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Maccabi Haifa BC

Maccabi Hunter Haifa
Maccabi Hunter Haifa logo
Leagues Israeli Premier League
Founded 1953; 64 years ago (1953)
History Maccabi Haifa B.C.
1953–present
Arena Romema Arena
Arena Capacity 5,000
Location Haifa, Israel
Team colors Green, White
         
President Jeff Rosen
Head coach Offer Rahimi
Team captain Oz Blayzer
Ownership Jeff Rosen
Championships 1 Israeli League
Website mhbasket.co.il
Uniforms


Active departments of
Maccabi Haifa
Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg
Football (Men's) Football JT (Men's) Football (Women's)
Basketball pictogram.svg Weightlifting pictogram.svg Swimming pictogram.svg
Basketball (Men's) Weightlifting Swimming
Handball pictogram.svg Tennis pictogram.svg Volleyball (indoor) pictogram.svg
Handball Tennis Volleyball
Judo pictogram.svg Chess pictogram.svg Water polo pictogram.svg
Judo Chess Water polo


Maccabi Haifa Basketball Club (Hebrew: מכבי חיפה‎‎), for sponsorship reasons Maccabi Hunter Haifa, is a professional Israeli basketball club that belongs to the Maccabi Haifa association. They play in Ligat HaAl, the top division of Israeli basketball. The club won their first championship in 2013, beating perennial champions Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final Game.

Maccabi Haifa is one of the oldest basketball teams in Israel and is one of the original eight teams that formed the top division in 1953. In 1971 and 1985, the club qualified for the State Cup finals losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in both years.

The club was relegated to the second division in 1993, and dropped into the third tier in 1995. They returned to the top tier, Ligat HaAl, in 1999. Despite their recent success, in 2000, Haifa mayor Amram Mitzna merged the club with Hapoel Haifa to form BC Haifa.

Although the club qualified for the playoffs twice, they began to experience financial difficulties. Upon relegation the club folded and sold its rights to Bnei HaSharon. In 2004 Maccabi Haifa officials changed the name of the second team under its control, Maccabi Bat Galim, to Maccabi Haifa in an effort to restore the club's glory days.

The following season, the club was promoted to the northern division. In 2007 they were promoted to Liga Leumit under the leadership of the coach Tobi Slilat. After the club was promoted, Avi Ashkenazi (who had coached the team in 1995) was reappointed.

Prior to the 2007-08 season, in July 2007, the team was purchased by Jeffrey Rosen.

Rosen pledged that the club would be promoted to Ligat HaAl in his first year of ownership. In order to accomplish this, Deon Thomas, a former player at Maccabi Tel Aviv, was signed to play for the club. Additionally Rosen changed the team changed its name to Maccabi Haifa Heat from Maccabi Bat Galim.


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