Originally,
Hapoel Tel Aviv was founded in 1923, but that team came apart very fast. In 1925
it was reassembled, but once again it did not last very long. In may 1926 the
team was reassembled for the third and last time ,and that is the team that we
know today.
Hapoel sport org. was founded by the Histadrut, the Israeli
workers union (in Hebrew, Hapoel means 'worker'). the Histadrut wanted Hapoel
sport clubs to help keep the workers' health as a part of their leisure culture
,unlike the Bourgeois Maccabi sport clubs, that Hapoel blamed for trying to create
a professional sport, in those days a very serious accusation. in 1927,these accusation
caused Alenby f.c to drop out of the Maccabi center and unite with Hapoel Tel
Aviv. Before leaving Maccabi. Alenby blamed them for creating a poisoning professional
environment. Hapoel squad was strengthened by the talented Alenby players, and
in the next few years Hapoel became one of the most dominant clubs in Israel.
In 1927 Israelite teams started taking part in the Israeli cup, and one
year later Hapoel Tel Aviv became the first Israelite team to win it, after a
2-0 win over Maccabi Hashmonay Jerusalem. However, after the game the Israeli
FA decided to divide the cup between the two teams, after Hapoel included one
of her players illegally.
In 1933 Hapoel qualifies for her second cup
final, but loses 1-0 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 1934 Hapoel Tel Aviv makes history
by becoming the first Israelite team to win the Israeli state championship. Later
they went on to win the double after a dramatic 3-2 win in the cup final over
Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 1935 Hapoel won her second championship in a row, and
in 1937 she won another state cup, after a 3-0 victory over Hapoel South Tel Aviv.
At 1938 the league was intercepted by the Great Arab Revolt after the
first round. Instead of the second round, the FA decided to hold a regional league,
which Hapoel won. Once again, Hapoel won the league and cup double, after defeating
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1. One year later the team won a third consecutive cup, after
a 2-1 win over Maccabi Petach Tikva.
In 1940 Hapoel are crowned champions
once again, but loses in the cup final 2-1 to her city rival Maccabi. in 1943
Hapoel won her last official championship before the foundation of Israel. in
1945 there were two district leagues, south and north. Hapoel won the northern
championship, and Beitar Tel Aviv won the southern championship. These championships,
however, were never recognized by the IFA (Israel Football Association).
The Israeli league was restarted in 1950, after the War of Independence. Hapoel
finished second, six points behind Maccabi Tel Aviv. a year later the league went
on strike. Hapoel used the free time and flew off to the UK. at the UK, Hapoel
played three friendly matches against the local teams Arsenal, Manchester Utd
and Leeds Utd, and lost all three.
It was only in 1957 that Hapoel was
able to recapture the Israeli championship. Hapoel finished 4 points ahead of
Hapoel Petach Tikva,the best team in Israel in the 50's. in 1959 the team qualified
to the cup final, but lost 2-1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 1960, Hapoel won
the cup, after a 2-1 win over the champion, Hapoel Petach Tikva. One year later
Hapoel finished as the league runner up for the same Petach Tikva.
In 1962
Hapoel moved to Bloomfield stadium, the same stadium that she uses to this very
day.
1964 was a year that no one in Hapoel would like to remember. It
was the year that for the first time in Israeli football history, a team went on
strike as a protest against the club's administration. The strike did not last
very long, but it did leave a stain on the club's way of conduct for the years
to come. 1965 was one of the most dramatic seasons in Israeli football history.
Hapoel reached the last round of games as the league leader, but suffcated an
away defeat at Netanya, and lost the title to Hakoach Ramat Gan.
The
following season, Hapoel recovered from the blow she suffered at the last year,
and regain the state championship, when two weeks before the end of the season,
Hapoel defeated Bney Yehuda 1-0 from a goal of Yehoshua Feigenbaum, the right
defender that came from Hapoel's youth team that year, and will later on become
a striker, and the team's all time top scorer. This championship was the first
title for Hapoel's head coach, Duvid Schweitzer, who is considered by many to
be the greatest coach in the history of Israeli football. one week later, however,
the players went on a strike, as a protest against the management that decided
to cancel the European game tour they promised to take them to if they win the
championship.
One year later, Hapoel Participated in the first ever Asian
champions cup. Hapoel qualified to the final, where she met with Selangor from
Malezia, defeated her 2-1, and became the first ever champion of Asia. at the
Israeli cup final, Hapoel lost 2-1 to her city rival, Maccabi.
In 1969
Hapoel regain the state championship, after a 1-0 win over Maccabi Shaaraim in
the last week of the league. that lose caused Shharaim to be relegated, and for
that reason, Hapoel players decided not to do the treditional Championship lap,
out of solidarity.
A year later, Hapoel lost the championship to Maccabi
Tel Aviv only on goal difference, in the same year Maccabi caused Hapoel their
biggest defeat in the club's history ,when they beaten them 5-0 in the city derby.
Hapoel also qualified for another Asian champion's cup final, but lost it 2-1
to Taj from Iran. The 70's were miserable years for Hapoel. even though the squad
had many big names in it,the team could not reach any major achievements except
for the state cup in 1972, after a 1-0 win over Hapoel Jerusalem, and the second
place in 1973. For most of the decade, Hapoel moved around mid table, and even
got dragged into relegation battles a few times.
The 80's were a totally
different ball game. Hapoel was the most dominant team throughout the decade,
starting with reaching the second place in 1980. in that year Rifat Turk, the
club's home grown midfielder and the first Arab-Israeli to ever play for the national
team of Israel, won the player of the year award.
In 1981 Hapoel won
her first championship since 1969,led by young midfielder Moshe Sinay, one of
the greatest Israeli players of all times. Hapoel had a chance to win the double,
but in the cup final they lost in a penalty shootout to Bney Yehuda. In 1982 Hapoel
qualified to another cup final, but suffered a shock defeat by Hapoel Yahud. In
1983 Hapoel reached a third cup final in a row, and finally came back with a win.
Hapoel faced Maccabi in a city derby and got an early 2-0 lead. but Maccabi came
back to the game and equalized the score. at the 67th minute of the game, Gill
Landau scored the winner for Hapoel, using his hand to push the ball inside the
net.
In 1986, after two mediocre seasons, Hapoel regain the championship.
in the last week of the league, Hapoel faced the league leaders Maccabi Haifa
in Bloomfield. Haifa needed a draw to win the title, Hapoel had to win. five minutes
from time, Moshe Sinay passed the ball inside the box, and Gill Landau scored
the winner,1-0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, that wins a very dramatic title.
In
1988 Hapoel won their third championship of the decade, led by Eli Cohen, the
veteran midfielder that gave the best season in his career, and good old Moshe
Sinay, that started the season in KSK Beveren from Belgium, but a few weeks going
into the season came back. Hapoel won the title after a 2-1 win over Hapoel Beer
Sheva, one week before the end of the league. Hapoel once again had a chance to
win the double, but in the cup final they lost 2-1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
But the final chord of the decade was unpleasant. After a dreadful season, and
to the amazement of everybody in the Israeli sport community, Hapoel was relegated
for the first time in history. the main people who are to be blamed for the relegation
are the Histadrut functioners, that for years have been ruining the club from
within, a thing that got to radicalization in that season.
Most of the
stars of the 80's, including players with rich past in the national team, like
Jacob Ekhoiz, Morris Jano,Eli Cohen and others, stayed at the club. But Moshe
Sinay, the biggest star and icon, left the club and joined Bney Yehuda. But even
without Sinay, Hapoel managed to leap back to the top division after one year
at the second division, after a 6-0 win over Maccabi Ramat Amidar.
When
Hapoel Returned to the first devision, Moshe Sinay returned as a player-manager,
not without resentment by some of the vetrens, that found it insulting that the
man who deserted the club at it's low, is coming back through the front door now
when things are back to normal.
The seven years under the coach Sinay
and his draconian contract were a nightmare. Dreadful football, under-achievements,
ongoing losing streaks at the city derby and violent oppression of fan demonstrations
were only a small part of the tragedy that Hapoel fans call "The Sinay Desaet".
Sinay finaly resigned during 1997,when the team was at the relegation zone. Eventually,
Hapoel, with the substitute coach Dror Kashtan, survived. During that season ,Hapoel
was bought from the Histadrut by a group of private businessmen, that in the next
few years helped Hapoel recover from the hard years that was behind her. in 1998
Hapoel finishe as runners up to Beitar Jerusalem, when only the fact that one
of Beitar's rivals that lost any intrest in the league let Beitar beat them in
one of the biggest scandals in Israeli football history, caused Hapoel the title.
One year later Hapoel got their vengeance, when they beat Beytar in a
penalty shootout at the cup final,and won their first title since 1988. in 2000,Hapoel
finished their 12 years wait, when finally they regain the state championship
after a 1-1 draw against Bney Yehuda. three days later, Hapoel met Beitar Jerusalm
for their second straight cup final,and once again Hapoel won in a penalty shootout.
For the first time since the foundation of Israel as an independent country,
Hapoel won the league and cup double.
In the next two years, Hapoel finished
at second place, behind the champion Maccabi Haifa. 2002 was also the year of
Hapoel magic European tour, in which the team qualified to the UEFA cup quarter-final,
after beating Ararat Yerevan (Armenia), Gaziantepspor (Turkey), Chelsea FC (England),
Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia) and AC Parma (Italy). At the quarter-final Hapoel faced
AC Milan (Italy), and at the first game Hapoel even won 1-0 (the game was in Cyprus,
because of the terror in Tel-Aviv at that time), but at the second leg in the
San Siro stadium, Milan won 2-0 and went on to the Semi-final.
The next
year, Hapoel finished only third, and from that point came two very disappointing
seasons. One (2004) at mid-table, and the second (2005) at the bottom of the table,
when the team ensured her place at the first-league only a few weeks before it
was over.