Hapoel Eilat (), for sponsorship reasons named Hapoel Yossi Avrahami Eilat, is an Israeli

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club. The team plays in the

Liga Leumit The Israeli Liga Leumit (, HaLiga HaLeumit, ) is the second division of the professional Israeli association football (soccer) league system. This second-tier league is placed directly below the Israeli Premier League. Structure There are 16 ...

, the second tier of Israeli basketball. The team represents the far-South region of the country - the

Arabah The Arabah/Araba () or Aravah/Arava () is a loosely defined geographic area in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. The old meaning, which was in use ...

area, and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

city of

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

History

The team earned promotion to the First Division (known variously as Ligat HaAl, the Super League, or the Israeli Basketball Premier League) for the first time in the 1990–91 season, while being coached by Arik Shivek. In the 1996–97 season, the team lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the playoff semi-finals. A year later the team reached the finals, in which it lost 0-3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv. In early 2000, the team found itself in serious financial difficulties, which resulted in relegation to the Second Division (Liga Leumit, or the National League). Later the team disbanded, and re-established in the lowest league. In the 2010–11 season, the team won the Association Cup, the cup of the lower leagues, after beating Maccabi Kiryat Bialik in the final. In June 2012, the team gained the license of Habik'a B.C. to play in the Israeli Basketball Super League, starting with the 2012–13 season. In June 2015, the team knocked out Israeli basketball powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

semi-finals, winning 3–2 in a best-of-five series. The team faced Hapoel Jerusalem in the finals, but lost.

Season by season

Source
Eurobasket.com
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Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Chealey, Joe 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – 1 November 1995 PG 5 Israel Jorno, Koren 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) 24 – 21 November 1998 CG 55 Israel

Honours

Domestic competitions

* Israeli Championship :''Runners-up'': 1998,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* State Cup :''Runners-up'':

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* League Cup :''Runners-up'':

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Lower division competitions

* Liga Artzit ' :Winners: 1991 ' * Association Cup :Champions (1): 2011

Notable players

Shimon Amsalem Shimon Yaakov Amsalem (; born November 10, 1966) is an Israeli former basketball player. He played the forward and center positions. He played in the Israeli Premier Basketball League and for the Israeli National Basketball Team. Biography Ams ...

* Ari Rosenberg

Participation in Europe

* 1993–1994:

Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people * Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager * Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player * Vitomir ...

* 1994–1995:

* 1997–1998: ULEB Eurocup * 1998–1999:

Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

Even though Eilat has constantly qualified for European basketball they choose not to participate due to financial difficulties.

Former managers

* Israel Lev * Ralf Klein *

Effi Birnbaum Efraim "Effi" Birnbaum (; born 11 June 1954), is an Israeli professional basketball coach. Coaching career He was the Israeli Basketball Super League, Israeli Super League's Israeli Basketball Premier League Coach of the Year, Coach of the Year, ...

* Sharon Drucker * Arik Shivek * Udi Segal * Moshe Weinkrantz

References

External links

Official Facebook page
{{Balkan International Basketball League

Basketball teams established in 1970

Sport in Eilat 1970 establishments in Israel Liga Leumit (basketball) teams