Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli professional football club, based in City of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club plays in the Israeli Premier League. Maccabi Haifa home games are played at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The stadium, which is shared with rivals Hapoel Haifa, is the second largest in Israel football, with a capacity of 30,780.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club is an Israeli football club and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv sports club.
Football is the most popular sport in Israel. Football as an organised sport, first developed in the United Kingdom, who controlled Mandatory Palestine during the days of the British Mandate.
The AFC Champions League, commonly known as the Asian Champions League, is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Introduced in 2002, the competition is a continuation of the Asian Club Championship which had started in 1967. It is the premier club tournament in Asia, equivalent to the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores, and the UEFA, CAF, CONCACAF and OFC Champions League competitions.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv Football Club is an Israeli football club based in Tel Aviv, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club's traditional home ground is Bloomfield Stadium. To date, the club has won thirteen championships and sixteen State Cups. In 1967 Hapoel Tel Aviv became the first club to win the Asian Club Championships.
The Iraqi Premier League is the highest league in the league system of Iraqi football and currently contains the top 20 Iraqi football clubs. It is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and is the top tier of an extensive pyramid-like structure, operating on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraq Division One in which two teams get relegated and two teams get promoted each season.
The Israeli Premier League, officially The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange League for sponsorship purposes, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with its second division Liga Leumit. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing between 33 and 36 matches each, totalling 240 matches in every season. Five matches are played on Saturdays, with one match played on Sundays and the last one on Mondays.
Al-Shorta Sports Club is an Iraqi sports club based in Rusafa District, East Districts of the Tigris River, Baghdad. It has teams in 18 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club. The oldest and best known section of the club is the football team, which was founded in 1932 under the name Montakhab Al-Shorta and they are the third-oldest existing football club in the country.
The 1967 Asian Club Championship was the first edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Originally it was meant to be eight teams in the competition but after the Indian and Iranian teams withdrew, the six domestic champions competed in a knockout tournament to determine the first Asian champion. Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. from Israel became the first champions of Asia after defeating Selangor FA from Malaysia 2–1 in the final at Bangkok, one of only 2 teams to win their continent's main club competition while only playing 1 game
The 1969 Asian Club Championship was the 2nd edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Ten domestic league champions from ten countries competed in the tournament. The tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand and ten clubs were split in two groups of five. The group winners and the runners up advanced to semifinals.
Iraqi clubs in the AFC Club Competitions. From its introduction in 2003 until the forming of the AFC Professional League in 2009, Iraqi clubs were allowed to enter the AFC Champions League (ACL). Despite reaching respectable results, none of the Iraqi teams managed to get further than the group stage.
The Iraq Central FA League, also known as the League of the Institutes due to containing a number of teams representing different Iraqi institutes, was the top-level division of football in central Iraq between 1948 and 1974 and contained 15 teams in its final season.
The 1941–42 Palestine League was the ninth season of league football in the British Mandate for Palestine. The defending champions were Hapoel Tel Aviv.
The 2014–15 Toto Cup Al was the 30th season of the third-important football tournament in Israel since its introduction and the 10th tournament involving Israeli Premier League clubs only. The tournament resumed after the planned competition for the previous season was cancelled.
Israel Halivner is a former Israeli footballer, who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and football manager. He was the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv when the club won its second Asian Club Championship.
Israeli football clubs have competed in international football tournaments since 1967, when Hapoel Tel Aviv played in the inaugural Asian Champion Club Tournament. Israeli clubs Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv competed in all four editions of the Asian Champion Club Tournament before it was discontinued after 1971. The Israel Football Association was excluded from AFC competitions, and Israeli clubs were not invited to take part in the competition when it was renewed as the Asian Club Championship, which is now the AFC Champions League.
The Baghdad Derbies, also known as the Iraqi El Clásico matches, are a series of derby matches between four Baghdad-based football clubs: Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, Al-Shorta, Al-Talaba and Al-Zawraa, collectively known as the 'Popular Clubs'. They are the four most successful teams in the history of Iraqi football, and all league games between the clubs are played at the neutral venue of Al-Shaab Stadium to accommodate more spectators.
