Hapoel Galil Elyon

Hapoel Galil Elyon combines top-level basketball competition with youth programs and a regional following centered on the Upper Galilee.[1] Its home arena is in Kfar Blum, and its supporters come from communities across the Galilee rather than solely from its immediate locality.[1]

The club became the third team in Israeli basketball history to win the national championship, following Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv.[4] Players associated with it have included Omri Casspi, Lior Eliyahu, Oded Katash, Doron Sheffer, and Brad Leaf.[1]

The club’s antecedents include Hapoel Sde Nehemia, established in 1966 by basketball player Gershon Prinz.[5] After that team disbanded, a local side was formed in 1972 following a visit by the Harlem Globetrotters to the Galilee.[5] The team began using the Hapoel Galil Elyon name in 1978 and gained promotion to the top league at the end of that season.[5]

A separate Sport5 profile lists 1976 as the club’s founding year; the sources do not reconcile that date with the 1966 antecedent or the adoption of the Hapoel Galil Elyon name in 1978.[4][5]

Coach Muli Katzurin led the team to its first State Cup and subsequently to a second cup victory.[5] The home basketball hall in Kfar Blum opened at the end of the season in which the first cup was won.[5]

Under Pini Gershon, Galil Elyon won the 1992–93 Israeli championship by defeating both of the Tel Aviv clubs that had previously held the national title.[2][3] It overcame Maccabi Tel Aviv in a five-game semifinal series and then defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv in a four-game final, without home-court advantage in either series.[2][3] Doron Sheffer, Brad Leaf, and Andrew Kennedy were among the players who helped secure the club’s first championship.[3]

The result ended Maccabi Tel Aviv’s sequence of 23 consecutive national championships.[3] During the title campaign, the Kfar Blum arena was packed, with tickets sold out in advance to season-ticket holders, while the games against the Tel Aviv opponents took place twice a week.[2]

The campaign also included an episode in which Brad Leaf and Steve Malovic missed the final practice before the opening game of the final, angering Gershon.[6] The pair had gone out in Netanya; after the championship, they were found at a bar in Kiryat Shmona.[6]

In 2008, the original club merged with Hapoel Gilboa Galil; Hapoel Galil Elyon was subsequently re-established and began playing in the lower leagues.[1] The original team’s league rights had been transferred to the Gilboa regional council, which launched Hapoel Gilboa/Galil.[4]

The return to the top division was secured in June 2021, when Galil Elyon defeated Hapoel Afula 88–84 in the fifth game of their playoff series, completing a 3–2 series victory.[7] After gaining promotion against Afula, the team defeated Netanya to win the Leumit League championship.[8] Its return ended a 13-year absence from the top division.[1]

Center Gaby Chachashvili joined while the club was still in the Leumit League and averaged 7.9 points and 7.9 rebounds in his first season with an Israeli senior team.[8] At the start of its top-division return season, Galil Elyon also competed in the Balkan League.[1]

During the 2021–22 season, Galil Elyon secured a place in the Israeli league playoffs, reached the Balkan League Final Four, and went on to win the competition.[4][8] Its domestic campaign included a recovery after six consecutive defeats; Chachashvili credited new signing DJ Kennedy and the coaching staff’s measured response to the losing streak.[8]

After playing home games away from Kfar Blum for two years, the club returned to its home hall in September 2025.[9] The 2025–26 season was complicated by security conditions and the death of player Raz Adam in a road accident.[9] Galil Elyon ultimately retained its place in the top division by beating Ironi Ness Ziona in the final round of the lower group.[9]

Four games into the 2026–27 regular season, the team had a 2–2 record.[10] It opened with a 120–93 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, beat Maccabi Ramat Gan and Maccabi Ashdod, and then lost 82–74 to Ironi Ness Ziona on November 2.[4][10]

Omri Casspi played for Hapoel Galil Elyon during the 2006–07 season before returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv.[11] In 2008–09, he helped Maccabi regain the league title, was named to the all-league team, and started for Israel’s national basketball team.[11]

The club’s regional role extends to youth programs and sporting activity serving nearby communities.[1] In 2021, chairman Tamir Abrahams described the team as part of the Upper Galilee’s “DNA” and explained the local response to the franchise’s departure: “When the franchise went to Gilboa, we felt that something was taken away from us and we wanted to bring it back.”[1]

Abrahams’s stated goals in 2021 included establishing the club as a long-term top-division fixture, expanding its arena, participating regularly in European competition, and demonstrating that a team from Israel’s periphery could compete seriously.[1] These were ambitions for the club’s development, rather than completed projects.[1]

In January 2025, the club launched the “Part of the Galilee” initiative to support a return to Kfar Blum and renew community and sporting activity in the area.[12] The project offered supporters 900 individually numbered stars made from an alternative championship plate modeled on the club’s 1992–93 title plate, linking contributions to the club and wider community with its championship heritage.[12]

The relationship between Hapoel Galil Elyon and Hapoel Gilboa/Galil has generated a dispute over club identity and the attribution of historical honors.[13] Galil Elyon figures have maintained that the 1993 championship and the State Cups identified as those of 1988 and 1992 belong to Hapoel Galil Elyon, while associating Hapoel Gilboa/Galil with a separate championship won in 2010.[13]