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| Full name | Hapoel Nof HaGalil Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1958; 67 years ago (1958) | ||
| Ground | Green Stadium,Nof HaGalil | ||
| Capacity | 5,200 | ||
| Owner | Nof HaGalil Municipality | ||
| Chairman | Roni Likwernik | ||
| Manager | Liran Pinto | ||
| League | Liga Leumit | ||
| 2024–25 | Liga Leumit, 14th of 16 | ||
| Website | hapoelnh | ||
 Current season | |||
Hapoel Nof HaGalil Football Club (Hebrew:מועדון כדורגל הפועל נוף הגליל,romanized: Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Nof HaGalil;Arabic:هبوعيل نوف هچليل) is an Israeli professional football club based inNof HaGalil. The club was formally known by the name "Nazareth Illit" until 2019 (the club accordingly was named asHapoel Nazareth Illit F.C.). The club currently plays inLiga Leumit.
The club was founded in 1962 asHapoel Kiryat Nazareth and competed inLiga Gimel for several seasons, before promoting toLiga Bet at the end of the1971–72 season. The club changed its name in 1973 after Kiryat Nazareth gained city status and was renamedNazareth Illit.
The club won1975–76 Liga Bet, but, due to theleague system restructuring, the club remained in the league system's third tier, which becameLiga Alef. In1978–79 the club wonLiga Alef North division and was promoted toLiga Artzit, then the second tier. In1983–84 they finished second from bottom, and were relegated to Liga Alef.Two seasons later the club finished second from bottom in Liga Alef and dropped toLiga Bet.
In1998–99 the club finished as runners-up in Liga Alef North, and was promoted back to Liga Artzit, which was now the third tier following the formation of theIsraeli Premier League in 1999. After narrowly avoiding relegation in2000–01 when they finished one place above the relegation zone, the club finished as runners-upthe following season, and were promoted back to the second tier. In2003–04 they finished as runners-up (on goal difference), and were promoted to thetop division for the first time in their history.
In theirfirst season in the Premier League the club finished fifth. Home matches were initially played atMaccabi Ahi Nazareth'sIlut Stadium, whilst theirhome ground had floodlights installed. They returned home in February 2005. However, the following season,2005–06, they finished second from bottom (on goal difference), and returned toLiga Leumit. In2007–08 they finished bottom of Liga Leumit, and were relegated to Liga Artzit.
Despite only finishing seventh in Liga Artzit in2008–09, F.C. Nazareth Illit were promoted back to Liga Leumit as restructuring meant the top seven clubs were automatically promoted. Since then, Nazareth Illit hasn't been relegated for 3 consecutive seasons, finishing seventh in2009–10, 11th in2010–11 and twelfth in2011–12.
In the2012–13 season the club signed several new players, includingIbrahim Basit,Eran Malchin andMoti Malka; they finished second in the league, but lost 3–1 at home in a crucial match againstHapoel Ra'anana in the play-offs,[1] with Ra'anana eventually promoted to the Israeli Premier League, whilst Nazareth Illit finished third and remained in Liga Leumit. In2018–19 the club finished the regular season at the top of the table, but a collapse during the playoff phase, with the club collecting just 7 points out of 21, led the club to finish in third place and miss out on promotion.
On 4 July 2019, after the name of Nazareth Illit was changed to Nof HaGalil, the club changed its name to Hapoel Nof HaGalil.[2]
Updated 31 July 2025.[3]
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