ; , , ), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was a district in Ottoman Syria with special administrative status established in 1872.Büssow (2011), p5Abu-Manneh (1999), p39Jankowski & Gershoni (1997), p174 T ...

(present-day Israel). As the local football association wasn't founded in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

until July 1928, there were no officially organized competitions during the season, and the club played only friendly matches. After a period of inactivity, the club was re-organized in February 1923.Haifa
Do'ar HaYom, 8 February 1923, Historical Jewish Press The club playing a handful of matches during the season, including taking part in a cup competition which was called "The Hebrew Cup". Due to its distance, the club was given a bye to the final, which it lost to Maccabi Nes Tziona 0–2.The Football "Hebrew Cup"
Do'ar HaYom, 11 May 1923, Historical Jewish Press The club was overshadowed by its city rival Hapoel Haifa, but even in its first years adopted a very adventurous and offensive style of play based on technique and short passes. In 1942, the club reached the

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

final, but was defeated 12–1 by Beitar Tel Aviv in the final. Maccabi Haifa remained a small, struggling club that spent most of its time shifting between Liga Leumit and the lower leagues. In 1962, the team defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 5–2 in the State Cup final, and won the first title of the club. In 1963 it reached the final again, but lost to Hapoel Haifa 1–0 in the first Haifa derby in State Cup final.

The 1980s

In the 1980s Maccabi Haifa finally entered the 'Israeli' champions' club, clinching the title thrice (in 1983–84, 1984–85 and 1988–89 seasons). In the 1983–84 season Maccabi Haifa won its first ever championship, under coach Shlomo Sharf and general manager Yochanan Vollach, overcoming Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv. The ''Yerukim'' (Greens) were known for their "all-around-offense" and flashy technique football style, often resulting in bad defensive formation and resultant losses. Sharf's team played with 4 strikers, including: Moshe Selecter, Zahi Armeli and Ronny Rosenthal who were positioned at point and midfield and managed to build their defense around the legendary goalkeeper

Avi Ran Avi Ran (; August 25, 1963 – July 11, 1987) was a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper at the Israeli football club Maccabi Haifa F.C., Maccabi Haifa. Widely considered one of the greatest football players in Israel, he had a promisi ...

. A year later, Maccabi Haifa won a second championship in a decisive performance. In 1986 Maccabi Haifa lost the championship in a controversial final match against runners-up Hapoel Tel Aviv. The single goal scored in that match by Gili Landau was said to be scored from a passive offside position, which by the rules of the time should have resulted in a disqualification of the goal and a scoreless draw, guaranteeing Maccabi Haifa the title. Due to poor TV coverage, the issue has never been resolved. In 1988, Maccabi Haifa decimated Maccabi Tel Aviv 10–0 to earn its biggest win ever. That game, one of the more famous in Israeli's football lore, wasn't even televised. Furthermore, it probably was the beginning of the intense rivalry between the two clubs. In 1989, under the capable hands of Amazzia Levkovic, the club won another championship.

The 1990s

In the 1990s Maccabi Haifa established itself as a dominant club in Israel. It began by winning the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

– League championship and the national cup in the 1990–1 season and continued with the introduction of three talented young players: Eyal Berkovic, Reuven Atar and Tal Banin. In 1992, Maccabi Haifa was purchased by Ya'akov Shahar, who became the owner and president of the club. Under Shahar's management, Maccabi Haifa enjoyed financial stability and professional working regulations on a par with European football clubs' standards. Maccabi Haifa's highlight season was 1993–94. After winning the 1993 cup, Maccabi Haifa gave a stunning performance in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

(CWC), beating

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

3–1 and

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

1–0 in the last 16, only to lose on penalties. During the season in the domestic league (then called Liga Leumit), the team became the first and only in Israeli football history to go unbeaten for the entire season, with an overall unbeaten streak of 48 games, thus winning a spectacular championship, and breaking many Israeli records. The Maccabi Haifa 1993–94 squad including Eyal Berkovic, Reuven Atar, Alon Mizrahi and Serhiy Kandaurov, and is considered one of, if not the best squads in Israeli football history. In 1995, Maccabi Haifa begun a period of seven years without winning the league championship, and most of its popular soccer superstar were sold to Europe. In 1996, Eyal Berkovic and Haim Revivo, the latter had joined the team the previous season, both left Haifa for European clubs. While the two gained great personal success there, Maccabi Haifa went into a slump. The team's standards of maintaining the services of the manager for multiple seasons was thrown as the team went through several managers during 4 years. As result, the team failed to win the national championship title, despite securing the National cup in 1998. In 1999, under the guidance of the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

manager Dušan Uhrin, Maccabi Haifa beat French giants

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and Austrian club

SV Ried SV Ried, commonly known as SV Guntamatic Ried for sponsorship reasons, is an Austrian association football club based in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. The t ...

to reach the quarter-final of the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

. In the middle of the season, Haifa's excellent striker Alon Mizrahi left for French club

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionAvram Grant.

2000 and beyond

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv Manager Avram Grant was appointed in 2000 as manager of Maccabi Haifa. Under Grant's guidance, the team regained its dominating offensive style. Grant, along with a much improved squad, led the club with an almost unstoppable team, winning the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. At the center of attention were a series of virtuoso performances by Yossi Benayoun, including what some consider to be several of the finest goals in Israeli league history. A spontaneous burst of celebrating fans onto the pitch caused a tragic disaster. A young fan, Amir Rand, was crushed against the guarding rails and left comatose. A year later, Grant won a second

, relying on a veteran Israeli defense: Alon Harazi,

Arik Benado Ariel "Arik" Benado (; born 5 December 1973) is an Israeli association football, football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career Benado was a second-generation player at one of Israel's major association footbal ...

and Adoram Keise, and on a trio of foreign footballers: Giovanni Rosso (Croatia), Raimondas Žutautas (Lithuania) and the young Nigerian striker Yakubu. Following the 2nd championship, Avraham Grant left Haifa for the Israeli national team and was replaced by then Israel U-21 manager Itzhak Shum. In 2002, Haifa made Israeli club history by becoming the first Israeli team to qualify for the group phase of the

. In the group phase, the team defeated Olympiacos and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Haifa managed 7 points overall scoring 12 goals, and finished in 3rd place, securing a place in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

In the 2003–04 season Maccabi Haifa, led by ex-Maccabi Haifa footballer Ronny Levy, won the championship mainly due to the poor showing of the other league teams. Maccabi Haifa youth club (ages 16–18) won the domestic championship, and an Israel national kids team of Maccabi Haifa players won Fox Kids World Cup for 12-year-olds. History was made during the 2005–06 season. After months of indecision regarding the contract of Ronny Levy, it was renewed and Levy guided the club to 11 straight victories in the first 11 games of the Israeli Premier League season. This was also the key to Maccabi Haifa taking the league title after building a strong lead. While the club enjoyed great domestic success, it was not as fortunate in European play. Though Haifa was a seeded team for the

second qualifying round, it drew the strong Swedish club,

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

. Haifa lost 3–2 in Sweden, and drew 2–2 at home. In the 2006–07 season, the club played against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. In the 1st game of the 3rd round of the qualifying matches held in England, Haifa's Gustavo Boccoli scored on the 29th minute, an advantage that lasted just 4 minutes.

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is the current Football coach (association football), head ...

evened the score and in front of 40,000 local fans, Haifa stood bravely up to the 88th minute when Mark González scored the winning goal for the hosts. Due to the security situation in Israel, the return match was not held in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

but in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the Valery Lobanovsky stadium, with 1,700 spectators. The game ended in a 1–1 tie. The last twenty minutes of the game were stressful for Rafa Benitez's players. After

Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He was Cap (sport), capped 42 times by the England national football t ...

gave the guests the advantage (54) and an away goal, but

Roberto Colautti Roberto Damián Colautti (; born 24 May 1982) is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. He began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Boca Juniors, Boca Juniors and j ...

(63) tied the score and from here on the movement towards the host's goalpost became one-sided. The tie score sent Haifa to compete in the UEFA Cup. In the return match in Bulgaria against Litex Lovech, Haifa played well: Xavier Dirceu scored an impressive goal from distance, Alain Masudi and

left Eljendario Sanderinio one honor goal. In the group stage, Haifa faced strong opponents: The Scottish Rangers, the Serbian Partizan Belgrade, the French

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

and the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

team

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. In the 88th minute, the Scots succeeded in doubling the score from another penalty kick given away by a Haifa defender. This time Charlie Adam scored and sealed the victory. Haifa returned home and hosted Partizan Belgrade. An early goal by Anderson Xavier, the Brazilian midfielder, put Haifa in an excellent place with six points. Haifa needed one point in the away game in Italy against Livorno to complete the task successfully. At this stage Haifa was drawn against CSKA Moscow. The game was moved to the Spartak stadium in

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

due to extreme weather in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. 30,000 Russian fans crowded the stadium. Torpedo beat Haifa 1–0 and Lokomotiv beat it 3–0. Again Haifa did not score an away goal, but the result (0–0) signaled that Haifa might use its home advantage in the return match. In the 2007–08 season, Maccabi Haifa finished 5th place in the league and was eliminated in the last-16 phase of the State Cup. Ronny Levy announced that he was leaving. Haifa won the Toto Cup after a 2–0 victory over Bnei-Sakhnin. Haifa opened the 2008–09 season with hopes of remaining a top team. At the end of the season, coach Elisha Levy won his first personal title and Haifa made Israeli soccer history, winning six championships in one decade. Maccabi Haifa returned to the Champions League for the 2009–10 season. A 3–0 win over

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

ensured its second win in the span of seven years, with goals by Dvalishvili, Golasa and Ghadir. Haifa entered the 2009–10 Champions League group stage in Group A, competing against Bayern Munich,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. Haifa finished the competition with a record of 6 losses, conceding 8 goals and without scoring. The club subsequently lost the championship title to Hapoel Tel Aviv on the last day of the season. In the 2010–11 Israeli Premier League season, Maccabi Haifa has won the Israeli Championship title but lost the chance to achieve the Double by losing to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in the State Cup final. The 2011–12 season was a disappointing one. After winning the League title in the previous season, the team started the season with qualification matches in the UEFA Champions League, but eliminated after a penalty defeat to the Belgian club

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

. Domestically, it was another disappointment. Maccabi Haifa struggled for the European football spot, and a draw in the last round wasn't enough, as Maccabi Haifa finished in a disappointing 5th place. Another failure was at the State Cup as the team lost in the Final to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv from a controversial 93rd-minute goal. The disappointing season caused owner Ya'akov Shahar to appoint former player and club icon Reuven Atar as the manager for the next season instead of

Elisha Levi Elisha Levy (; born on 18 November 1957) is a retired Israeli association footballer and currently the manager of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C., Bnei Yehuda. Career Player Levy was born in Jerusalem, Israel, to a Jewish family. In the beginning of th ...

, who left the club after clinching 2 championship titles in 4 years with the club. With Reuven Atar on the sidelines, Haifa opened the season with 1 win, 4 draws, and 4 losses and was next to last, the worst start in club history. After the 9th round, Atar was fired and replaced by

, the youth team coach and former team captain. Under Benado, Haifa returned to the top of the table and showed good performances during the season. Haifa gave fight to Maccabi Tel Aviv but finished 2nd. On 25 July 2013, Maccabi Haifa defeated Khazar Lankaran 8–0 in the 2nd qualifying round of

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. thus setting a new record for the largest win by an Israeli club in European competition. On 24 May 2016, Maccabi Haifa defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0 in the Israel State Cup Final, winning for the 1st time in 18 years and, thus, returning to European competition after 3 years. In the start of the 2020/21 season, Maccabi Haifa reached the UEFA Europa League play-off round, beating Kairat Almaty and

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

in the qualifying rounds. In the play-off round, the team lost 2–7 to Tottenham Hotspur, its biggest defeat ever in the tournament, and were eliminated. On 30 May 2021, after 10 long tough years full of disappointments for the club and its fans, Maccabi Haifa has won the Israeli Premier league championship, its 13th in total, defeating Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3–2 in the final fixture. Haifa's players Josh Cohen, Neta Lavi and Dolev Haziza won the league MVP titles, awarded by 3 major Israeli football organizations. Josh Cohen was voted footballer of the year, and the team's coach, Barak Bakhar, won the "coach of the year" title unequivocally. In the start of the 2021/22 season, the team was eliminated by Kairat in the early qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Two weeks later, the team won the 2021 Israel Super Cup, after a 2–0 victory against the state cup winner Maccabi Tel Aviv. Despite its early elimination from the Champions League qualifiers, the team entered the Europa Conference League qualifiers, and qualified to the group stage after beating Neftci Baku in the play-off round. The team finished the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in third place and did not advance to the knockout phase. The club went on to win the league cup, and at the end of the season it won the 2021-22 Israeli Premier League championship, its second championship title in a row and 14th in total. Omer Atzili finished as the top scorer (20 goals) and top assister (10 assists), and was voted footballer of the year. The team reached the

final, but lost to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in a penalty shoot-out, and lost to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in penalty shoot-out again in the 2022 Israel Super Cup. In August 2022 the club advanced to the

group stage for the third time in its history, after beating Olympiacos and

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

in the qualifying rounds, and beating

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

in the play-off round. In the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, the club was drawn into Group H with European giants

and Benfica. In matchday 2, Maccabi Haifa scored its first UEFA Champions League goal in 20 years, when Tjaronn Chery scored the opener against Paris Saint-Germain, a match which ended in a 1–3 loss. In matchday 4, Maccabi Haifa beat Juventus 2–0. In matchday 5, the team suffered a 7–2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, its biggest defeat ever in the tournament, and were eliminated. On 15 May 2023, the team won the 2022–23 Israeli Premier League championship, the club's third championship title in a row and 15th in total, after a 1–5 victory over Maccabi Netanya, and became the first Israeli club to do so in a season which it also reached the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Sponsorships, fan base and rivalries

The club is sponsored by Ya'akov Shahar, chairman of Mayer's Cars and Trucks Ltd., the official importer to Israel of

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

and

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

. The fan base is mainly in Haifa and northern Israel, although the club is one of the most popular in Israel. Average attendance in the home matches since the move to Sammy Ofer Stadium in 2015 is approximately 24,000 fans, the most in Israel. According to a survey which had been conducted in 2010, Maccabi Haifa has the biggest number of fans of all the teams in Israel, approximately 25.8% of Israeli football fans
2
On 30 June 2011, a ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' poll identified Maccabi Haifa as the most popular football team among

Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

. Another survey had been conducted in March 2012 by Yedioth confirmed that Maccabi Haifa is the most popular team among Israeli football fans (28%), female football fans (33%) and Arab citizens of Israel. Same survey revealed that 75% of Haifa residents support the team. Historically, the most loyal fans at home games in Kiryat Eliezer Stadium were concentrated at stands 11–12, called also ''Yetzia Gimel (יציע ג')'' – C Block – a term which has become synonymous with the most hardcore and dedicated fans. In 1994, Uzi Hitman composed and wrote the team's championship song titled "Green in the eyes" (ירוק בעיניים) and gave it to Haim Moshe, the song was a major hit amongst the club's fanbase and was later covered by Eden Ben Zaken in 2021 once again as a championship song. In 2004, following Hitman's death, a minute of silence was given to Hitman during a match against Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, which was followed by supporters singing the chorus of the famous championship song. In 2002, The fans established an organization named Green Apes, which supports both soccer and basketball. Members usually sit in the bleachers section 11. In addition, Maccabi Haifa has an official fan club which was founded in the first decade of the 21st century, and has about 20,000 members. The club is also supported overseas and is able to keep in touch with supporters overseas via the club website and online store. At the 2008–09 Championship season the Maccabi Haifa audiences won the title of Fair Audience of the Year. In 2010, another organization of fans was established for Maccabi Haifa, and named Inferno Verde, whose members sit in the stands section 5a. The organization's goal is not to outdo the Green Apes, but rather to join forces for victories and championships of the team. Maccabi Haifa supporters have friendly relations with supporters of other clubs: Green Apes are in good relations with

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

's Alkmaar Fanatics and Avant Garde are in good relations with

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

's Ultra Boys Number of surveys made during the first decade of the 21st century found that Maccabi Haifa is Israel's most favorite team. At the beginning of the 21st century the club website was upgraded, at Walla!. The edits were made by the historian of the club, Isaac Haverman, and include breaking news, articles, information about the club, officials, staff, players and former players, information on past games, galleries, statistics, multi–seasonal Guinness Book of club and depth articles, some of which also include a unique research statistic, work of Haverman. The site also includes an online forum, online store and club fans. Starting in 2011 Haifa operates an official

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page, which includes information, news, pictures, online ticketing- online and update time – real game results. The Facebook page has 83,000 registered fans. In February 2011, the club opened an official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

page, which puts up interviews of players and the coach before and after games. The club has uploaded about 373 movies and has approximately 3200 subscribers, and approximately 550,000 video views (as of May 2014).

City rivalry with Hapoel Haifa

''For more information see: Haifa derby''

The rivalry with Maccabi Tel Aviv

The strong rivalry between the two Israeli football clubs (sometimes called “the Israeli Classico” and “the derby of Israel”) is about the dominance among the various Maccabi football clubs, as well as in Israeli football in general, and the title of the best football club in Israel. Maccabi Haifa aspires to oust Maccabi Tel Aviv from this position, which is the club with the largest number of titles in Israel, and to become the leading club in Israel by winning many titles and qualifying for the European Cup stages (Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup). Haifa and Tel Aviv have competed against each other for the championship title, and Haifa beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in a number of games, including a 10–0 win in 1988 - a game seen as a "revenge" for the loss of 2–10 in 1949 (another large defeat, at 0–7, took place in 1952). Haifa beat Tel Aviv 5–0 in the 1993–94 season (in which Haifa won the championship without a single defeat, but was eliminated from the State Cup competition three days later following Maccabi Tel Aviv's 1–1 draw at Kiryat Eliezer). Maccabi Haifa became dominant in the Israeli Premier League in the first decade of the 21st century, as Maccabi Tel Aviv's positions weakened (except for the 2002–03 season). The rivalry between them somewhat cooled down at the end of that decade due to the renewed rise of Hapoel Tel Aviv, which competed at the top of the table during this period and won several championship titles. The rivalry focus thus briefly shifted to Hapoel Tel Aviv. In the 2019–20 season, the rivalry between the two heated up once again, as after almost a decade of Macabbi Tel Aviv's dominance exacerbated by Maccabi Haifa's series of failures, the teams competed head-to-head for the championship. It ended with Maccabi Tel Aviv winning that year's campaign. In the following 2020–21 season, the two teams battled out for the league title once again, this time ending with Maccabi Haifa winning the championship. During the past few years, the two have produced some unforgettable matches, including a dramatic 4–3 win for Maccabi Tel Aviv and an incredible 3–2 win for Maccabi Haifa after a big comeback.

Club crest

The origin of the club crest is the World Zionist sports organization "Maccabi". The basis of the crest is the stylized Hebrew word מכבי ("Maccabi") in the shape of the

, symbolizing Judaism. This is in common with most other Maccabi teams in Israel and worldwide, which all use this symbol in one way or another. In most years only this stylized "Maccabi" star with the word חיפה ("Haifa") beneath it was the emblem of the club. Depending on the kit, it was green on white or white on green. With the success of the club at the end of the 1980s, an image of a lion was added next to the symbol, but this figure was removed later. At the beginning of the 1990s, after the club began competing in the European arena, the crest assumed its modern form - the image of a football inside a circular green band with the words מכבי חיפה מכ ("Maccabi Haifa FC") in Hebrew and English on it, with the original Maccabi symbol at the top right corner. At the end of 2005/2006 season, when the team won its 10th championship, a gold star was added above the symbol. At the end of the 2009 season winning its 11th championship, the team played its inaugural game with the traditional symbol of the club as it was in the early '80s. At the end of the 2013 season (on the 100th anniversary of the club's foundation), laurel leaves were temporarily added around the emblem, symbolizing victory and glory. In addition, a golden plaque was added indicating the year of the establishment of the club and the current year (100th club). After the 2019/20 season, the Israel Football Association administration decided that each championship star on the member clubs' crests should represent 5 championship titles. Since Maccabi has won 12 championships in total until then, the crest was updated with another championship star. After winning its 15th championship title at the end of the 2022-23 Israeli Premier League season, the club added a third star to its crest.

Grounds

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium

Maccabi Haifa originally played in Kiryat Haim, which is the main training grounds of Hapoel Haifa. In 1955, a gift from the Italian Labour Union was a football pitch in the heart of the city of Haifa, which would become the new home of Maccabi Haifa. The opening match was a Haifa derby, won by Maccabi Haifa 4–1 over Hapoel Haifa. Kiryat Eliezer missed out on staging a historic event when Maccabi Haifa reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. It was the first time an Israeli club had made it that far in the competition, though the lucrative gate receipts expected to have been made by hosting matches in Israel were lost when UEFA forced Maccabi Haifa to look for an alternative in Europe but outside of Israel because of security concerns. The choice was to host the matches at Neo GSP Stadium in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, Cyprus. After Israel had increased the security and proved stability, Maccabi Haifa was allowed to play their European matches in the State of Israel. Because Kiryat Eliezer was not up to par with UEFA's demands, the team played their European home matches in Tel Aviv District at Bloomfield Stadium, as well as Ramat Gan Stadium due to the high demand of Maccabi Haifa fans wanting to attend the matches. Finally, Maccabi Haifa was allowed to host European matches at Kiryat Eliezer Stadium. In 2013, Maccabi Haifa played in the Europa League against

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

(Greece),

(Netherlands), and Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan). On 14 May 2014, the last match was played in the stadium, in which Maccabi Haifa hosted Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League.

Sammy Ofer Stadium

Due to the recent success of the club in European competitions, the municipality of Haifa offered the club land by the beach for a brand new stadium at the southern entrance to the city. In the fall of 2008, the final plans were approved. Sammy Ofer Stadium was completed in November 2013. Constructions costs are estimated $135,000,000.00 with a seating capacity of 30,942. The stadium is named after naval-mogul Sammy Ofer, who donated $20,000,000 to build the stadium and the rights to name it after himself. The Sammy Ofer Stadium is developed and built by the Haifa Economic Corporation and managed by Adv. Gal Peleg. It is the home ground of Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Haifa. It also hosts the international matches of the

Israel national football team The Israel national football team () represents Israel in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Israel Football Association. They have been members of the European Confederation UEFA since 1994. Israel qua ...

along with Teddy Stadium. Sammy Ofer Stadium panorama

Kfar Galim Training Facility

Kfar Galim training facility is a training ground for Maccabi Haifa. It is located in Kfar Galim village.

Honours

Domestic competitions

League

* Israeli Championships ** Winners (15): 1983–84, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1993–94, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 ** ''Runners-up (10)'': 1985–86, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2023–24 * Second Division ** Winners (4): 1944–45, 1946–47, 1965–66, 1974–75

Cups

* State Cup ** Winners (6): 1961–62, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2015–16 ** ''Runners-up (11)'':

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, 1962–63, 1970–71, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 2001–02, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2021–22 *

** Winners (5): 1994, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2021–22 * Israeli Supercup ** Winners (5): 1962,

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

European competitions

** ''Group stage (3)'': 2002–03, 2009–10, 2022–23 *

includes

** ''Round of 16 (1)'': 2006–07 ** ''Third round (1)'': 2002–03 ** ''Group stage (3)'': 2011–12, 2013–14, 2023–24 *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

** ''Round of 16 (1)'': 2023–24 ** ''Group stage (1)'': 2021–22 * UEFA Cup Winners Cup ** ''Quarter-finals (1)'': 1998–99 ** ''Second round (1)'': 1993–94

Youth

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

** ''Play-offs'': 2016–17 ** ''Group stage'': 2022–23 * Sukkot Cup ** ''Winners (1)'': 1958 * Lilian Cup ** ''Winners (1)'': 1984 * Milk Cup ** ''Winners (1)'': 2004 * Insel Cup ** ''Winners (1)'': 2016

Records and statistics

* Record home win: 10–0 v Maccabi Tel Aviv (1988) * Record league defeat: 0–9 v Hapoel Petah Tikva (1953) * Record cup defeat: 1–12 v Beitar Tel Aviv, Israel State Cup, Final (1942) * Record home attendance: 39,120 v

(2009) * Most league appearances: 419 Alon Harazi * Most appearances in one season: 66 Adoram Keise * Most league goals: 90 Zahi Armeli * Most league goals in a Season: 28 Alon Mizrahi (Liga Leumit, 1993–94) and Shlomi Arbeitman (2009–10) * Most goals scored in a Match: 6 Aharon Gershgoren v Ironi Kiryat Shmona (1965) * Most league goals in a Season: 97 (1993–94) * Most points in a season: 95 – 39 games (1993–94) * Most league assists in a season: 16 Eyal Berkovic (1993–94) and Yossi Benayoun (1999–00) * Most Games without a loss: 46 (throughout 3 seasons) (1993, 1993–94, 1994) * Most games in a row scoring at least one goal: 39 (1993–94) * Most away games without losing: 30 (1993–94) * Least conceded goals per game: 16 goals in 35 games (average: 0.46), Ligat Ha'Al (2009–10)

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Captains

Personnel

Current coaching staff

{, class="wikitable" , + ! style="background-color:#FFFFFF; color:#000000;" scope="col", Position ! style="background-color:#FFFFFF; color:#000000;" scope="col", Staff , -

Youth department

2024–25 squad

Current coaching staff

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Notable players and managers in club history

Former players

''For details on former players, see List of Maccabi Haifa F.C. players and :Maccabi Haifa F.C. players.''

Most appearances

{, class="wikitable" ! Rank ! Name ! Period ! Games ! Goals , - , align="center", 1, , Alon Harazi, , 1990–97
1998-09 , , align="center", 495 , , align="center", 29 , - , align="center", 2, , Yaniv Katan , , 1998–2005
2006–2014, , align="center", 440 , , align="center", 79 , - , align="center", 3, , ,

, , 1990–94
1996–2006
2010–11, , align="center", 399 , , align="center", 9 , - , align="center", 4, , Avraam Abukarat, , 1977–93, , align="center", 396 , , align="center", 9 , - , align="center", 5, , Nir Davidovich , , 1994–2013 , , align="center", 386 , , align="center", 0 , - , align="center", 6, , Eitan Aharoni , , 1978–89
1990–94, , align="center", 368 , , align="center", 7 , - , align="center", 7, , Yisha'ayahu Schwager , , 1962–76, , align="center", 360 , , align="center", 11 , - , align="center", 8, , Aharon Gershgoren , , 1964–78, , align="center", 334 , , align="center", 27 , - , align="center", 9, , Baruch Maman , , 1974–85, , align="center", 303 , , align="center", 45 , - , align="center", -, , Yosi Kramer, , 1974–85
1988–89, , align="center", 303 , , align="center", , -

Managerial history

''See also'': '' List of Maccabi Haifa F.C. managers'' * Yisrael Schwartz (1946–47) * Taurentauer (1950–52) * Otto Schlefenberg (1952–54) * Eli Fuchs(1954–56) * Andor Kisch (1956–57) * Ariyeh Koch (1957–59) * David Farkash (1959–61) * Alex Forbes (1961–62) * Andor Kisch (1962) * Otto Schlefenberg (1962–63) * Vasil Spasov (1963–65) * Israel Halivner (1965) * Avraham Menchel (1965–69) * Edmond Schmilovich (1969–70) * Jonny Hardy (1970–72) * Avraham Menchel (1972–74) * Ori Weinberg (1974–75) * Shimon Shinar (1975–77) * Moshe Sasson (1977) * Eli Fuchs (1977) * Jonny Hardy (1977–78) * Eran Kulik (1978–79) *

Mordechai Spiegler Mordechai "Motaleh" Spiegler (; born 19 August 1944) is an Israeli retired football player and manager. A prolific forward, he is placed second in Israel's all time goalscoring list, with 32 goals in 83 caps. Early life Mordechai Spiegler was ...

(1979) * Jonny Hardy (1979–83) * Jack Mansell (1982–83) * Shlomo Scharf (1983–87) * Dror Kashtan (1 July 1987 – 30 June 1988) * Amazzia Levkovic (1988–90) * Shlomo Scharf (1990–92) *

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(1993–98) * Daniel Brailovsky (1 July 1998 – 30 June 1999) * Dušan Uhrin (1999–00) * Eli Cohen (2000) * Avram Grant (1 July 2000 – 30 June 2002) * Itzhak Shum (1 July 2002 – 30 June 2003) * Ronny Levy (30 June 2003 – 22 December 2008) * Elisha Levy (2 April 2008 – 16 May 2012) * Reuven Atar (16 May 2012 – 13 November 2012) *

(17 November 2012 – 18 May 2014) *

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(1 July 2014 – 28 December 2014) * Marco Balbul (28 December 2014 – 30 May 2015) * Ronny Levy (30 May 2015 – 27 July 2016) * Shmulik Hanin (caretaker) (28 July 2016 – 8 August 2016) * René Meulensteen (9 August 2016 – 13 February 2017) * Guy Luzon (13 February 2017 – 9 December 2017) * Fred Rutten (24 January 2018 – 1 November 2018) * Eli Guttman (8 November 2018 – 3 December 2018) * Marco Balbul (19 December 2018 – 7 July 2020) * Barak Bakhar (8 July 2020 – 29 May 2023) * Messay Dego (30 May 2023 – 26 May 2024) * Barak Bakhar (1 June 2024 – 4 May 2025) * Itai Mordechai (caretaker) (4 May 2025 – 4 June 2025) * Diego Flores (4 June 2025 – )

References

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

1913 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Association football clubs established in 1913 Football clubs in Haifa

History

Early years

The 1980s

The 1990s

2000 and beyond

Sponsorships, fan base and rivalries

City rivalry with Hapoel Haifa

The rivalry with Maccabi Tel Aviv

Club crest

Grounds

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium

Sammy Ofer Stadium

Kfar Galim Training Facility

Honours

Domestic competitions

League

Cups

European competitions

Youth

Records and statistics

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Captains

Personnel

Current coaching staff

Youth department

2024–25 squad

Current coaching staff

Notable players and managers in club history

Former players

Most appearances

Managerial history

See also

References

External links