Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. (; "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish sports clubs.
History
1912: First steps in blue and white
The club was founded in 1912 by a group of Jewish students from Petah Tikva, who were studying in the Ottoman city of Constantinople (many of them would later serve in the Ottoman army during World War I), making it the second oldest Jewish football club in Israel after Maccabi Tel Aviv, which was formed in 1906.
1920s: Pre-independence
In 1921, after the death of founder member Avshalom Gissin during the 1921 Palestine riots, the club added his name to the club's name, and the club was named "Maccabi Avshalom Petah Tikva".
In 1927, the club moved to the Maccabi Petah Tikva Ground, where they would play until the 1970s. In 1939 they reached the final again, but lost 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv. The following year they won the Haaretz tournament.
1950s: Second major title and goals galore
The club was included in the new Israeli League in 1949, and finished fifth in the inaugural post-independence league table. In the next season (1951–52, there was no 1950–51 edition) they finished as runners-up to champions Maccabi Tel Aviv and also won the State Cup, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0. In 1953–54 (1952–53 was also not played) they also finished second with Eliezer Spiegel finishing as the league's top goalscorer on 16 goals from 22 matches.
1960s: The dark times
After several seasons of mid-table finishes, Maccabi finished bottom of the table in 1962–63 (a season in which the club were deducted 3 points due to suspicions of bribery during a game with Maccabi Jaffa) and the club lost the second-leg 5–0 (also on aggregate) in Abe Lenstra Stadion.
Maccabi's most significant achievement of the decade came in the 2004–05 season when the club finished second in the league and reached the group stage of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. In the second qualifying round the club defeated Macedonian side FK Baskimi 5–0 in Skopje stadium and 6–0 in Ramat Gan, advancing to the first round after 11–0 on aggregate.
Maccabi entered as an unseeded team due to a low coefficient rating (7.218), and drawn a seeded team such as Partizan Belgrade with a much higher coefficient rating (30.012). The Serbian side won the first-leg 2–0 in Ramat Gan. Two weeks later, at the second-leg in Partizan Stadium, Maccabi has made the impossible – contrary to all assessments and expectations, with a lot of faith and ability above all, they won 5–2 and 5–4 on aggregate. In a sensational comeback with striker Omer Golan scoring a hat-trick (21', 44', 48').
The victory sent Maccabi to be a member of Group B, along with Palermo, Brøndby, Lokomotiv Moscow and Espanyol. However, these elite clubs proved to be too much for Maccabi to handle, and the club lost all four group-stage matches, scoring just 1 goal while conceding 9.
2020s: It's been 72 years...
After a defeat to Hapoel Beer Sheva in the 2020 cup final, the club reached the final again during the Israel State Cup campaign. Once more facing Hapoel Beer Sheva, the club managed to lift the trophy, securing their third cup win after a 72-year drought.
At the end of the 2024/25 season, Maccabi finished the league in 13th place and was relegated to the Liga Leumit.
At the end of 2025/26 season, the team won the Liga Leumit title, securing automatic promotion from the first place.
Players
Current squad
Out on loan
Other people under contract
Retired numbers
- 4 – Murad Magomedov, Center back, Played in club 1995–2013.
<!--===Foreigners 2022–23===
Only up six non-Israeli nationals can be in an Israeli club squad (only five can play at the same time). Those with Jewish ancestry, married to an Israeli or have played in Israel for an extended period of time, can claim a passport or permanent residency which would allow them to play with Israeli status.
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Stadium
The club played at the Maccabi Petah Tikva ground between 1926 and the 1970s. Since they left the old Maccabi Petah Tikva ground they shared the 6,768-capacity Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium with city rivals Hapoel. At the end of 2011, the club moved to HaMoshava Stadium.
Notable coaches
- Eliezer Spiegel (1955–1957)
- Jack Fairbrother (1958–1959)
- Alexander Vogel (1959–1960)
- Eliezer Spiegel (1960–1961)
- Eli Fuchs (1961–1962)
- Emmanuel Scheffer (1962–1963)
- Dror Kashtan (1991–1992)
- Yehoshua Feigenbaum (1994–1995)
- Moshe Sinai (1 June 1997 – 1 February 1998)
- Eyal Lahman (1998–1999)
- Yossi Mizrahi (1 July 1999 – 30 June 2001)
- Eli Ohana (1 Jan – 30 June 2001)
- Guy Luzon (1 Jan 2002 – 30 June 2007)
- Yossi Mizrahi (1 July – 5 November 2007)
- Guy Luzon (16 Jan – 30 April 2008)
- Guy Azouri (21 Aug – 23 December 2008)
- Roni Levi (22 Dec 2008 – 21 November 2009)
- Freddy David (22 Nov 2009 – 8 May 2011)
- Marco Balbul (28 May – 17 October 2011)
- Eyal Lahman (18 Oct 2011 – 21 January 2012)
- Moshe Sinai (22 Jan 2012 – 24 November 2013)
- Yitav Luzon (24 Nov 2013 – 14)
- Kobi Refua (19 Dec 2013 – 14)
- Ran Ben Shimon (11 June 2014 – 29 February 2016)
- Dani Golan (2 Mar – 16 May 2016)
- Kobi Refua (31 May 2016 – 17 September 2017)
- Sharon Mimer (17 September 2017 – 2018)
- Elisha Levy (23 May 2018 – 6 January 2019)
- Guy Luzon (20 January 2019 – 28 December 2021)
- Benyamin Lam (26 December 2022 – 2 January 2024)
- Ran Kojok (4 January – 2 June 2024)
- Dan Roman (3 June 2024 – )
Honours
Domestic competitions
League
- Israeli Premier League
- Runners-up (3): 1951–52, 1953–54, 2003–04
- Liga Leumit (level II)
- Champions (6): 1968–69, 1971–72, 1990–91, 2012–13, 2019–20, 2022–23, 2025–26
- Runners-up (1): 1977–78
Cups
- State Cup
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–5
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–5
|- style="border-top: 3px solid #333333;"
! rowspan=6| 2005–06
| rowspan=6 align=left| UEFA Cup
| Q2
| align=left| Baskimi
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 6–0
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 5–0
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 11–0
|-
| R1
| align=left| Partizan
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–2
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 5–2
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 5–4
|-
|rowspan="4"|Group stage
| align=left| Palermo
| bgcolor=lightpink| 1–2
|
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=lightpink| 5th
|-
|align=left| Brøndby
|
| bgcolor=lightpink|0–2
|-
|align=left| Lokomotiv Moscow
| bgcolor=lightpink|0–4
|
|-
|align=left| Espanyol
|
| bgcolor=lightpink|0–1
|-
|- style="border-top: 3px solid #333333;"
! rowspan=2| 2006–07
| rowspan=2 align=left| UEFA Intertoto Cup
| R2
| align=left| Zrinjski
| bgcolor=lightyellow| 1–1
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 3–1
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 4–2
|-
| R3
| align=left| Ethnikos
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–2
| bgcolor=lightgreen| 3–2
| bgcolor=lightpink| 3–4
|-
|- style="border-top: 3px solid #333333;"
! rowspan=2| 2024–25
| rowspan=1 align=left| UEFA Europa League
| Q2
| align=left| Braga
|bgcolor=lightpink| 0–5
|bgcolor=lightpink| 0–2
|bgcolor=lightpink| 0–7
|-
| align=left| UEFA Conference League
| Q3
| align=left| CFR Cluj
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–1
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–1
| bgcolor=lightpink| 0–2
|}
By competitions
- Correct as of 16 August 2024
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Competition
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
! style="text-align: left;"| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
| 3 || 13 || 4 || 0 || 9 || 21 || 28 || −7
|-
! style="text-align: left;"| UEFA Conference League
| 1 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 2 || −2
|-
! style="text-align: left;"| UEFA Intertoto Cup
| 3 || 14 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 16 || 20 || −4
|-
|-class="sortbottom"
! Total || 6 || 29 || 8 || 6 || 15 || 37 || 50 || −13
|}