Hapoel Nof HaGalil
Full nameHapoel Nof HaGalil Football Club
Founded1958 (1958)
GroundGreen Stadium, Nof HaGalil
Capacity5,200
OwnerNof HaGalil Municipality
ChairmanRoni Likwernik
ManagerMotti Ivanir
LeagueLiga Leumit
2022–23Liga Leumit, 14th of 16
WebsiteClub website

Hapoel Nof HaGalil Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל הפועל נוף הגליל, romanized: Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Nof HaGalil; Arabic: هبوعيل نوف هچليل) is an Israeli professional football club based in Nof HaGalil. The club was formally known by the name "Nazareth Illit" until 2019 (the club accordingly was named as Hapoel Nazareth Illit F.C.). The club currently plays in Liga Leumit.

History

The club was founded in 1962 as Hapoel Kiryat Nazareth and competed in Liga Gimel for several seasons, before promoting to Liga Bet at the end of the 1971–72 season. The club changed its name in 1973 after Kiryat Nazareth gained city status and was renamed Nazareth Illit.

The club won 1975–76 Liga Bet, but, due to the league system restructuring, the club remained in the league system's third tier, which became Liga Alef. In 1978–79 the club won Liga Alef North division and was promoted to Liga Artzit, then the second tier. In 1983–84 they finished second from bottom, and were relegated to Liga Alef. Two seasons later the club finished second from bottom in Liga Alef and dropped to Liga Bet.

In 1998–99 the club finished as runners-up in Liga Alef North, and was promoted back to Liga Artzit, which was now the third tier following the formation of the Israeli Premier League in 1999. After narrowly avoiding relegation in 2000–01 when they finished one place above the relegation zone, the club finished as runners-up the following season, and were promoted back to the second tier. In 2003–04 they finished as runners-up (on goal difference), and were promoted to the top division for the first time in their history.

In their first season in the Premier League the club finished fifth. Home matches were initially played at Maccabi Ahi Nazareth's Ilut Stadium, whilst their home ground had floodlights installed. They returned home in February 2005. However, the following season, 2005–06, they finished second from bottom (on goal difference), and returned to Liga Leumit. In 2007–08 they finished bottom of Liga Leumit, and were relegated to Liga Artzit.

Despite only finishing seventh in Liga Artzit in 2008–09, F.C. Nazareth Illit were promoted back to Liga Leumit as restructuring meant the top seven clubs were automatically promoted. Since then, Nazareth Illit hasn't been relegated for 3 consecutive seasons, finishing seventh in 2009–10, 11th in 2010–11 and twelfth in 2011–12.

In the 2012–13 season the club signed several new players, including Ibrahim Basit, Eran Malchin and Moti Malka; they finished second in the league, but lost 3–1 at home in a crucial match against Hapoel Ra'anana in the play-offs,[1] with Ra'anana eventually promoted to the Israeli Premier League, whilst Nazareth Illit finished third and remained in Liga Leumit. In 2018–19 the club finished the regular season at the top of the table, but a collapse during the playoff phase, with the club collecting just 7 points out of 21, led the club to finish in third place and miss out on promotion.

On 4 July 2019, after the name of Nazareth Illit was changed to Nof HaGalil, the club changed its name to Hapoel Nof HaGalil.[2]

Current squad

Updated 1 February 2023.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Israel ISR Ido Artzi
2 DF The Gambia GAM Sidiki Jawara
4 DF Israel ISR Tomer Lebanon
5 DF Israel ISR Jenia Berkman
6 MF Israel ISR Mohammed Mahamid
7 DF Israel ISR Salah Hussein
8 FW Israel ISR Ofir Mizrahi
9 FW Israel ISR Nevo Shedo
10 MF Israel ISR Samir Farhud
11 FW Israel ISR Alon Buzorgi
12 DF Israel ISR Itamar Biton
14 MF Israel ISR Micky Gruper
15 MF Israel ISR Nir Lax
16 DF Israel ISR Yarin Serdal
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF Israel ISR Shay Mosinenko
20 DF Israel ISR Dolev Azulay
21 MF Israel ISR Liav Preda
23 MF Israel ISR Ohad Rabinovich
26 DF Israel ISR Liam Bitan
28 FW Israel ISR Ben Mizan
30 MF Israel ISR Idan David
33 DF Israel ISR Ali Kayal
70 FW Guinea GUI Alhassane Keita
77 FW Israel ISR Julian Shelufe
91 MF Israel ISR Kevin Raisntein
93 GK Israel ISR Gil Barda
98 GK Israel ISR Tomer Livitanov

Honours

League

Cups

References

  1. ↑ Three on top: 3–1 for Ra'anana over Nazareth Illit Archived 17 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Best Ball, 26.4.2013 (in Hebrew)
  2. ↑ הפועל נצרת עילית שינתה את שמה להפועל נוף הגליל David Ben Shimol, 4 July 2019, Ynet (in Hebrew)
  3. 1 2 http://jpress.org.il/Olive/APA/NLI_heb/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=MAR%2F1986%2F12%2F28&id=Ar04110&sk=067BC224 A Victory to Nazareth Illit over Bnei Nazareth in the City Derby] Ma'ariv, 28 December 1986, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
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