Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan (, formerly Ironi Ramat Gan) is a professional

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 based in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

in the

Tel Aviv District The Tel Aviv District (; ) is the geographically smallest yet also the most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel, with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewish and 1.10% Arab (0.7% Muslim, 0.4% Chris ...

. The team currently plays 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 ...

, the top division of Israeli basketball. It plays at the Shalom Zisman Municipal sports Arena, which has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

for 1,400.

History

Maccabi Ramat Gan basketball club was formed in 1946. Since 1968, it has been permanent in the first league. In 1972, it lost in the cup final to Maccabi Tel Aviv, 108–99, with Ramat Gan's star, Belgium-born Kamil Dirks, scoring a still-unbroken cup final record of 43 points. In the seasons 1971–72 and 1972–73, it finished second in the league. The same happened in the 1982–83 season. The club also took its first steps in the European Cup in the 1973–74 season. A notable game was its victory over

Sinudyne Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. With one of the club's founders, Samuel Jacobson, as the coach and stars such as Larry Gordon and Bob Griffin, Ramat Gan gained a surprising victory in the result 114–94. Its all-time leading scorer,

Doron Jamchi Doron Jamchi, also spelled Jamchy (; born July 1, 1961), is an Israeli former professional basketball player. At a height of , he played at the shooting guard and small forward positions. During his pro club career, Jamchi was a four-time FIBA Eu ...

, made his first steps in the club in 1978; he left to Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1985 after incredible years, with him being the league leading scorer for several seasons. Jamchi Is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Israeli Premier League. In 1987–88, led by head coach

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, ...

, the club lost again to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the cup final at 107–85. In December 1989 Ramat Gan won the

Israeli Basketball League Cup The Israeli Basketball League Cup is a pre-season professional basketball tournament that is contested between sports clubs, clubs. It has been held in Israel since 2006. It is held during the week before the start of the Israeli Basketball Premie ...

title after winning

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

83:80 at the final game with Milton Wagner scoring 30 pts. In the 1996–97 season, after increasing pressure from the city mayor, Maccabi Ramat Gan merged with another team, Beitar Ramat Gan, and is now called Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan. In 2001–02, it finished the season only second to Maccabi Tel Aviv, the champion. In 2009–10, the team dropped to Liga Leumit after losing the relegation playoff in the Super League. After a 13 years absence, Ramat Gan returned to the first league at the end of the 2022–2023 season, led by its former captain, now coach, Shmulik Brener . Ramat Gan Return was a big success, it finished the 2023–24 season in the 3rd place and score its place in the BCL for the 2024–25 season.

Players

Depth chart

* The Israeli league rule requires every team to have at least one Israeli on the court at any time. * There should be maximum 5 foreigners on a 12-men game sheet.

Notable players

Haim Starkman Haim Starkman (; born in Jaffa, Palestine, July 11, 1944) is an Israeli former basketball player. He played the guard position. He played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and for the Israeli national basketball team. Biography Starkman ...

* Shmulik Brener *

Ben Altit Ben Avi Albert Altit (; born April 4, 1993) is an Israeli basketball player for Rapid București of the Liga Națională. He played college basketball for Bryant University before playing professionally in Israel. Early years Altit was born in H ...

Dror Cohen Dror Cohen () is an Israeli basketball coach and former player. He was one of the most respected players in Israeli basketball in the 1990s, when he spent 14 seasons in the Premier League where he scored 2,263 points.

Nir Cohen Nir Cohen (; born June 10, 1981, in Krayot) is an Israeli retired basketball player (2.02 meters/6'7" tall) who was playing as a power forward and a center. As of 2016/2017 Cohen was a real estate agent. Early Career and College ball Cohen gre ...

* Itzik Ohanon * Mike Carter *

Erez Markovich Erez Markovich (; born July 10, 1978) is an Israeli former basketball player who played the center position. He played in the Jeep Élite league, in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and for the Israeli national basketball team. Biography ...

* Ruan Stik *

Tunji Awojobi Tunji Femi Awojobi (born July 30, 1973) is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. A former boxer, Awojobi graduated from Boston University in 1997. Following graduation, he played in several European countries, most notably in Israel. A ...

Nuni Omot Anunwa "Nuni" Omot (born October 3, 1994) is a South Sudanese-American professional basketball player for APR BBC, APR of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He played college basketball for the Baylor Bears basketball, Baylor Bears after two y ...

* Danny Lewis * Bob Griffin * Mark Brisker * Joe Dawson * Sean Labanowski * Isaac Rosefelt *

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia from April to August 1904. He held office as the inaugural federal leader of the Au ...

David Bernsley David Scott Bernsley (; born May 6, 1969) is an American-Israeli former basketball player. He played the forward and center positions. He played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and for the Israeli national basketball team. He later beca ...

Harold Keeling Harold A. Keeling (born September 18, 1963) is an American-born Venezuelan former professional basketball player who briefly played for the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the mid-1980s. Born in New Orleans, Louis ...

Milt Wagner Milton E. Wagner Jr. (born February 20, 1963) is an American former basketball coach and former professional basketball player. After playing college basketball at Louisville, Wagner played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served ...

Rodney Alexander Rodney McKinnie Alexander (born December 5, 1946) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs from September 30, 2013, until June 3, 2014. Previously he ...

Erick Barkley Erick Barkley (born February 21, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in New York City, raised in the Farragut housing project in Brooklyn, he played high school basketball at Christ the King Regional High School and ...

* Earl Williams * J.J Eubanks * James Gulley * Andy Hill

References

Basketball teams in Israel Sport in Ramat Gan Israeli Basketball Premier League teams Basketball teams established in 1970 1970 establishments in Israel {{Israel-basketball-team-stub