Elitzur Netanya B.C.

Elitzur Netanya was founded in 1959 and spent the bulk of its early existence in Israel's lower divisions.[1] Eliyahu (Eli) Barnes played for Elitzur Netanya and coached the club's girls' team; after his death in 1977, the girls' team was renamed Eli-Elitzur in his memory.[6]

The club first reached the top division in 1985, a milestone that arrived alongside one of the most colorful chapters in its history.[2] Under Neil Gilman, a businessman who had immigrated from England, Netanya assembled a roster of young American players and played an attractive style that captured the attention of Israeli basketball fans.[2] Gilman declared his ambition to become "the new Shimon Mizrahi of Israeli basketball."[2] In that breakthrough 1985 season the team reached the Premier League playoff final, where it lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv.[2] The club also competed in European competition, defeating Real Madrid in Madrid in the Korac Cup under coach Zvi Sherf.[2]

American guard Willie Sims played for Elitzur Netanya from 1985 to 1987, between stints at Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, contributing to the club's most prominent seasons.[7] A December 1986 State Cup quarterfinal against Hapoel Tel Aviv illustrated the competitive quality of the team: Netanya won 70–68 at Yashurun Hall in a game that neither side led by more than four points, with halftime tied 41–41. Sims finished with 21 points, Jim Johnston added 18 points and 16 rebounds, and Danny Barakha scored 16. Netanya subsequently reached the semifinal of that competition, where it lost 84–82 to Hapoel Galil Elyon.[8]

The Gilman era ended badly. Netanya reached the State Cup final in 1987–88 against Galil Elyon but lost, and before the final the players went on strike over unpaid salaries.[2] The club's finances had been exhausted, and the debts left behind after Gilman's departure prevented the team from functioning the following season.[2]

After the financial collapse of the late 1980s, Elitzur Netanya returned to the Premier League in 2009, years after merging with Maccabi Netanya, and played several successful seasons before being relegated again in 2014.[2] In May 2008 the club had been competing in the National League promotion playoffs; after Maccabi Haifa eliminated Netanya 3–1 in their series, including a 73–69 home win, Netanya was set to face Elitzur Kiryat-Ata for another promotion berth, with an extra place available because the top division was expanding to twelve teams.[9]

The club's most turbulent period came in 2015, when Elitzur "Barak" Netanya ceased to exist after owner Cvika Liber failed to register the team by the deadline for the 2015–16 season. Liber attributed the closure to years of unmet municipal promises to build an arena and a reduction in municipal funding, arguing that without adequate facilities the team could not be sustained. The municipality disputed this account, stating that it had supported the club, offered to assume its debts, and refused to pay Liber for the club.[10]

The revived club relied heavily on its youth department, which helped it earn promotion to the National League in the 2017–18 season.[11] Raz Adam, a product of the youth department, played for the senior team for two years thereafter; in 2019–20 he was named the National League's Breakthrough Player of the Year and served as team captain before moving to Hapoel Tel Aviv after the pandemic suspended second-division play.[11]

The 2020–21 National League playoffs produced one of the club's most dramatic runs. Operating with one of the league's lowest budgets and a squad in which nine players had been born after 2000, Netanya recovered from a 2–0 series deficit against first-place Elitzur Ashkelon to win the semifinal 3–2.[12] The deciding game was won 83–75 away from home, capped by a 13–0 run that erased a 66–71 deficit with under three minutes remaining.[13] Coach Ruben Nivberger noted that the team had also trailed by 17 points in the third game of the series.[12]

Despite earning promotion on the court, Netanya did not enter the Premier League for the following season because of financial difficulties and the non-approval of its home arena.[4] The episode underscored an infrastructure problem — the absence of an approved arena — that has recurred across the club's modern history.

Netanya secured a return to the top flight in May 2024, sweeping Ironi Nahariya 3–0 in the National League semifinal and winning the deciding game 72–67.[4] It was the club's first entry to the Premier League since its relegation a decade earlier in 2014. Key contributors to the promotion campaign included Alon Michaeli and Ilay Dolinski.[14] Michaeli reflected on the moment: "I was very happy that we were promoted, and it was just a very happy moment. In fact, it was one of the happiest moments I can remember in basketball for me personally."[14]

After finishing 13th in the Premier League — a position that would normally have triggered relegation — Netanya remained in the top division when Hapoel Afula dissolved and the Basketball Association's Supreme Court annulled a proposed merger between Afula and Hapoel Eilat.[15] The club subsequently played in the Premier League through the 2025–26 season, appearing in fixtures including a 93–70 defeat to Hapoel Tel Aviv in November 2025, in which Semaj Christon scored 17 points and Shaq Buchanan scored 14 for Netanya, and a 78–64 loss to Hapoel HaEmek in February 2026 in which Buchanan and Amit Gershon each scored 12.[16][17]

By October 2026 the club had been relegated to the National League. Netanya opened the 2026–27 season with a 76–57 away victory over Elitzur Shomron on 13 October 2026, with Amit Sherf serving as coach; the club stated its aim to return to the Premier League after a single season.[5]

Several players of note have passed through Elitzur Netanya at various stages of the club's history. Willie Sims, later a five-time Israeli Basketball Super League champion and three-time State Cup winner with Maccabi Tel Aviv, played for Netanya from 1985 to 1987.[7]

The club's most prominent recent alumnus is Ben Saraf, who made his professional debut with Netanya at age 16 in the 2022–23 season.[18] He helped the team reach the playoff semifinals and earned both the Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year awards in Israel's second division that season.[18] Saraf subsequently moved to Premier League side Ironi Kiryat Ata, was named Rookie of the Year for the 2023–24 season there, and in 2025 was selected 26th overall in the NBA Draft.[3]

Raz Adam, who began in the club's youth system, captained the senior team and won the National League Breakthrough Player of the Year award in 2019–20 before joining Hapoel Tel Aviv.[11]

Several aspects of the club's recent history rest on conflicting information. Sport5 reports that Netanya finished sixth in the 2020–21 National League regular season, while Ynet places the club fifth; both sources agree on the 3–2 semifinal victory over Elitzur Ashkelon and the away margin in the deciding game.[12][13]

The sources also record successive stages of the club's 2025–26 league-status dispute. On August 7, 2025, Israel Basketball Association chairman Amos Frishman said Netanya had been relegated and was challenging a proposed Hapoel Afula–Hapoel Eilat merger in an effort to remain in the Premier League.[19] On August 25, the Basketball Association's Supreme Court annulled the merger decision, and Sport5 reported that Netanya would remain in the top division because Afula had dissolved.[15] Match reports from November 2025 and February 2026 confirm that Netanya subsequently competed in the league that season.[16][17]