Shimshon Tel Aviv F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Shimshon Tel Aviv


fullname = Shimshon Tel Aviv Football Club מועדון כדורגל שמשון תל אביב
founded = 1949
dissolved = 2000
ground = Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa
capacity = 16,500
chairman =
manager =
league =
season = 1999-00
position = Liga Artzit, 6th
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Shimshon Tel Aviv F.C. ( _he. מועדון כדורגל שמשון תל אביב, "Moadon Kaduregel Shimshon Tel Aviv") was an Israeli football club based at the Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa. In 2000 it merged with Beitar Tel Aviv to create Beitar/Shimshon Tel Aviv.

History

The club was formed in memory of Shimshon Douri, a former Maccabi Tel Aviv player who died in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was commonly referred to as the club of Kerem HaTeimanim, a neighbourhood of Tel Aviv.

The club spent its first few years in the lower leagues, before winning promotion to the top flight (then called Liga Leumit) in 1960 as Liga Alef champions.

In 1962-63 the Shimshon finished 4th, the club's highest position to date. In 1965-66, Shimshon player Moshe Romano was the division's joint top scorer alongside Maccabi Netanya's prolific striker Mordechai Spiegler, with 17 goals. The club also made their first appearance in a State Cup final, going down 2-1 to Hapoel Haifa.

Another 4th place finish was achieved in 1969-70, with Romano again finishing as the league's top scorer. The following season they went one better by finishing second to champions Maccabi Netanya. However, the success was not sustained, and a season after finishing second, the club narrowly avoided relegation, finishing one place above the drop zone. The 1972-73 was even worse, as the club was relegated alongside Hapoel Marmorek.

Despite their setback the previous season, Shimshon had a successful 1973-74, finishing high enough in Liga Alef to take part in the new promotion/relegation play-offs. They finished second in the play-off group, and were promoted back to Liga Leumit.

The early 1980s were a period of relative success, as the club finished third in 1979-80 and 1984-85, and another second place finish achieved in 1982-83. A second cup final was reached in 1986, but they lost 2-1 to Beitar Jerusalem. In 1987-88 the club qualified for the Intertoto Cup.

Although they reached another cup final in 1989-90, losing again, 1-0 after extra time to Hapoel Kfar Saba, the club finished bottom of Liga Leumit for the first time in their history, and were relegated to Liga Artzit (the second tier since the 1970s). Unable to bounce back to the top flight, and overshadowed by more popular and successful teams in Tel Aviv (Hapoel, Maccabi and Bnei Yehuda, the club merged with fellow Tel Aviv strugglers Beitar to form Beitar/Shimshon Tel Aviv.

Players

Notable former players

*flagicon|ISR Gidi Damti
*flagicon|ISR Pini Balili
*flagicon|ISR Eli Cohen
*flagicon|ISR Adoram Keisi
*flagicon|ISR Moshe Romano
*flagicon|ISR Ya'akov Hodorov

Honours

*Liga Alef
**Champions 1960
* Toto Cup Leumit
**Winners 1986-87, 1987-88