HAKOAH MACCABI AMIDAR RAMAT GAN F.C.

'Hakoah Maccabi Amidar Ramat Gan F.C.' () is an Israeli football club based at the Winter Stadium in Ramat Shikma, a neighbourhood of Ramat Gan.

Contents

History

Roots

Hakoah/Maccabi Union

Dark Times

Renaissance

Colours

Current Squad

Honours

External link

See also

History

Roots

'Hakoah Vienna' was founded in 1909 by a pair of Austrian Zionists, cabaret librettist Fritz "Beda" Löhrner and dentist Ignaz Herman Körner. The team became widely known and supported by Jews in many countries in the 1920s.
In 1924 and 1925 Hakoah Vienna visited Palestine and were accepted with great pride by the Jewish "Yishuv". Some former Hakoah Vienna players emigrated to Palestine and founded the Hakoah Tel Aviv club in 1938.

Hakoah/Maccabi Union

In 1959, the first union between two Israeli football clubs was signed. Hakoah Tel Aviv merged with Maccabi Ramat Gan to be known as Hakoah Maccabi Ramat Gan. The former had a good team and the second one had their own ground (Gali-Gal). The united team became a real force in Israeli football from the mid 1960s until the mid 1970s, winning two national championships and two State cups.

Dark Times

From that time onwards, the club lost a lot of its strength. In the end of the 1980s, the club was relegated to the Liga Alef (A League), then the third tier. In 1994, the club was involved in a "match fixing" scandal, punishable by a point deduction, fine and a ban on foreign players. From 2000, management failure led the club into financial decline and ultimately the debts grew too big and unpayable in 2002. The league financial controller announced the team's relegation to the third division again. In September the club was almost made defunct and only in the last hour was money mobilized (partly by the fans).

Renaissance

The club was stabilized and in 2003 returned to the Liga Leumit (National League). In 2005 the club merged again, this time with a small, but wealthy team also from Ramat Gan called Maccabi Ramat Amidar. Finally, in 2006 Hakoah were promoted back to the top flight after a 21 year absence.

Colours

Despite the proximity, there were good ties between the clubs of Hakoah Vienna and Austria Vienna. When Hakoah Tel Aviv was founded in Palestine, by former members of Hakoah Vienna, all kinds of equipment were required. Austria Vienna supplied their own shirts which were violet. This has remained the colour of 'Hakoah' until now. After the merger with Amidar, the club incorporated yellow into their kits.

Current Squad

''As of August 28, 2007''

Honours

★ Championships: 2

★
★ 1964-65, 1972-73

★ State Cup: 2

★
★ 1969, 1971

External link

★ Official website (in Hebrew)

See also

★ Israeli football

★ Hakoah Maccabi Amidar Ramat Gan F.C.