Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל הפועל עירוני קרית שמונה) known as Ironi Kiryat Shmona is a professional football club based in Kiryat Shmona,[2] in the northern district of Israel. The club is a current member of the Israeli Premier League, and plays at the Ironi Stadium.[1] They won their first league title in 2011–12.
The Roaring Lion statue on the team's logo is a well-known monument. It commemorates the casualties of the Tel Hai battle that happened north of Kiryat Shmona on March 1, 1920.
In the new club's first season they won the North Division of Liga Alef and were promoted to Liga Artzit. In 2002–03 they finished as runners-up to Hakoah Ramat Gan and were promoted to Liga Leumit. In their first season at the second level they narrowly missed out on promotion, only finishing below runners-up Hapoel Nazareth Illit on goal difference. They finished third again in 2005–06, but won the league in 2006–07 to earn a promotion to the Israeli Premier League, the first time a club from the town had played in the top division. In the same season they also won the Liga Leumit Toto Cup.
The club's first season in the Premier League saw them finish third and qualify for the UEFA Cup. In their first season in Europe, home matches had to be played at the Kiryat Eliezer Stadium in Haifa. After knocking out FK Mogren, they lost to Litex Lovech in the second qualifying round.
In 2008–09, the club finished bottom of the Premier League and were relegated to Liga Leumit. However, the following season they won the division and were promoted back to the Premier League.
On 19 January 2011, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the 2010–11 Toto Cup Al, a year after winning the Leumit version of the cup, it was their first major title. In addition, Ironi Kiryat Shmona became the first team to win both first and second Toto Cup trophy in a back-to-back year.
On 24 January 2012, Ironi Kiryat Shmona defended their Toto Cup Al by beating Hapoel Tel Aviv in the 2011–12 Toto Cup Al finals.
On 2 April 2012, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the Israeli Premier League and became the 14th Israeli champions. They won the league after finishing their match against the runner-up Hapoel Tel Aviv. in a goalless draw, having five more rounds left for that season. Their championship was the first to be won by a team outside the three major cities (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa) for almost 30 years.
On 20 May 2012, The club changed its badge due to UEFA sponsorship rules which forbids the use of a sponsor name in both the kit and team badge. The new badge includes a number of footballs including a big one which used in the former badge, the Lion of Judah statue from the Battle of Tel Hai and a gold star to mark the only team championship.[4]
In 2020, the club were on the verge of relegation to the Liga Leumit, trailing three points behind the 12th placed team (safe from relegation) with one match to go, but managed to stay in the Israeli Premier league and finished 12th thanks to goal difference.
In the start of the 2022-23 season, Menahem Koretzky was assigned as the team's manager. On 21 December 2022, Koretzky left the club and instead of him Nir Berkovic was appointed as manager. On 11 February 2023, Berković was sacked and a few days later Slobodan Drapić was assigned as manager. After a long struggle in the Israeli Premier league, On 6 May 2023, the club eventually relegated from the Israeli Premier league to the Liga Leumit after 13 years in the Israeli Premier league. On 16 May Shay Barda was appointed as manager.
Only up to six non-Israeli nationals can be in an Israeli club squad. Those with Jewish ancestry, married to an Israeli, or have played in Israel for an extended period of time, can claim a passport or permanent residency which would allow them to play with Israeli status.
