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| Full name | Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | הקריה (The city) | |||
| Founded | 2000; 26 years ago (2000) | |||
| Ground | Municipal Stadium,Kiryat Shmona[1] | |||
| Capacity | 5,300 | |||
| Chairman | Izzy Sheratzky | |||
| Manager | Shay Barda | |||
| League | Israeli Premier League | |||
| Website | iturank8 | |||
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Football Club (Hebrew:מועדון כדורגל הפועל עירוני קרית שמונה) known asIroni Kiryat Shmona is a professionalfootball club based inKiryat Shmona,[2] in the northern district ofIsrael. The club is a current member of theIsraeli Premier League, and plays at theIroni Stadium.[1] They won their first league title in2011–12.
The Roaring Lion statue on the team's logo is a well-known monument. It commemorates the casualties of theTel Hai battle that happened north of Kiryat Shmona on March 1, 1920.
The club was founded in 2000 by a merger ofHapoel Kiryat Shmona ofLiga Alef andMaccabi Kiryat Shmona ofLiga Bet, and took Hapoel Kiryat Shmona's place in Liga Alef, as well as playing at Hapoel's stadium. The merger was initiated by businessman Izzy Sheratzky owner ofIturan Location and Control, who are the official sponsors of the team.[3]
In the new club's first season they won the North Division of Liga Alef and were promoted toLiga Artzit. In2002–03 they finished as runners-up toHakoah Ramat Gan and were promoted toLiga Leumit. In theirfirst season at the second level they narrowly missed out on promotion, only finishing below runners-upHapoel Nazareth Illit on goal difference. They finished third again in2005–06, but won the league in2006–07 to earn a promotion to theIsraeli Premier League, the first time a club from the town had played in the top division. In the same season they also won the Liga LeumitToto Cup.
The club'sfirst season in the Premier League saw them finish third and qualify for theUEFA Cup. In their first season in Europe, home matches had to be played at theKiryat Eliezer Stadium inHaifa. After knocking outFK Mogren, they lost toLitex Lovech in the second qualifying round.
In2008–09, the club finished bottom of the Premier League and were relegated toLiga Leumit. However, thefollowing season they won the division and were promoted back to the Premier League.
On 15 December 2009, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the2009–10 Toto Cup Leumit.
On 19 January 2011, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the2010–11 Toto Cup Al, a year after winning the Leumit version of the cup, it was their first major title. In addition, Ironi Kiryat Shmona became the first team to win both first and second Toto Cup trophy in a back-to-back year.
On 24 January 2012, Ironi Kiryat Shmona defended their Toto Cup Al by beating Hapoel Tel Aviv in the2011–12 Toto Cup Al finals.
On 2 April 2012, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the Israeli Premier League and became the14th Israeli champions. They won the league after finishing their match against the runner-up Hapoel Tel Aviv. in a goalless draw, having five more rounds left for that season. Their championship was the first to be won by a team outside the three major cities (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa) for almost 30 years.
On 20 May 2012, The club changed its badge due to UEFA sponsorship rules which forbids the use of a sponsor name in both the kit and team badge. The new badge includes a number of footballs including a big one which used in the former badge, theLion of Judah statue from theBattle of Tel Hai and a gold star to mark the only team championship.[4]
In 2020, the club were on the verge of relegation to theLiga Leumit, trailing three points behind the 12th placed team (safe from relegation) with one match to go, but managed to stay in the Israeli Premier league and finished 12th thanks togoal difference.
In the start of the2022-23 season,Menahem Koretzky was assigned as the team's manager. On 21 December 2022, Koretzky left the club and instead of himNir Berkovic was appointed as manager. On 11 February 2023, Berković was sacked and a few days laterSlobodan Drapić was assigned as manager. After a long struggle in theIsraeli Premier league, On 6 May 2023, the club eventually relegated from theIsraeli Premier league to theLiga Leumit after 13 years in the Israeli Premier league. On 16 May Shay Barda was appointed as manager.
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup | Q1 |  Mogren | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 |
| Q2 |  Litex Lovech | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | ||
| 2012–13 | Champions League | Q2 |  MŠK Žilina | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| Q3 |  Neftchi Baku | 4–0 | 2–2 | 6–2 | ||
| PO |  BATE Borisov | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | ||
| Europa League | Group stage |  Lyon | 3–4 | 0–2 | 4th | |
 Athletic Bilbao | 1–1 | 0–2 | ||||
 Sparta Prague | 1–3 | 1–1 | ||||
| 2014–15 | Europa League | Q3 |  Dynamo Moscow | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| 2015–16 | Europa League | Q3 | Slovan Liberec | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–5 |
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Only up to six non-Israeli nationals can be in an Israeli club squad. Those with Jewish ancestry, married to an Israeli, or have played in Israel for an extended period of time, can claim a passport or permanent residency which would allow them to play with Israeli status.
Luis Alberto Gutiérrez
Yves Yuvuladio
Ezechiel N'Douassel
Ahmed AbedShimon AbuhatziraDanny AmosBarak BadashBarak BakharBenny Ben ZakenShavit ElimelechElad GabaiGuy HaimovRoi KahatAdrian RochetAbbas SuanGuy TzarfatiShir TzedekEitan TibiSean Weissman
Radu Gînsari
Levi García
Kenny Saief| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Manager | Shay Barda |
| Assistant Manager | Ya'akov Cohen |
| First-Team Coach | Itay Spielman |
| Goalkeeper Coaches | Samion Rahman |
| Fitness Coaches | David Bublil |
| Analyst | Alon Cohen |
| Masseur | Hod Hanuna |
| Physiotherapist | Itzhak Gueta |
| Steward | Ilan Glazer |
Benny Tabak (July 2001 – May 2)Ran Ben Shimon (July 2006 – April 8)Eli Cohen (16 December 2008 – 16 April 2009)Ran Ben Shimon (16 April 2009 – 13 May 2012)Gili Landau (13 May 2012 – 3 October 2012)Barak Bakhar (3 October 2012 – 14 May 2015)Salah Hasarma (May 2015 – February 2016)Shlomi Dora (February 2016 – May 2016)Motti Ivanir (May 2016 – October 2016)Benny Ben Zaken (October 2016 – November 2016)Tomer Kashtan (November 2016 – May 2017)Haim Silvas (May 2017 – December 2018)Tomer Kashtan (December 2018 – May 2019)Shimon Edri (May 2019)Messay Dego (May 2019 – October 2019)| International | |
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| National | |
