Beitar Jerusalem F.C.

Beitar Jerusalem F.C.
מ.כ. בית"ר ירושלים

Full name

Beitar Jerusalem Football Club
מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים

Nickname(s)

The Menorah
The Flag of the State
The Lions from the Capital

Founded

1936

Ground

Teddy Stadium
Jerusalem, Israel
(Capacity: 21,600)

Owner

Arcadi Gaydamak

Chairman

Itzik Kornfein

Manager

Reuven Atar

League

Israeli Premier League

2007-08

1st place (Champions)




Home colours




Away colours




Third colours

Beitar Jerusalem F.C. (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים‎; Mōadōn Kadūregel Beitár Yerushaláyim) is an Israeli football (soccer) club based in Jerusalem, Israel. It is the Israeli football club with one of the largest followings (if not the largest) in the country ^[1]^[2], and thought to be the wealthiest club in Israel thanks to the club's owner being Arcadi Gaydamak, a wealthy Russian-Israeli businessman. Club matches are played at the Teddy Stadium in the Malha neighborhood of Jerusalem. It has been dubbed Gehinom (English: Hell) by club supporters, for the hostile atmosphere they present to visiting teams and their fans.

Club history

Early history

Two Jerusalemites, David Horn and Shmuel Kirschstein, decided in 1936 to form a local football team. David Horn was the local chief of Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist (liberal nationalist) Party, a pre-statehood Zionist movement. To this day Beitar fans are generally identified with that movement's successor party, the Likud or other right-wing groups. The leaders of the youth federation saw this as a project to produce a football club with Beitar's self-defined qualities of Hadar (self-respect) and Hod (glory). The earliest squad was composed entirely of Beitar youth members, including a future government minister, Chaim Corfu. They played initially at the "banana field" close to Beitar youth group's "nest".

Political interference

Beitar's association with the Revisionist Party quickly brought them into conflict with the British authorities of that time, as well as the fans of Hapoel Jerusalem, a team connected with the Jewish socialist Israel Workers Party (Mapai) in the years 1939-48. Most Beitar players were also secretly members of the Revisionist-affiliated National Military Organization (Irgun Zva'i Leumi) or Freedom Fighters of Israel (Lehi), two groups in open rebellion against Britain's control over Palestine. In the 1940s the British arrested most of the group's players, exiling them to Eritrea and Kenya along with many Irgun and Lehi leaders. Part of their defiance (which also included legendary prison escapes) was the forming of the Beitar Eritrea side that included Micah Aharoni, Corfu, and the goalkeeper Moshe Baruch. In 1948 the British Mandate ended and the interned players were repatriated to the new State of Israel.

Nordia Jerusalem

During the internment era, David Horn refused to suspend management of the Jerusalem club, and renamed it Nordia Jerusalem so as to deny ties with the Irgun. Most of the Nordia players nevertheless came from Beitar Youth's ranks, including their legendary striker Simon Alfasi. He soon formed the backbone of an offensive group that included Yisrael Yekhezkel and Aharon "Iron Leg" Khason.

1950s in the wilderness

Beitar started the 1950s in the Bet (B) League, then Israel's no. 2 level of competition after the Aleph (A) League. In 1953 they succeeded in rising to the A League, but the same year fell back. In 1958 they won the B League championship, but were denied a chance to qualify due to a realignment in league structures that left them in the no. 2 league, now called the A League.

1960s

Beitar Jerusalem now had one goal in mind: To qualify to play in the top league, then known as the National League. Their roster then included Dr. Raul Geller, Yosef Aminof, Shaul Mizrahi, Itzhak Monsa, and Udi Rubowitch among others. The coach was Samuel Reznik. In the 1967-68 season that followed the June 1967 reunification of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, Beitar clinched the A League regular season title against Ramat Amidar. They had accomplished their decades long dream.

Surviving the 1970s

The team manager in the early 1970s was Imannuel Sheffer, a practice coach for the national squad. He discovered Uri Malmilian, a 16-year-old who Sheffer promoted to the adult squad and who helped them evolve from virtually a pick-up squad to a more practiced, strategic squad. Beitar soon made headlines the wrong way for the first time during a 1974 match against Hapoel Petah Tikva, one of the best teams historically, when their fans charged the field and attacked Hapoel Petah Tikva players and fans. This caused the first of many "radius" penalties in club history, and they were forced to play several home games in another city without an audience. Also that year the club was supposed to descend one league, but instead was saved by the intervention of Members of Knesset Ehud Olmert (Likud, also ex-Beitar Youth) and Yossi Sarid (Civil Rights group; today a leading critic of Beitar fans).They suspended the descension of Beitar and called for an investigation of Israeli Football Association corruption.

This salvation proved to be a burst of stimulant in Beitar. In 1976, under coach Nissim Bechar, and with the trio of Malmilian, Danni Noiman and Victor Levi, they won their first State Cup title, defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv, which had 8 Cup titles to its name, 2:1 in the final. They also came in second in the more important championship (points) play to Hapoel Be'er Sheva. In 1979 they once again downed Maccabi Tel Aviv by the same score in the Cup final under manager Shimon Shenhar.

The best of times

In 1980 Beitar Jerusalem's potentially historic season cascaded in the face of a season-ending injury to striker Uri Malmilian. The team finished the season at the bottom of the National League, and fell to the A League. The following season a new striker, Eli Ohana, joined the team, and became the face of the modern club. Ohana was well known for being a competitive player, and by 1983-84 Beitar was on the verge of becoming the champions' of Israeli football. The last game of that season was between Beitar and Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem needed a win or a tie to clinch their first title. But Hapoel's legendary Moshe Sinai foiled it in a tight game that gave the title to 2nd place Maccabi Haifa. The bitter defeat created a deep-seated hatred between Beitar and Hapoel fans that has not cooled with the times and only seems to get more violent.

In 1985 Beitar moved on by defeating Maccabi Haifa 1:0 in the State Cup Final for their third title, and in 1986 they once again took the final against Beitar Tel Aviv, then a growing power in Israeli football, in the premier season of manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan did not fluke on his early success, and in 1987, Beitar played a full season in Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium and became champions. That year's roster included Malmilian, Eli Ohana, Yossi Mizrahi (the "suicidal goalkeeper"), Hanan Azulai, Shlomo Shirazi, Avi Cohen, Sammy Malkha, Yakov Schwartz, Udi Ashash, Meir Kadosh, Gary Wandermolen, and Avi Golder. In the postseason Ohana signed with KV Mechelen of the Belgian league and was one of their leaders on the way to their first and only European Supercup title. In 1989 Beitar once again took the State Cup final, this time winning on penalty kicks against Maccabi Haifa.

Rollercoaster 1990s

Teddy Stadium

Beitar disintegrated in 1990-91, and was relegated to the second league, then called "Liga Artzit" (country wide league). Ohana returned the next season, and the squad returned to the first ("National") League under Lufa Kadosh's unpopular but effective conservative tactics. Kadosh was then sacked, and replaced by the popular former manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan lived up to the expectations and more, winning the national title for 1992-93. Afterward (1995) came manager Eli Cohen, who built one of Israel's all time greatest teams. This squad won the 1996-97 championship and repeated the achievement in the following season, this time under Dror Kashtan who thus won his third cap with Beitar. Kashtan went on to train the team in the dreary 98-99 season, which ended in a loss on penalty shootout versus Hapoel Tel Aviv in the cup final. After this traumatic game, the helm was passed to Kashtan's disciple, Eli Ohana. Ohana's first year as a manager (1999/2000) was less than mediocre, despite the fortunate draw that allowed the team to cruise all the way to the cup final, where it lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv 2:4 on penalty kicks (2:2 in regulation).

However, the end of the 90's marked more than the end of good football in Jerusalem. Due to the scandalous financial management of Moshe Dadash, the legendary chairman, Beitar found itself bankrupt and devoid of assets. Dadash sold the team's training grounds, pocketed 6 million shekels from the purchase money and sold the team to a business group led by businessman Kobi Ben Gur.

Increasing decay

Ohana was fired after the 1999-2000 season when Hapoel Tel Aviv downed Beitar in the second straight Cup final 2:4 on penalty kicks (2:2 regulation). He was replaced by Eli Guttman, who was helped by the signing of Croatian star midfielder Giovanni Rosso. But Gutman's conservative "bunker" style strategy made him a fan target for derision, and he was soon fired as well, a move that ended the directorship of Gad Ze'evi and moved it into the hands of the group that previously bought the team's training grounds - Meir Fenijel, Meir & Shaul Levi and Sasson Shem Tov. The next few seasons showed a Beitar club barely surviving. Rosso signed with Maccabi Haifa and led them to two championships while Beitar struggled to make budgets.

The "Fenigel" era

In recent years Beitar has made several coups in the way of personnel, including reeling in superstar forward Avi Nimni from Maccabi Tel Aviv (November 2003), Brazilian Indio Ferreira as defender, Tal Banin at midfielder, and retaining Itzik Kornfine, a holdover from the '90s, as goalkeeper. But still, Fenigel and Levi knew that the club was in financial straits and urged players to take smaller salaries than their contracts stated. Another important move was an attempt to revive Eli Ohana as manager.

In the summer of 2005, Beitar experienced a worrying trend of financial woes and player desertions. The first was the long-expected return of Nimni to Maccabi Tel Aviv. At the same time, Beitar signed the Congolese forwards Jeff Tutuana and Mazuwa Nsumbu from Hapoel Haifa to compensate. Then midfielder Tal Banin left the team for Maccabi Netanya.

Then, in August, a bombshell was laid on Israeli football when Russian-born billionaire Arkadi Gaydamak bought the club from cash-strapped owners Meir Fenijel and Meir Levi. Gaydamak promised to revitalize the club but has rapidly been wrapped in a wave of controversy. He angered some Beitar fans when he donated US$400,000 to Bnei Sakhnin in a diplomatic gesture, and when he remarked that Eli Ohana was unfit to be a manager and that his days were numbered. Ohana quit the team on August 10, 2005. Gaydamak earlier announced he would sign an Arab player, a promise he rapidly revoked because of fan opposition.

"New" Beitar

Beitar training at the Daniel Hotel, Herzliya. October, 2006.

Under tycoon Gaydamak, the club soon established itself as having the largest budget in the Israeli league. New players were signed such as Jérôme Leroy, Fabrice Fernandes, David Aganzo and the club eventually signed manager Luis Fernández. Beitar finished 3rd in the league and qualified for the UEFA Cup at the end of the 2005-2006 season.

For the 2006-2007 season Beitar signed a new manager Ossie Ardiles and several big-name players as well such as Ghanaian Derek Boateng, Israeli Michael Zandberg from Maccabi Haifa and Shimon Gershon from bitter rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv. Beitar was hoping to finally battle it for the Championship again and revive its "glory days" and indeed, in 2007, the team did win the Championship.

After a few months Ossie Ardiles was fired mainly because of failure in the UEFA Cup - a loss to FC Dinamo Bucureşti on aggregate, and disappointing scores in the league. The new manager is Yossi Mizrahi former Beitar goalkeeper and manager. Mizrahi is compensated $270,000 USD per season. Mizrahi led the team to the championship.

Beitar has a Supporter's Firm called La Familia - this group usually sits on the Northern side of Teddy Stadium and sings all along the game. The group was affiliated with numerous violence incidents.

Crest

Since the foundation of The Beitar Movement, the Menorah has become a theme that has run throughout the years. The new Beitar Jerusalem crest has kept the Menorah:

Honours

Old Liga Leumit/Ligat ha'Al^[3] titles: 6
- 1986/87, 1992/93, 1996/97, 1997/98, 2006/07, 2007/08
State Cup 6
- 1976, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1989, 2008
Toto Cup 1
- 1997/98
Israel Champion of Champions Cup 2
- 1976, 1986
Lilian Cup 1
- 1985
Mini Football Championship 1
- 1988

Most appearances

	Name	Period	Games	Goals
1	Uri Malmilian	1973 - 1989	423	140
2	Hanan Azulay	1974 - 1989	369	41
3	Itzhak Jano	1968 - 1983	375	9
5	Yossi Mizrahi	1972 - 1988	371	0
4	Itzik Kornfein	1995 - 2007	366	0
6	Eli Ohana	1980 - 1987, 1991 - 1999	345	142
(-)	Yossi Hakham	1965 - 1980	345	1
8	Shaul Mizrahi	1953 - 1970	304	40
9	Eitan Mizrahi	1989 - 2003	299	12
10	Sami Malka	1980 - 1992	288	47
11	Udi Rubowitch	1963 - 1974	281	81
12	Meir Kadosh	1984 - 1995	279	0
(-)	Ya'akov Schwartz	1983 - 1994	279	35
14	Danny Noyman	1971 - 1980, 1982-1984	264	34
15	shlomi Avrahami	1960 - 1973	260	20
16	David Amsalem	1974 - 1984	252	11
17	Serhiy Tritjak	1992 - 2000	239	3
18	Itzhak Monsa	1958 - 1968	235	51
19	Hai Mizrahi	1954 - 1965	229	1
(-)	Yossi Avrahami	1974 - 1984	229	18

Top goalscorers

	Name	Goals	Games
1	Eli Ohana	142	345
2	Uri Malmilian	140	423
3	Raul Geller	87	131
4	Udi Rubowitch	81	281
5	Yossi Aminof	74	157
6	Stephan Salloi	59	116
7	Ronen Harazi	58	134
8	Haim Azulay	53	176
9	Itzhak Monsa	51	235
10	Sami Malka	47	288
11	David Davidoff	45	128
12	Hanan Azulay	41	396
(-)	Nir Sevilia	41	121
14	Shaul Mizrahi	40	304
15	Eli Miali	37	124
16	Ya'akov Schwartz	35	297
17	Danny Noyman	34	264
18	Avi Cohen	33	169
19	Vladimir Grechnyev	32	83
20	Itzik Zohar	31	74

Beitar in Europe

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Score
1976/77	Intertoto Cup	Group	Admira Wacker	3-1, 3-1
		Group	Malmö FF	1-1, 1-3
		Group	Young Boys	1-1, 3-6
1985/86	Intertoto Cup	Group	Sturm Graz	2-0, 1-4
		Group	Arminia Bielefeld	1-1, 0-1
		Group	Maccabi Haifa F.C.	3-0, 3-1
1987/88	Intertoto Cup	Group	Brøndby IF	0-1, 0-6
		Group	VfL Bochum	0-0, 0-4
		Group	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	2-0, 2-1
1988/89	Intertoto Cup	Group	AFC Ajax	0-2, 0-6
		Group	Sturm Graz	3-3, 1-3
		Group	Shimshon Tel Aviv	4-2, 0-0
1993/94	Champions League	Q	Zimbru Chisinau	1-1, 2-0
		1R	Lech Poznań	0-3, 2-4
1993/94	Intertoto Cup	Group	Dynamo Dresden	0-2
		Group	FC Aarau	2-2
		Group	Wiener Sportclub	1-1
		Group	Iraklis FC	1-2
1995	Intertoto Cup	Group	Charleroi SC	0-1
		Group	Bursaspor	0-2
		Group	FC Košice	3-5
		Group	Wimbledon FC	0-0
1996/97	UEFA Cup	1Q	Floriana	3-1, 5-1
		2Q	FK Bodø-Glimt	1-5, 1-2
1997/98	Champions League	1Q	FK Sileks Kratovo	0-1, 3-0
		2Q	Sporting Lisbon	0-0, 0-3
1997/98	UEFA Cup	1R	Club Brugge	2-1, 0-3
1998/99	Champions League	1Q	B36 Tórshavn	4-1, 1-0
		2Q	S.L. Benfica	0-6, 4-2
1998/99	UEFA Cup	1R	Rangers FC	1-1, 2-4
2000/01	UEFA Cup	Q	FC WIT Georgia	3-0, 1-1
		1R	PAOK F.C.	1-3, 3-3
2005	Intertoto Cup	1R	FK Sileks Kratovo	4-3, 2-1
		2R	FC Slovan Liberec	1-5, 1-2
2006/07	UEFA Cup	2Q	FC Dinamo Bucureşti	0-1, 1-1
2007/08	Champions League	2Q	F.C. Copenhagen	0-1, 1-1 aet
2008/09	Champions League	2Q	Wisła Kraków	2-1, 0-5

Current squad

As of July, 2008

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Tvrtko Kale
2	DF	Cristián Álvarez
3	DF	David Amsalem (captain)
4	DF	Arik Benado (vice-captain)
5	DF	Shimon Gershon
6	DF	Tomer Ben-Yosef
7	FW	Amit Ben-Shushan
8	MF	Aviram Baruchyan
9	FW	Barak Yitzhaki
10	FW	Toto Tamuz
11	MF	Idan Tal
12	DF	Shmuel Kozokin

No.	Position	Player
14	DF	Yoav Ziv
15	MF	Michael Zandberg
17	DF	Eliran Danin
18	MF	Moshe Ohayon
19	MF	Idan Vered
20	MF	Derek Boateng
21	FW	Tal Mishaly (from youth team)
22	GK	Ariel Harush (from youth team)
23	MF	Darío Fernández
25	DF	Matan Barashi (from youth team)
30	GK	Ohad Saidof (from youth team)

Foreigners 2008–09

Tvrtko Kale
Derek Boateng
Cristian Álvarez
Dario Fernandez

Player of the year

Year	Winner
2003/04	Avi Nimni
2004/05	Avi Nimni
2005/06	Yoav Ziv
2006/07	Michael Zandberg
2007/08	Gal Alberman

Notable players

Israel

Gal Alberman
Simon Alfasi
David Amsalem
Haim Azulay
Hanan Azulay
Tomer Azulay
Amit Ben Shushan
Artzi Ben Ya'akov
Aviram Baruchyan
Avi Cohen
David Davidoff
ilan Elharar
Raul Geller
Ronen Harazi
Meir Kadosh
Ehud Kahila
Itzik Kornfein
Shmuel Kozokin
Shmuel Levi
Uri Malmilian
Eli Miali
Alon Mizrahi
Eitan Mizrahi
Shaul Mizrahi
Yossi Mizrahi
Kobi Moyal
Avi Nimni
Danny Noyman
Eli Ohana
Samuel Reznik
Udi Rubowitch
Ya'akov Schwartz
Ronen Shvig
Nir Sevilia
Jan Talasnikov
Toto Tamuz
Idan Vered
Barak Yitzhaki
Yoav Ziv
Itzik Zohar

Argentina

Pablo del Rio
Cristian Fabbiani
Dario Fernandez

Brazil

Rômulo
Capone
Joeano

Chile

Cristian Álvarez
Milovan Mirosevic

Croatia

Tvrtko Kale
Giovanni Rosso

France

Fabrice Fernandes
Jérôme Leroy

Ghana

Derek Boateng

Hungary

István Hamar
István Pisont
István Salloi
Tamás Sándor

Jamaica

Peter Cargill

Poland

Andrzej Kubica

Republic of Macedonia

Igor Mitreski
Milan Stojanovski

Russia

Vladimir Grechnyev
Sergei Kolotovkin

Spain

David Aganzo

Ukraine

Dmytro Mykhailenko
Serhiy Konovalov
Serhiy Tritjak

Uruguay

Sebastián Abreu

References

↑ Griver, Simon (1997-10-01). "Betar Jerusalem- A Local Sports Legend Exports Talent to Europe's Top Leagues". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
↑ Schmidt, Tal (2006-06-21). "אלפי אוהדים באימון הפתיחה של בית"ר" (in Hebrew), One.co.il. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
↑ Up until 1999, the top division of Israeli football was the Liga Leumit; since then, it has been Ligat ha'Al.

External links

Israeli Premier League 2008–09