Maccabi Haifa

Haifa runs on its port and its mountain. The city climbs from the docks up the slope of the Carmel, and the football club that took root there in 1913 is still the Greens from the Carmel. The club went quiet, was put back together in 1923, and only entered organised competition in 1928, once there was a federation to organise it.

A set of kit came over from the United States in 1953, and the club has worn green and white stripes since.

The league title did not come until 1984, and once it came the club could not stop: another in 1985, and by now 15 in all, five of them since 2019. Only Maccabi Tel Aviv, on 16, have more, which is the arithmetic behind the Israeli Clasico. The edge in that fixture has a date attached to it — in 1988 Haifa beat them 10–0, and neither set of supporters has let the scoreline go.

The other derby is domestic in the narrower sense. Hapoel Haifa share the ground: since it opened on 27 August 2014, the Sammy Ofer Stadium above the bay has been home to both clubs, a little under 31,000 seats used by two sets of tenants who agree on almost nothing else.

Three championships in a row — 2021, 2022 and 2023 — came with the cup in 2021, the club's first since 1998.