2008–09 Maccabi Haifa F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was Maccabi Haifa's 51st season in Israeli Premier League, and their 27th consecutive season in the top division of Israeli football.

Maccabi Haifa
2008–09 season
ChairmanIsrael Ya'akov Shahar
ManagerIsrael Elisha Levy
Liga Al1st
State CupRunners-up
Toto CupQuarterfinals
Top goalscorerLeague:
South Africa Thembinkosi Fanteni (11)

All:
South Africa Thembinkosi Fanteni (16)
Highest home attendance14,500 vs Hapoel Tel Aviv (8 December 2008 & 18 May 2009)
Lowest home attendance7,000 vs Bnei Sakhnin (24 January 2009)
Average home league attendance10,472

The season was a great success for the club winning the league and coming extremely close to winning the State Cup to go with it.

Liga Al

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Date Opponents H / A Result
F – A
Scorers Attendance
30 August 2008 F.C. Ashdod H 3 – 1 Keinan, Katan (2) 11,000
13 September 2008 Hapoel Tel Aviv A 0 – 0 0 (closed doors)
21 September 2008 Bnei Yehuda H 1 – 0 Rafaelov 7,500
28 September 2008 Beitar Jerusalem A 1 – 1 Keinan 18,000
4 October 2008 Maccabi Petah Tikva H 3 – 1 own goal, Fanteni (2) 8,000
18 October 2008 Bnei Sakhnin A 1 – 0 Rafaelov 2,500
27 October 2008 Maccabi Tel Aviv H 3 – 2 Fanteni (2), Lior Rafaelov 14,000
1 November 2008 Hakoah Amidar/Ramat Gan A 3 – 0 Rafaelov, Boccoli, Kayal 2,500
10 November 2008 Maccabi Netanya H 2 – 3 Keinan, Fanteni 14,000
15 November 2008 Ironi Kiryat Shmona H 1 – 1 Rafaelov 10,000
22 November 2008 Hapoel Petah Tikva A 4 – 1 Ghadir, Rafaelov, Kayal, Arbeitman 4,000
29 November 2008 F.C. Ashdod A 3 – 1 Fanteni, Golasa, Kayal 5,000
8 December 2008 Hapoel Tel Aviv H 2 – 2 Arbeitman, Maimon 14,500
15 December 2008 Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv A 1 – 0 Katan 8,000
22 December 2008 Beitar Jerusalem H 0 – 0 14,000
17 January 2009 Maccabi Petah Tikva A 0 – 2 4,000
24 January 2009 Bnei Sakhnin H 2 – 1 Fanteni, Katan 7,000
2 February 2009 Maccabi Tel Aviv A 1 – 1 Boccoli 13,000
2 February 2009 Hakoah Amidar/Ramat Gan H 2 – 0 Katan, Boccoli 8,000
23 February 2009 Maccabi Netanya A 0 – 2 5,000
4 March 2009 Ironi Kiryat Shmona A 0 – 1 1,000
7 March 2009 Hapoel Petah Tikva H 1 – 0 Osei 9,000
15 March 2009 Bnei Yehuda A 1 – 0 Masilela 6,000
21 March 2009 Maccabi Petah Tikva H 0 – 0 9,000
6 April 2009 F.C. Ashdod A 3 – 0 Arbeitman, Rafaelov, Boccoli 2,500
11 April 2009 Hapoel Petah Tikva H 2 – 1 Arbeitman, Meshumar 10,000
19 April 2009 Maccabi Tel Aviv A 1 – 1 Fanteni 12,000
25 April 2009 Hapoel Petah Tikva H 2 – 1 Fanteni (2) 8,000
4 May 2009 Bnei Sakhnin A 0 – 0 3,000
9 May 2009 Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan H 2 – 0 Arbeitman, Rafaelov 8,000
18 May 2009 Hapoel Tel Aviv H 1 – 0 Katan 14,500
23 May 2009 Maccabi Netanya A 2 – 0 Fanteni, Kayal 6,000
1 June 2009 Beitar Jerusalem H 1 – 1 Rafaelov 14,000
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Maccabi Haifa (C) 33 19 10 4 49 24 +25 67 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2 Hapoel Tel Aviv 33 17 10 6 49 28 +21 61 Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
3 Beitar Jerusalem[a] 33 16 12 5 47 28 +19 57[b]
4 Maccabi Netanya 33 14 12 7 40 32 +8 54 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[c]
5 Bnei Yehuda 33 14 7 12 38 31 +7 49 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[c]
Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions because they failed to meet their commitments to UEFA.[1] Since Beitar won the cup and the cup runners-up are league champions Maccabi Haifa, all Europa League spots were awarded to teams according to their league positions. Since Beitar also finished third in the league, Europa League spots were given to league runners-up Hapoel Tel Aviv, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda.
  2. ^ Beitar Jerusalem were deducted two points due to Beitar fans pitch invasion the previous year against Maccabi Herzliya[2] and one point due to racist calls from Beitar fans.[3]
  3. ^ a b Qualified because Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions.


State Cup

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Date Round Opponents H / A Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
14 February 2009 Round 9 Hapoel Ramat Gan A 1 – 0
(aet)
Katan 113'
12 March 2009 Round of 16 Hapoel Tel Aviv A 1 – 1[permanent dead link]
(2 – 1p)
Katan 81' 12,500
22 April 2009 Quarter-final Maccabi Ah"i Nazareth A 4 – 0[permanent dead link] Fanteni (2) 30', 87', Katan 45', Harazi 82' 4,000
13 May 2009 Semi-final Maccabi Netanya N 1 – 1[permanent dead link]
(5 – 4p)
Meshumar 65' 36,000
26 May 2009 Final Beitar Jerusalem N 1 – 2[permanent dead link] Kayal 88' 40,000

Toto Cup

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Group stage

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Date Opponents H / A Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance Group

position

9 August 2008 Beitar Jerusalem H 1 – 1 Fanteni 31' 1st
17 August 2008 Maccabi Netanya H 1 – 1 Boccoli 5' 1st
23 August 2008 Bnei Yehuda A 3 – 1 Kayal 6', Rafaelov 16', Fanteni 21' 1st
5 November 2008 Beitar Jerusalem A 2 – 0 Ghadir 59', Arbeitman 89' 1st
29 October 2008 Maccabi Netanya A 4 – 1 Ghadir 20', Osei 43', Arbeitman (2) 53', 82' 1st
12 November 2008 Bnei Yehuda H 1 – 1 Ghadir 12' 1st

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Maccabi Haifa (A) 6 3 3 0 12 5 +7 12
2 Bnei Yehuda (A) 6 3 1 2 10 10 0 10
3 Maccabi Netanya (A) 6 2 1 3 6 10 −4 7
4 Beitar Jerusalem 6 1 1 4 6 9 −3 4
Source: football.org.il (in Hebrew)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(A) Advanced to the quarterfinals

Knockout stage

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Date Round Opponents H / A Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
5 January 2009 Quarter-final
First leg
Hapoel Tel Aviv A 0 – 2
11 March 2009 Quarter-final
Second leg
Hapoel Tel Aviv H 2 – 0
(3 – 4p)
Boccoli 22', Keinan 55'

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League State Cup Toto Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Gad Amos 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
GK   Nir Davidovich 22 0 5 0 3 0 30 0
GK   Amir Edri 11 0 0 0 5 0 16 0
DF   Ronnie Gafney 4 0 1 0 7 0 12 0
DF   Alon Harazi 24 0 3 1 4 0 31 1
DF   Dekel Keinan 28 3 5 0 4 1 37 4
DF   Leo Krupnik 30 0 4 1 5 0 39 1
DF   Tsepo Masilela 32 0 4 0 3 0 39 0
DF   Shai Maimon 6 1 0 0 6 1 12 2
DF   Eyal Meshumar 18 1 4 2 6 0 28 3
DF   Anderson West 3 0 1 0 1 0 5 0
MF   Omri Afek 14 0 1 0 3 0 18 0
MF   Gustavo Boccoli 33 4 5 0 4 2 42 6
MF   John Jairo Culma 30 0 5 1 6 1 41 2
MF   Liad Elmaliah 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
MF   Eyal Golasa 26 1 5 0 6 0 37 1
MF   Beram Kayal 30 4 5 2 5 1 40 7
MF   Lior Rafaelov 33 9 5 0 6 1 44 10
MF   Yisrael Zaguri 2 0 0 0 6 1 8 1
FW   Shlomi Arbeitman 28 5 5 1 7 3 40 9
FW   Thembinkosi Fanteni 30 11 5 3 6 2 41 16
FW   Mohammad Ghadir 14 1 0 0 7 3 21 4
FW   Yaniv Katan 31 10 5 4 4 0 40 14
FW   Ransford Osei 11 1 2 0 4 1 17 2

References

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  1. ^ "Betar Jerusalem will not be eligible to play in European competition next season". Haaretz. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  2. ^ "Beitar punished for pitch invasion". FIFA. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
  3. ^ "Beitar punished for racist abuse". FIFA. 1 May 2009. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.