Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona – Shelters of Hope from Israel

Izzy Sheratzky had a vision—to take a non-league team from the peripheries of rural Israel and make them national champions. This is the story of Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona, a team from a small border town that became part of Israel’s football folklore. This is the story of our Israeli Black Swan, presented to you by Yossi Medina at Goalden Times.

Northern Israel was not in a good shape in the 1990s. Terror groups based in Lebanon fired rockets on a daily basis. Children who grew up in this area during the 90’s have stories of regularly running to shelters in order to escape bombings.

The northernmost city of Kiryat Shmona lies a few kilometers from the Israel–Lebanon border. It wasn’t a rich city, and bombings were a common affair. Consisting of residents who were mostly day workers with poor socio-economic backgrounds, it wasn’t a place where people expected big, hopeful things to happen.

Yet, sometimes it only needs one person’s determination to turn dreams into reality. This is the story of Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona, a team that was founded due to the vision of one person and became one of the most astonishing football success stories in the history of Israeli football.

Years of Domination

A football league was first held in the area in 1932. Until 1948, when Israel got its independence, the league was not consistent. There were intermittent cancellations due to the conflict between the Jewish and Arab population in the area.

The league system in Israel was simple—two professional leagues at the top and three amateur leagues that are divided into regional groups. At the end of the 1998–99 season, the Israeli Football Association (IFA) decided to change the system by making three professional leagues out of 12 teams. A decade later, the system changed back again to two professional leagues of 16 teams.

The first season after Israeli independence in 1949–50 ended with a championship for Maccabi Tel Aviv, while their rivals, Hapoel Tel Aviv, finished as runner-ups. For years, these two teams were considered the only big clubs in Israel, winning 35 domestic championships in all. This wasn’t surprising. These two teams were not only two of the oldest clubs in Israel, they also represented the geographical and socio-economical centre of the nation.

During the 1980s, two additional teams became the rising powers of Israeli football. The first was Beitar Jerusalem, which had an emerging fan base all over Israel, thanks to their initial wins and right-leaning politics. The second was Maccabi Haifa that became one of the first teams in Israel to be privately owned. Ergo, it also became one of the richest clubs in the country.

The championship was won by one of these four teams almost every year from 1984 to 2011. The only two outsider champions were Bnei Yehuda in 1990 and Hapoel Haifa in 1999. Neither of these two teams ever managed to repeat this feat, finding themselves at the bottom of the table constantly battling for and eventually being relegated.

Not only were the “Big Four” teams are consistent winners, they also commanded the biggest fan bases. Sometimes, people would support them instead of their local clubs. At the time of our story, these were also the four richest clubs in the country, backed up by wealthy owners.

An Optimistic Vision

For years, Kiryat Shmona had two teams—Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Maccabi Kiryat Shmona[1]. Hapoel was the bigger club, with a few seasons in the second division during the 80s and 90s. Maccabi usually played in the amateur leagues. The year 1997 saw Hapoel Kiryat Shmona get relegated from the second division, and at the time it seemed that Kiryat Shmona would have no representatives from their city in the top two divisions of Israeli football.

In the late 1990s, a local businessman named Izzy Sheratzky was invited to invest in sports activities by the then mayor of Kiryat Shmona[2]. Sheratzky had some experience in football as a former player in Maccabi Tel Aviv and, later, as the director of youth teams in the same club. He was a well-known citizen, and wanted to invest in the city to help the locals during Lebanese bombings.

Sheratzky had a condition, though. Instead of investing in both Hapoel and Maccabi Kiryat Shmona (which played then at the fourth and the fifth tier) he suggested that the teams be merged into one. This merger happened in 2000 under the name of Hapoel, which was then renamed to Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona. The additional “Ironi” in the name meant that the team was representing the city.

During their first season, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona were easily promoted to the third division. It took two more seasons to gain promotion to the second tier. But Sheratzky had bigger dreams. After the promotion, he was asked about his vision for the team and made a sensational statement. “In 2000, I said that we will win the championship by 2005”, he declared[3]. “Now it doesn’t matter whether it will be by 2007 or 2012, but we will do it and we will reach the Champions League”.

Izzy Sheratzky – The man with the dream

While their journey to the second division was relatively easy, Kiryat Shmona found it difficult to be promoted to the top tier. During their first season, they missed promotion just by goal difference. The next season was an average one for them, where they finished mid-table.

In 2007, Kiryat Shmona finally made it. They finished at the top of second tier, clinching the promotion with three games in hand. They were not the first club from the Northern region to play at the top level. Hapoel Tiberias were the first to play a few seasons during the 1960s and 1980s. A few more clubs had also been promoted to the top tier sporadically since then. Kiryat Shmona were promoted with Bnei Sakhnin. The latter was considered to be the most successful club in the region at that time, having won the domestic cup in 2004.

They had achieved that feat with young and almost anonymous players, along with their coach, Ran Ben Shimon. Ben Shimon had been a former player for the national team, and he was at the time at the beginning of his managerial career. His first promotion led him to his debut season at the top tier.

Nobody knew what to expect from Kiryat Shmona in their debut season. The team, thus, managed to surprise everyone by finishing third. Except for Beitar Jerusalem that won the title, they finished above all the other “Big Four” teams. They also managed to exceed expectations by bagging the UEFA Cup spot for the next season. The main players in this season were Yuval Avidor and Yero Bello, two youngsters with, almost no experience in top-tier football. They also had two impressive foreigners in the team—former Ivorian international Tchiressoua Guel (who was at the far end of his career) and Peter Ofori-Quaye (who was known as the youngest goal-scorer in Champions League history, but failed to reach higher levels after that).

When smaller teams perform amazingly well, there’s always the question of whether they can repeat their feat. The 2008–09 season began with the changing of managers. After two successful seasons, Ran Ben Shimon left for a bigger contract at Maccabi Tel Aviv. His successor, Michel Dayan, was fired after a few months. The next coach, Eli Cohen, faced the same destiny. The team suddenly found itself fighting against relegation.

A month away from the end of the season, Ran Ben Shimon was called up again to manage the team. His term in Maccabi Tel Aviv was short and a complete failure. His return to Kiryat Shmona was his chance to recover his managerial career as well. With six games left, Kiryat Shmona was just one point from relegation. Kiryat Shmone was relegated due to ta last-minute-goal and the dreams of Sheratzky and Ben Shimon seemed impossible.

Even though he was partly in charge of the relegated team, Izzy Sheratzky believed that Ran Ben Shimon was the right person to lead the team back to the top division. The team was a combination of homegrown young players, along with signings of anonymous players from lower divisions. The team succeeded, Kiryat Shmona got promoted, now they had a second chance to make their dream come true.

In the 2012–13 season, the league was restructured once again to accommodate only 14 teams. This meant that the bottom three (and not two) teams would be relegated to the second tier.

An important part of the league that year was the play-offs. After a double round robin (all participating teams play each other twice in the same order, and the tournament chart/table is displayed by each round where all the matches are grouped together), the league split into two groups—each composed of eight teams. Everyone believed that this changed format would make the last rounds a close race all the way to the title.

The reigning champions, Maccabi Haifa, were once again the favourites. Their main aim, except winning the title, was to qualify for another Champions League group stage appearance. They opened their campaign by eliminating the Bosnian and Slovenian champions, Borac and Maribor, respectively. Unfortunately, they lost their next game, which was a playoff, against Belgian champions Genk in penalty shootouts, and found themselves in the group stage of Europa League.

Previous season’s runner-ups, Hapoel Tel Aviv, also had an impressive run in the Europa League qualifiers all the way to the group stage. They had built a new squad with young players like 22-year-old striker Omer Damari, who was bought during the summer break, and 21-year-old goalkeeper Boris Kleyman, who after serving two loan spells away from the club, came back and become part of a rotated squad.

Another club that tried to rebuild themselves was Maccabi Tel Aviv. It was their second year as the richest club in Israel, thanks to their Canadian owner, Mitchell Goldhar. Even though his investments in Maccabi Tel Aviv had not brought them any success yet, the club’s budget was enough to make them a favourite. They also surprised everyone by eliminating Panathinaikos at the Europa League qualifiers, completing the Israeli trio at the group stage.

Even though Sheratzky still had his dream, the squad did not seem to be anywhere near the top. Not surprisingly, eventually two of their main players left them for bigger clubs. Wiyam Amasha, a forward and one of the club’s top-scorers, left for Maccabi Haifa. Guy Haimov, first-choice goalkeeper and an integral part of the team’s defence, left for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Now, Kiryat Shmona had to find real substitutes for these players. After years of rotation, Danny Amos became their leading goalkeeper. However, the harder task was to find a new player who could be as lethal as Amasha. Kiryat Shmona decided to place their trust in Ahmad Abed, a 21-year-old striker. No one could really predict whether Abed would be a decent replacement. He came from Maccabi Ahi Nazareth, a second-division club, and had scored just six goals in the previous season.

Another striker that arrived at the club was Shimon Abuhatzira. In 2009, the promising youngster had left Israel for Greece. In January 2011, while his club, AE Larissa, suffered financial crisis, Abuhatzira was loaned back to Kiryat Shmona. At the end of this season he left Greece and rejoined the Israeli club for good.

Except for these players, Kiryat Shmona had a few players who had been with the club for a few years. One of them was Barak Badash. He played at the lower levels till he got his first professional contract with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2005. He was not very impressive there, and had played for several mid-table clubs since then. In 2010, he decided to play for Kiryat Shmona (while they were in the second division) and eventually became one of the club’s main players.

Shir Tzedek, was another player who bettered his career by playing for Kiryat Shmona. When he was 17, he left his small hometown club of Hapoel Beit She’an in order to play for Kiryat Shmona. He was part of the youth team and also the relegation squad of 2009.  Yet he never left, and later became a hero at the club.

If we are talking about homegrown players, Adrian Rochet comes to mind as well. He played in Kiryat Shmona’s youth teams even though he lived in Sa’ar—a small village located 80 km from the city. He was part of the senior team when the team was promoted in 2007. He was considered a talented midfielder, but did not have any intentions of leaving.

Salah Hasarma, an Arab-Israeli footballer, was already an established league veteran by 2007. In 1996, he became part of history playing for Hapoel Tayibe when they became the first Arab club to be promoted to the top tier. In 2002, he was the first Arab player to be signed by Bnei Yehuda. The club had refused to sign Arab players for years prior to this. He was 37 years old at the start of this season and no one really thought he would win any title before his retirement.

Making History

A few weeks after the season kickoff, Kiryat Shmona was struggling at midtable. They had won only two of their first seven matches. Their next game was at home against league-leaders, Maccabi Tel Aviv. But that game changed things. Even though Kiryat Shmona conceded first, they managed to score twice in the second half. Ahmad Abed, the unknown youngster, scored the winning goal at the 78th minute. It had only been four minutes since he had come on to the field. He could not have imagined a better debut.

A week later, Kiryat Shmona travelled to an away game against Maccabi Haifa, the reigning title holders. This was a far less dramatic match than the earlier one. Kiryat Shmona dominated throughout the match and ended the game 3–0. Even then, no one took the team seriously. “This team is not ready to win the title”, said coach Ran Ben Shimon after the game, “we are in good shape and all we want to do is enjoy it”[4].

It took a few more games for people to believe that the team might have a chance at the championship. The leading teams lost points, while Kiryat Shmona completed a run of twelve consecutive undefeated matches. Their next game after that was against topper Hapoel Tel Aviv. Kiryat Shmona was just one point behind them. Hapoel Tel Aviv tried repeatedly to score, but failed in the face of a determined Danny Amos. Barak Badash scored the winning goal, once again a decisive on,e at the 78th minute.

At the end of the first round, with 15 games already having been played, Kiryat Shmona were in the first place of the league. This was unprecedented! Yet, no one really talked about the championship. For many, it was still imaginary.

The win against Hapoel Tel Aviv and three more wins in other games extended Kiryat Shmona’s winning run to sixteen consecutive undefeated matches. In those weeks, Kiryat Shmona’s margin became even more impressive. They were six points away from the second place, which was occupied by another small team—Moadon Sport Ashdod. Their next match was an away one against second-placed Ashdod, a match that could be decisive for their run.

Even though these teams led the table, the decision to broadcast this match as the main game of the round was surprising. Usually, no matter what the league situation, broadcasters would only show big teams’ matches.

However, the match ended in a goalless draw, with six-point-lead intact. People were still disbelieving. Some players insisted that, since the champions were crowned in May (and it was only January) there was still a long way to go.

According to Ran Ben Shimon, in order to keep on winning, they needed to buy another player to strengthen their squad. This was when Sheratzky found Solari. This was not the former Real Madrid player, Santiago Solari. This was actually his brother, David. David Solari played a bit in Cyprus before his arrival to Israel. Purchasing him was a good decision, as he scored five goals in less than four months and proved his worth.

The following weeks proved to be interesting. After Ashdod failed to close the gap with Kiryat Shmona, they started to slip down the table, and Hapoel Tel Aviv were second from the top once again. It was only in March, after 25 consecutive undefeated matches, that Kiryat Shmona lost an away match against Beitar Jerusalem.

However, there were still eight matches left to play. Luckily for Kiryat Shmona, Hapoel Tel Aviv lost in the derby against Maccabi Tel Aviv the same weekend. Moreover, Hapoel Tel Aviv were punished harshly for crowd riots. Three points were deducted from their tally, and they were asked to play their match against Kiryat Shmona behind closed doors. The Israeli Football Association allowed women and children to enter the stadium only after appeal. The two teams were 17 points away from one another at the time of the match.

However, everything was not yet hunky dory. Even with this astounding run of success, there were a lot of disagreements between Ran Ben Shimon and Izzy Sheratzky. Days before the match against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Ben Shimon decided to officially announce that he would leave the club at the end of the season after a contract dispute. This shocking announcement had a deflating effect on the players. At this match, Hapoel Tel Aviv were the first to lead. Kiryat Shmona managed to score twice before giving away a two-goal-lead. It wasn’t the best display of their football prowess, with the match finishing 2-2.

With the restructured format of the league, the top eight clubs would play in the championship group during the second half of the season. Usually the second half can be a seven-game-race, but due to the huge lead Kiryat Shmone had over its opponents, it meant that they just needed to take it one game at a time. Without any major slip-ups that would see them comfortably to the finish line.

In their first match, Kiryat Shmona hosted Bnei Yehuda. Hapoel Tel Aviv had drawn their last match two days before. Kiryat Shmona now just needed to win against Bnei Yehuda in order to clinch the historic title. The whole city was excited! Ticket prices were brought down to 10 shekels (around $2.5) to fill the stadium in anticipation. In comparison, usual ticket price in Israel is 50–80 shekels (around $12.5–20).

Unfortunately, their excitement proved to be their undoing. The players looked incredibly nervous in the first half, and barely managed a shot on target. The second half wasn’t much better. After 73 minutes, Bnei Yehuda scored what eventually became the winning goal of the match. Kiryat Shmona fans now had to wait at least one week to celebrate.

Their next match was against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Kiryat Shmona had a second chance to win the title in front of their home crowd. A draw would be enough to clinch the title. And they indeed clinched it! Hapoel Tel Aviv did not have any answer to Kiryat Shmona’s defensive prowess. The historical match ended in a 0–0 draw.

Kiryat Shmona were the new champions!

A long season had ended with their first-ever championship. “Kiryat Shmona is here to stay for long time”, said Izzy Sheratzky at the title ceremony[5]. The crowd chanted the names of the players. More than that, they chanted for Ran Ben Shimon. No one wanted him to leave at the end of the season.

The players of Kiryat Shmona visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem, after winning the country’s premiere league championship. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 / Times of Israel)

Post-season Analysis

What made the big teams almost irrelevant that season? One reason might have been Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv’s inability to juggle between Europa League and domestic matches. Kiryat Shmona, being free from such obligations, had enough time to focus just on the domestic league. When the “Big Three” were all eliminated from Europa in December, it was almost too late to get back their mojo in lsrael.

Another reason was for this surprising result was internal problems for each team. Beitar Jerusalem were completely absent from the race because their owner, Arcadi Gaydamak, decided to cut his investments in the club. Hapoel Tel Aviv were also in the process of changing their owner. Eli Tabib became the only owner of the club after years of sharing it with Moni Harel. Maccabi Haifa did not have problems with the owner, but their fans were against Elisha Levi, the club manager.

Some Israelis are of the opinion that Kiryat Shmona did not win because other clubs were weak. They won because they had talented players, a highly skilled coach, and a city that supported them unflinchingly. Sometimes, these are all you need to create football history.

Unknown Future

Sheratzky dreamt of repeating this success. However, that proved to be tough. Bigger clubs bought some of the key players over the summer. Ran Ben Shimon, who left Kiryat Shmona for a short spell in Cyprus, was replaced by Gili Landau. However, the legacy of the winning team still remained. The younger players were still a part of the squad.

Their beginning was sensational in the following season. They eliminated Žilina and Neftchi Baku at the Champions League qualifiers, before BATE Borisov beat them at the playoffs. This journey assured them a group stage spot in the Europa League. They also had two wins in their first domestic league games before their big international break in September.

Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona
The qualifier against BATE Borisov.

However, things weren’t good for long. Once again, Sheratzky argued with the coach and Gili Landau found himself fired after a few months. The new coach was the relatively unknown Barak Bakhar—Ran Ben Shimon’s assistant and the U-19 team instructor.

Bakhar kept the vision of Sheratzky alive for three seasons. Even though he did not manage to repeat the tremendous championship season, Kiryat Shmona still managed to finish near the top of the league. He also led Kiryat Shmona to another title—winning the Israeli Cup in 2014. During this period, the team was full of young and unknown players, who later went on to make it big elsewhere.

Just like Ben Shimon and Landau, Barak Bakhar left Kiryat Shmona due to disagreements with Sheratzky. In May 2015, Bakhar was fired after Sheratzky found out that he was negotiating a contract with another club. Sheratzky deemed this action unacceptable, even though Bakhar had had no agreement with Kiryat Shmona or with another club for the next season.

From May 2015, the position of Kiryat Shmona’s coach became unpredictable. Unlike Ben Shimon and Bakhar, two coaches that managed the club for at least three years, the next coaches had to put up with interventions by Sheratzky. A total number of five coaches managed the team during the last two seasons. None of them led Kiryat Shmona to the top of the table. Sometimes, the club had to even fight from relegation.

Most of the heroes of the championship in 2012 left for other teams. For example, Barak Badash, who scored the winning goal at the first match against Hapoel Tel Aviv, won the championship twice with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Another key player, the defender Shir Tzedek, also won the championship twice as a Hapoel Beer Sheva player.

Izzy Sheratzky has been blamed by many for Kiryat Shmona’s recent missteps. The owner’s dreams were too impossible. He became too interfering. According to some coaches, he wanted to choose the line ups more than once.

The absence of a crowd also bothered the team. For a long time, even local people preferred supporting one of the big clubs. Nowadays, Kiryat Shmona have one of the lowest attendance averages in the league. The only times Kiryat Shmona’s home games are sold out are when they play against Beitar Jerusalem—the most supported team in the city.

Sheratzky might give up on his dream soon. He has often expressed disappointment at his club’s lack of success. His investments have not brought him significant results in a long time.

The 2012 championship of Kiryat Shmona seems a long time ago. It almost like a fairytale now.  An achievement never to be repeated. Will they recapture their days of glory? Only time (and maybe Sheratzky) will tell.

Sources

[1] Ironi Kiryat Shmona – Official
[2] Haaretz.com
[3] www.haaretz.co.il
[4] www.one.co.il
[5] www.one.co.il

Yossi Medina

About Yossi Medina

International football enthusiast a and co-editor at BabaGol. A stats & numbers addict, who is likely to be found where history and culture connect with the game. He can be followed at @BabaGol_ and @yossport1