Maccabi Jaffa F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Maccabi Jaffa


fullname = Maccabi Jaffa Football Club
nickname =
founded = 1949
dissolved = 2000
ground = Gaon Stadium, Jaffa
capacity =
chairman =
manager =
league =
season = 1999-00
position = Liga Alef South, 9th

Maccabi Jaffa ( _he. מכבי יפו, "Maccabi Yafo") was an Israeli football club from Jaffa. The club spent several seasons in the top division, but after several relegations and financial problems it folded in 2000.

History

The club was founded in 1949 by Bulgarian immigrants, and was first promoted to Liga Leumit, then the top division, in 1954 after winning the promotion-relegation play-offs that year. In their first season in the top flight they finished third from bottom, and entered a relegation play-off, beating Hakoah Tel Aviv 4-1 over two legs to retain their place in the division.

Although the club finished bottom in 1956-57, they avoided relegation as Liga Leumit was enlarged to 12 teams, and reached the State Cup final, losing 2-1 to Hapoel Petah Tikva. After finishing 8th in 1958 and 5th in 1959, they had another scrape with relegation in 1959-60, only avoiding going down on goal difference after finishing second bottom. Two seasons later in 1961-62 they recorded their highest ever league position, finishing second behind champions Hapoel Petah Tikva. They finished third the following season, and then second again in 1963-64, with Israel Ashkenazi finishing that season as the division's leading scorer with 21 goals.

After a series of lower mid-table finishes, the club was relegated to the second tier in 1970 after finishing second bottom. However, they made an immediate return as Liga Alef champions. In 1977 the club qualified for the Intertoto Cup after finishing as runners-up. Another series of mid-table finishes was broken by a 3rd place in 1980-81 and relegation to Liga Artzit (the new second division) in 1986-87. The club won the second division's Toto Cup in 1992 and 1993.

The club returned to the top division in 1995, but finished bottom in 1995-96 and were relegated back to the second tier. The club made another return to the top flight in 1998 with Ofir Haim finishing as Liga Artzit's leading scorer and the club winning the second division's Toto Cup for a third time. However, they finished bottom of Liga Leumit with just 10 points from 30 matches, the lowest total in the three points for a win era. They began the following season in the second tier, but after failing to have their budget approved by the Israel Football Association, were demoted to the southern division of Liga Alef (the fourth tier), with Bnei Sakhnin taking over their fixtures in the second tier.

Although they finished 9th in their division, the club was disbanded due to further transgressions related to players. A new club by the name of Irgun Sport Jaffa (also known as Irgun Sport Ramat Eliyahu/Hatzorot Jaffa) was established and took the club's place in Liga Alef.

In 2008 a group of Maccabi Jaffa supporters formed a new club, Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa, which started the 2008-09 season in Liga Gimel.

Honours

*Second division
**Champions 1970-71, 1997-98
*Toto Cup
**Second tier winners 1992, 1993, 1998

Notable former players

* Omri Afek
* Moshe Sinai
* Avivi Zohar
* Itzik Zohar
* Irakli Zoidze
* Igor Shkvyrin

ee also

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