 | ||||
| Full name | Hapoel Afula Football Club הפועל עפולה | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Afula | |||
| Founded | 1924; 101 years ago (1924) (original club) 1951; 74 years ago (1951) (reformed club) 1954; 71 years ago (1954) (merged club) 2001; 24 years ago (2001) (reformed club) | |||
| Ground | Afula Illit Stadium | |||
| Capacity | 3,000 | |||
| Chairman | Dani Asulin | |||
| Manager | Tomer Kashtan | |||
| League | Liga Leumit | |||
| 2023–24 | Liga Leumit, 12th of 16 | |||
Hapoel Afula is an Israeli football club based inAfula. The club is currently inLiga Leumit and plays at theAfula Illit Stadium. Their main rivals areHapoel Asi Gilboa.
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The club was founded in 1924 inBeit Jann, nearYavne'el, by Russian Jews affiliated withHashomer Hatzair movement. Due to unemployment in Beit Gan, the club relocated to Afula.[1] During its early days, Hapoel Afula played mostly infriendlies against the likes ofHapoel Haifa[2][3] and in regional leagues, comprising clubs from theNorthern andHaifa regions.[4][5]
After theIsraeli Declaration of Independence, the club was re-established in 1951. At the summer of 1954, the club merged with neighboring football club,Hapoel Balfouria,[6] which played at the time at thetop flight ofIsraeli football, and played home matches in Afula.
Since the1957–58 season, while playing inLiga Alef, thesecond tier of Israeli football at the time, the club was officially known under its current name, although they were mentioned by the press in both Hapoel Afula and Hapoel Balfouria names.[7][8] the club continued to play as Hapoel Afula, and the name of Balfouria was dropped. In the1958–59 season the club finished bottom in Liga Alef, and went to play in the relegation play-offs. In spite the club finished the relegation play-offs in a perfect record againstHapoel Be'er Sheva,Hapoel Netanya andMaccabi Sha'arayim, they were eventually disqualified and demoted toLiga Bet for fielding ineligible player.[9]
The club played for 17 successive seasons in Liga Bet, until they were relegated toLiga Gimel at the end of the1976–77 season.[10] The club made an immediate return to Liga Bet, where they played up until the1983–84 season, in which the club folded during the season.[11]
The club reformed in 2001, and reached Liga Bet in the2002–03 season, where they finished runners-up in the North B division.[12] In thefollowing season, the club won that division and were promoted to Liga Alef.[13] After 9 seasons in Liga Alef, the club finally managed to win promotion to Liga Leumit, when they won the2012–13 season in Liga Alef North, by a margin of ten points, and made a return to the second tier of Israeli football after 54 years.
In The2013–14 season, the club reached the top play-off in Liga Leumit, and finished in the 6th place, an achievement which was bettered in thefollowing season, after the club finished in the 4th place.
In the2014–15 Israel State Cup, the club eliminated top flight club,Maccabi Petah Tikva, in the Quarter-finals byaway goals (0–0, 2–2), and reached the Semi-finals for the first time in their history. However, in theSemi-finals, Hapoel Afula were hammered 0–7 by Hapoel Be'er Sheva inTeddy Stadium,Jerusalem.
On 6 December 2017, the club won its first major trophy, after beatingHapoel Ramat Gan in theToto Cup Leumit final.[14][15]
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Third tier | 1 | 2012–13 |
| Fifth tier | 2 | 1977–78,2003–04 |
| Sixth tier | 1 | 2001–02 |
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Toto Cup Leumit | 1 | 2017–18 |
Tzahi Tayer (2006–07)[16]Felix Naim (2007)[17] Dror Cohen (2007) Baruch Sa'ar (2007) Erez Benodis (2007)Felix Naim (2008) Albert Edri (2008) Lior Levy (2008–2009) Alon Schwager (2009–2010) Oded Koter (2010–11)Yaron Hochenboim (2011–2015)Nissan Yehezkel (2015–2016)Eyal Lahman (2016–2017)Reuven Atar (2017)Benny Ben Zaken (2017)Ofir Haim (2017–2019)Yigal Antebi (2019)Idan Bar On (2019)Shlomi Dora (2019–)
