Israel Super Cup

The Israel Super Cup, also known as Champion of Champions (Hebrew: אלוף האלופים‎, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champions and the winner of the latest Israel State Cup. If a team won both the championship and the state cup, their designated rival for the Super Cup match was the league runner-up.

Israel Super Cup

Founded	1957
Region	Israel
Number of teams	2
Current champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv (7th title)
Most successful club(s)	Maccabi Tel Aviv (7 titles)
2020 Israel Super Cup

The cup was first contested in 1957, but the title was an informal title, not sanctioned by the IFA Until 1969.[1] As an IFA sanctioned competition, the competition was played annually, except for 1972, 1973 and 1987 until its cancellation in 1990.

Between 1969 and 1971 The IFA also sanctioned a "Champion of Champions" match for Liga Alef, which was played between the two regional winners of Liga Alef. The match was played once more, at the end of the 1975–76 season, and was discontinued after the establishment of Liga Artzit.

The most successful clubs were Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Netanya and Maccabi Tel Aviv with 5 titles each.

In March 2014 the IFA announced the renewal of the competition.[2]

History

The title was first contested in 1957 in a match between League winners, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Cup winners, Hapoel Petah Tikva. The cup, which wasn't sanctioned by the IFA, was named after Lt-Col Zivi Tzafriri and was won by Hapoel Tel Aviv, who had beaten its rivals 3–0.[3]

The Next time the competition was contested, in 1963, the cup was donated by Ilanshil-Polio, an Israeli organization dedicated to aid Poliomyelitis victims, with proceedings going towards the organization.[4][5][6] In the match, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa have drawn 2–2.[7]

Starting from the 1964–65 season, the match was played in each season until 1990, except for 1972, 1973 and 1987. The IFA decided upon making the cup an official title at the beginning of the 1968–69 season,[1] set it to be played at the beginning of each season [8] and ruled that in case of a club winning both the league championship and the cup, their designated rival for the Super Cup match would be the league runner-up.[9] The IFA also set a "Champion of Champions" match for Liga Alef, to be played between the two divisional winners.[8] The first Liga Alef Super Cup was played between Maccabi Petah Tikva and Beitar Tel Aviv in June 1969, the former winning 3–0.[10]

In 1979, the cup was named after Israeli sports broadcaster Nehemia Ben Avraham following Ben Avraham's death.

In March 2014 the IFA announced the renewal of the competition.[2] However, the match planned for the beginning of the 2014–15 season was cancelled, with the intent to play it the next season.[11]

The competition was renewed in August 2015.

Liga Leumit Super Cup

Unofficial Competitions

Year	League Winner	Cup Winner	Score
1957	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Hapoel Petah Tikva	3–0
1962	Hapoel Petah Tikva	Maccabi Haifa	2–2 ^1
1965	Hakoah Ramat Gan	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–2 / 1–1 (R) ^1
1966	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Hapoel Haifa	2–1
1968	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Bnei Yehuda	2–1

Note: ¹ Cup was Shared.

Official Competitions

[12]

Year	League Winner	Cup Winner	Score
1969	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Hakoah Ramat Gan	5–1
1970	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Hapoel Tel Aviv^ru	1–2
1971	Maccabi Netanya	Hakoah Ramat Gan	4–2 (a.e.t.)
1972–1973	Not Held
1974	Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Haifa	2–1
1975	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Hapoel Kfar Saba	2–1
1976	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Beitar Jerusalem	2–3 (a.e.t.)
1977	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Maccabi Jaffa^ru	3–2
1978	Maccabi Netanya	Beitar Jerusalem^ru	4–0
1979	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Beitar Jerusalem	2–0
1980	Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Kfar Saba	2–1
1981	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Bnei Yehuda	1–0
1982	Hapoel Kfar Saba	Hapoel Yehud	3–3 (a.e.t.) 3–2 (p)
1983	Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–0
1984	Maccabi Haifa	Hapoel Lod	1–4
1985	Maccabi Haifa	Beitar Jerusalem	5–2
1986	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Beitar Jerusalem	1–2
1987	Not Held
1988	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Maccabi Tel Aviv	0–3
1989	Maccabi Haifa	Beitar Jerusalem	2–1
1990	Bnei Yehuda	Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–0
1991–2014	Not Held
2015	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Ironi Kiryat Shmona^ru	2–2 (a.e.t.) 4–5 (p)
2016	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Maccabi Haifa	4–2
2017	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Bnei Yehuda	4–2
2018	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Hapoel Haifa	1–1 (FT) 4–5 (p)
2019	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Bnei Yehuda	1–0
2020	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–0, 2–0

Note: ^ru Indicate that the team was Runner-up and played for the Super Cup as the League Champion won this season's Double.

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runner-up
Maccabi Tel Aviv	7	2
Hapoel Tel Aviv	5	4
Maccabi Netanya	5	–
Maccabi Haifa	3	2
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	3	2
Beitar Jerusalem	2	4
Bnei Yehuda	1	4
Hapoel Kfar Saba	1	3
Hapoel Haifa	1	2
Hakoah Ramat Gan	1	2
Hapoel Petah Tikva	1	1
Hapoel Lod	1	–
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1	–
Hapoel Yehud	–	1
Maccabi Jaffa	–	1

Liga Alef Super Cup

Year	North Division Winner	South Division Winner	Score
1968–69	Maccabi Petah Tikva	Beitar Tel Aviv	3–0[10]
1969–70	Hapoel Hadera	Hapoel Holon	0–1[13] [note 1]
1970–71	Maccabi Jaffa	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–2 (a.e.t.) 2–3 (p.)[15]
1975–76	Hapoel Acre	Hapoel Yehud	1–0[16]

Notes

1. The first match between the teams ended in a 2–2 draw after extra time, after which the crowd entered the pitch and prevented the teams from taking the penalties.[14]

References

• Bleicher, Yaniv. "Israel – List of 'Champions of Champions' (Super Cup) Finals", RSSSF.
• 100 Years of Football 1906-2006, Elisha Shohat (Israel), 2006, p. 345 (in Hebrew)

1. At the End of the Football Season: A Formal Match for the Title of "Champion of Champions" Maariv, 26 November 1968, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
2. Next Season: Super Cup and Two Matches in the Quarter-finals Amit Yaffe, one.co.il, 31 March 2014 (in Hebrew)
3. Hapoel T.A. beaten Hapoel P.T. 3:0 Davar, 2 November 1957, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
4. Today: Hapoel P.T. – Maccabi Haifa Davar, 22 January 1963, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
5. Today Champion of Champions Match Maariv, 22 January 1963, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
6. Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel P.T. Will Contest Today for "Champion of Champions" Title Herut, 22 January 1963, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
7. Hapoel P.T. led 2:0; Maccabi Haifa Equalized 2:2 Davar, 23 January 1963, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
8. "Champion of Champions" Match Will Be Held Annually Before the Start of the League Maariv, 19 December 1968, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
9. The Champion Against Its Runner-Up in "Champion of Champions" Maariv, 17 March 1969, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
10. Maccabi P.T. "Champion of Champions", Beat Beitar T.A. 3:0 Davar, 19 June 1969, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
11. The Liga HaAl Supercup Game Is Cancelled Yaniv Tuchman, walla.co.il, 30 June 2014 (in Hebrew)
12. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesi/israsupcuphist.html
13. Holon - "Champion of Champions" in Alef Maariv, 6 September 1970, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
14. Liga Alef Cup – Without Owners Maariv, 7 June 1970, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
15. In Penalties (3:2) Hapoel Be'er Sheva Beaten Maccabi Jaffa and Won the Liga Alef Champions Cup Davar, 20 June 1971, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
16. Hapoel Acre – Hapoel Yehud 1:0 Davar, 12 September 1976, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)