Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C.

Pre-independence

Hapoel Petah Tikva was founded in 1926, and its football division was established in 1934. The club made it to the second league in 1938, and its first season in the top tier was 1941/42, two years after a new stadium was built on Abarbanel Street. In 1945, the club first came close to winning a title after beating Maccabi Petah Tikva 7–0 in the Cup semi-final, but lost 0–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the final. Some of the leading players in the 1940s were Meir Nevenhoiz, Amichai Shoham, Eliyahu Kroshar, Yaakov Visoker and Moshe Varon.

The Golden Age – 1954–1968

Hapoel Petah Tikva won its first championship in 1955, becoming the first team outside Tel Aviv to do so. The team was coached by Moshe Varon, and the top scorer was the young rising star, Nahum Stelmach, with 28 goals in 26 games. A chance to win a double was missed out after making it to the Cup final, but losing 1–3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Two years later, in 1957, Hapoel Petah Tikva won its first state cup after beating Maccabi Jaffa 2–1 in the final. In 1959, after three consecutive years in second place, the team finally won its second championship. This was the first out of five back-to-back championships, a record no team in Israel has achieved again. Some of the leading players during these years were Nahum Stelmach, Yaakov Visoker, Boaz Koffman, Zakharia Ratzabi, Avshalom Ratzabi, Reuven Yeffet, and Jerry Haledy. The coaches were all foreign – Jackie Gibbons (England), Ignác…

League

Cup competitions