Hapoel Petah Tikva

Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. (Hebrew: הפועל פתח תקווה‎) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. Their most successful period was the late 1950s and early 1960s, in which the club won six championships, five of them in consecutive seasons. Although they have not won the title since 1963, Hapoel still hold the record for the number of back-to-back titles. The club's last piece of major silverware came in 2005 when they won the Toto Cup, and of all the clubs to have won the State Cup, Hapoel have the worst record in the finals, having won on only two of their nine appearances in the final.

History

The club was established in 1934. In 1945 they reached the cup final, but lost 1–0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv in a final that was abandoned after 89 minutes due to a Petah Tikva player refusing to leave the field after being sent off for insulting the referee. That year's tournament, which was known as the "War Cup" and was boycotted by Beitar-affiliated clubs, was not recognised by the Israel Football Association until recently. Nowadays, the IFA recognize this cup edition (along with the 1943 Palestine Cup) as part of the competition's history.

The club was included in the new Israeli League in 1949 and finished fourth in the first post-independence championship, with their 3–2 home defeat to Beitar Tel Aviv annulled.

In the 1954–55 season the club won their first championship, but missed out on doing the double when they lost the cup final 3–1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv. They finished second for the next three seasons, winning the cup for the first time in 1957 (beating Maccabi Jaffa 2–1), before winning the title again in 1958–59. They retained the title in 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62 and 1962–63, setting a record for the number of consecutive championships (the next best is three, achieved by Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa). In both 1959 and 1960 the club also reached the cup final, but lost on both occasions, 4–3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv and 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv respectively.

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This page also has a version in other languages :  Хапоэль (Петах-Тиква) (russian)