2001–02 Israeli Premier League

Maccabi Haifa entered the season after winning the 2000–01 championship under Avi Grant, ending a seven-year wait for the league title.[1] Yossi Benayoun had helped secure that championship and received Player of the Year honors for the season.[6] After emerging in Hapoel Beersheba’s first team, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in 1998.[6]

Hapoel Tel Aviv had finished second in 2000–01, seven points behind Haifa.[3] Yakubu Aiyegbeni had returned to Haifa and joined the team in January during that title-winning campaign.[7]

Grant’s Haifa squad included goalkeeper Dudu Aouate and outfield players Benayoun, Yaniv Katan, Arik Benado, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Nenad Pralija and Giovanni Rosso.[2] Benayoun suffered a leg injury during 2001–02 and was not in his best form, but still played an important role in the successful title defence.[6] Yakubu became the club’s leading scorer for the season with 13 goals.[7]

On February 18, 2002, Maccabi Haifa defeated Hapoel Haifa 2–1 in the Haifa derby.[8] The match included a late penalty decision after Hapoel defender Israel Cohen brought down Rosso.[8]

A more severe setback followed on March 2, when Haifa lost 4–0 at home to newly promoted Maccabi Kiryat Gat at Kiryat Eliezer.[2] Kiryat Gat was bottom of the table and struggling financially, but took a three-goal lead before halftime through Ofer Elkobi in the tenth minute, Miki Attia in the 22nd and Nir Hazut in the 31st.[2] Hazut added the fourth goal in the 76th minute, and Grant left the stadium accompanied by police.[2]

Kiryat Gat coach Gili Landau had prepared an attacking 4-2-4 formation, explaining his approach with the words, “In games like these you win only with courage.”[2] When striker Andres Prohorenkovs could not play, Landau switched to 3-4-3, moving his fullbacks into midfield and pressing Haifa’s fullbacks.[2] Haifa recovered to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 3–0 the following week.[2] Landau later recalled Grant telling him that he was “a full partner in Haifa’s championship that season” because the defeat had provided a wake-up call.[2]

Haifa secured the championship with three rounds remaining.[5] Hapoel Tel Aviv repeated its second-place finish, while Maccabi Tel Aviv finished third, ten points behind Hapoel and 18 behind Haifa.[3][5] Yossef Abuksis contributed six goals and seven assists during Hapoel’s season and was a leading performer in its domestic and European campaigns.[4] Forward Pini Balili scored five goals overall in 2001–02, compared with nine league goals the previous season.[9]

Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the UEFA Cup quarterfinals after eliminating Gaziantepspor, Chelsea, Lokomotiv Moscow and Parma.[10] Omri Affeck played an instrumental role in the club’s progress to the quarterfinal stage.[11] Against Milan, Hapoel won the first leg 1–0 in Cyprus, where the match was played because of the security situation, before losing the return leg 2–0 at the San Siro.[10]

Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv met in the State Cup final on May 21, 2002, before 42,000 spectators.[5] After 120 minutes ended goalless, Tel Aviv won the penalty shootout 5–4, with Rosso missing Haifa’s final kick.[5] Maccabi Tel Aviv players and supporters subsequently took the trophy to the hospital where Meni Levi was being treated.[5]

The championship completed Grant’s run of consecutive league titles at Haifa, and he was released at the end of the season to coach Israel’s national team.[1] Across the city, Hapoel Haifa was relegated at the end of the campaign.[8]

The television coverage of Kiryat Gat’s victory over Haifa coincided with breaking news of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Beit Yisrael neighborhood.[2] Channel 2 initially used a split screen to show the football alongside images and reports from the attack; after approximately ten minutes, its match coverage stopped and moved to the Sports Channel.[2] The broadcast drew public criticism, followed by Knesset discussions and changes to broadcasting procedures for major terrorist attacks.[2]

Haifa’s 2001–02 championship formed part of a title record that stood at 12 league championships by the time of a later published retrospective.[12] Benayoun’s 2000–01 title was the first of Haifa’s two consecutive championships.[6]

Hapoel Tel Aviv’s European run retained a distinct place in Israeli football history: as of 2009, its 2001–02 side remained the only Israeli team to have reached the quarterfinals of a continental competition.[13]