Ironi Tiberias F.C.

Ironi Tiberias

Full name	Ironi Tiberias Football Club
Founded	2006
Ground	Tiberias Stadium, Tiberias
Capacity	4,500
Owner	Municipality of Tiberias
Chairman	Zoar Izhak
Manager	Ilan Swisa
League	Liga Alef North
2015–16	3rd
Home colours Away colours

Ironi Tiberias (Hebrew: עירוני טבריה‎‎) is a football club from Tiberias, Israel. The club is not connected to Hapoel Tiberias, a former club which spent several seasons in the top division of Israeli football in the 1960s and the 1980s, making its last appearance in the top flight in 1989.

History

Football was played in Tiberias before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the first club in the city, Maccabi Tiberias, was formed in 1925^[1] and was playing football as early as 1927.^[2] A year later, Maccabi Tiberias competed in the first ever edition of the Israel State Cup.

The best known club from Tiberias was Hapoel Tiberias, which played in the top division of the Israeli football in the 1960s, from 1961–62 to 1964–65, and later again in 1988–89.

A third club operating in Tiberias during these years was Beitar Tiberias, although it mainly played in the lower levels of the Israeli league, its best performance being reaching Liga Bet, the third tier in the late 1960s and the 1970s.

By the late 1990s both Maccabi and Hapoel has folded, and the only active club was Beitar Tiberias. In 2001 the club was merged with Hapoel Mo'atza Ezorit Galil Tahton to form Hapoel Galil Tahton/Tiberias.^[3] in 2007 the club changed its name to Ironi Tiberias.

In 2006–07 the club finished 2nd in Liga Bet North B and was promoted through play-offs. After several season in Liga Alef North, the club qualified to the promotion play-off at the end of the 2010–11 season, falling in first round to Hapoel Asi Gilboa. The following season the club finished 2nd in Liga Alef, but didn't take part in the promotion play-offs, which involved only the league winner, Hapoel Asi Gilboa.

The club finished 2nd once again in 2013–14 and qualified to the promotion play-offs, and after beating Maccabi Daliyat al-Karmel, Hapoel Migdal HaEmek and Hapoel Azor, faced Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem in the decisive promotion/relegation play-offs. Tiberias won 5–1 on aggregate (3–0, 2–1), and promoted to Liga Leumit. However, the club's spell in Liga Leumit lasted only one season, as they finished second bottom in the 2014–15 season and relegated back to Liga Alef.

Current squad

As of 19 September 2016^[4]

No. Position Player 2 DF Jeffery Nissenbaum 5 DF Shimon Mamram 6 MF Gateon Triko 7 MF Shlomi Berzik 8 MF Gal Malka 9 FW Avi Amar 10 FW Hen Yad'an 11 MF Ahmed Saba 13 GK Gabriel Cohen 14 MF Ehud Ma'arbi 15 DF Niran Rotstein 17 FW Muamer Krakra

No. Position Player 18 MF Oshri Tawil 19 DF Nitzan Daniel 20 DF Idan Weitzman 22 MF Afif Nazal 23 MF Shmuel Haimas 24 FW Sharon Inbar 25 GK Adi Tadmor 26 DF Meir Gabay 27 DF Amit Ben Simhon 30 MF Matan Barami 99 MF Tom Dan

Honours

League

Honour	No.	Years
Fourth tier	1	1966–68^1
Fifth tier	1	1996–97^1

¹As Beitar Tiberias

References

1. News from the World of Sport in Eretz Israel and Abroad Do'ar HaYom, 16.10.1925, Historical Jewish Press (Hebrew)
2. Opening of the Maccabi Ground in Tiberias Do'ar HaYom, 23.10.27, Historical Jewish Press (Hebrew)
3. Hapoel Tiberias Nana.co.il, 28.08.02 (Hebrew)
4. Ironi Tiberias Israel Football Association