Beitar Nahariya

In May 2022 Nahariya's mayor, Ronen Marlly, sat two clubs down at the same table and merged them: Beitar Nahariya and its old city rival Hapoel Nahariya, then playing in Liga Gimel, became a single senior side, Beitar Ironi Nahariya. Money had run out for both, and a divided city could no longer afford to keep two struggling clubs alive separately. The new club is still called Beitar Nahariya by habit, and the Nahariya derby that had run since 1962 simply stopped having an opponent.

The club's own history had already been broken once. Founded in 1962, it folded in 1995 and sat dormant until 2007, when it was refounded from nothing. Between those dates and since, it has lived almost entirely in Liga Alef and below, taking the regional title there five times, most recently in 2012–13. Its one run above that level came in the mid-1980s: promotion from Liga Alef in 1984–85, then through the Liga Bet play-offs the following season, put Beitar into Liga Artzit, the second tier of the time. The stay lasted a single season before relegation sent them back down.

Hapoel, the club that Beitar absorbed rather than beat, had actually been the sharper of the two historically, once knocking Maccabi Tel Aviv out of the State Cup in 1962–63. That result belonged to the side that no longer exists under its own name.

Gal Genish's 2014–15 season, eight goals in 23 appearances, is about as high as the individual record book goes; strikers like Zidan Amar passed through on their way to bigger divisions rather than staying to build anything. What the merged club has not done since 2022 is find its way back to Liga Artzit, the level it touched only once, thirty-odd years ago, for a single season.