Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium
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The Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium, commonly known as HaUrva Stadium (Hebrew: אצטדיון האורווה, Etztadion haUrva, lit. Livery Stable Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva. It is due to be replaced by Petah Tikva Stadium in 2009.
The stadium was built in 1965, and has two all-seater stands on either side of the pitch with a total capacity of 7,500. Both ends are undeveloped and are used as parking spaces for team buses.
Though the stadium is defined as multi-use, it is in reality used almost entirely for football. It is the home stadium of both Hapoel Petah Tikva and city rivals Maccabi Petah Tikva, who moved to the stadium in the late 1970s after their Maccabi Sports Ground was abandoned. Currently, Maccabi plays in Ligat ha'Al, the top division of Israeli football, while Hapoel plays in the second division, Liga Leumit.
The stadium has hosted European football, as Hapoel have played in the Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Intertoto Cup and Maccabi in the Intertoto Cup. Although Maccabi have qualified for the UEFA Cup twice in recent seasons, security concerns have prevented matches from being staged in the city, with matches played either abroad or in the National Stadium in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
