Hapoel HaEmek

The name Hapoel Galil Elyon still carries weight in Gan Ner, and not fondly. When the club took shape in June 2008, Hapoel Gilboa absorbed Hapoel Afula and then took the Ligat HaAl licence off Galil Elyon, which kept only its youth setup and had to rebuild a senior side from the lower leagues.

Under the Gilboa Galil name the club won the Israeli Basketball Premier League in 2009–10, with Gal Mekel at the heart of that side before he left in 2011 as league MVP. Two Balkan International Basketball League titles came in 2011–12 and 2012–13. Joaquin Szuchman, who came through the youth ranks, was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2018. A drop out of the top flight was answered with the Israeli National League title in 2020–21, which brought the club straight back up.

The 2024–25 season ended without a natural finish: still playing as Gilboa Galil, the team beat Ironi Ness Ziona in the play-in round and took Game 2 of its quarter-final against Hapoel Jerusalem 96–61, only for the playoffs to be cancelled during the Twelve-Day War. By July 2025 the club had merged its senior operations with Hapoel Afula and taken the name Hapoel HaEmek, folding in Gilboa, Lower Galilee and Afula under one roof; two months later it added the sponsor name Gilat Telecom. Under Sharon Avrahami, the new HaEmek side reached the Israel State Cup semi-finals in 2025–26 after beating Hapoel Holon.