Israeli football clubs have competed in international football tournaments since 1967, when Hapoel Tel Aviv played in the inaugural Asian Champion Club Tournament. Two Israeli clubs, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, competed in all four editions of the Asian Champion Club Tournament before it was discontinued after the 1972 edition was cancelled. The Israel Football Association was expelled from the AFC in 1974, with Israeli clubs not being invited to take part in the competition when it was revived as the Asian Club Championship (now the AFC Champions League) in 1985.
Between 1976 and 1994, Israeli clubs took part in the Intertoto Cup, which was the only international club competition available until 1990 due to the Israeli FA not being affiliated to any confederation.
Israel was admitted to UEFA in 1991 and Israeli clubs participated European football tournaments since 1992, when Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Petah Tikva played in the Champions League and the Cup Winners' Cup (respectively). Since 1992, Israeli clubs have taken part in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Full Asian record SeasonClubRoundDateOpponentScoreVenue 1967 Hapoel Tel Aviv Final 19 December 1967 Selangor FA 2–1 Bangkok, Thailand 1969Maccabi Tel AvivGroup Stage 15 January 1969 Toyo Kogyo 3–2 Bangkok, Thailand 19 January 1969 Kowloon Motor Bus 5–0 22 January 1969 Perak FA 1–1 26 January 1969 Persepolis 0–0 Semi-final 28 January 1969 Mysore State 6–1 Final 30 January 1969 Yangzee FC 1–0 1970Hapoel Tel Aviv Group Stage 2 April 1970 Royal Thai Police FC 5–0Amjadieh Stadium, Tehran, Iran 4 April 1970 West Bengal 3–1 6 April 1970 PSMS Medan 3–1 Semi-final 8 April 1970 Homenetmen w/o Final 10 April 1970 Taj Tehran 1–2 1971Maccabi Tel Aviv Preliminary Round 22 March 1971 Perak FA 1–0National Stadium, Bangkok, ThailandGroup Stage 25 March 1971 Aliyat Al-Shorta w/o 27 March 1971 FC Punjab Police 4–1 29 March 1971 Bangkok Bank FC 4–1 Semi-final 31 March 1971 ROK Army 2–0 Final 2 April 1971 Aliyat Al-Shorta w/o
Performance table Club APP. P W D L GF GA Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 5 4 0 1 14 5 Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 10 8 2 0 27 6 Total 4 15 12 2 1 41 11
Intertoto Cup (1976–1994)
Israeli teams first appeared in the Intertoto Cup in 1976, with Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Beitar Jerusalem, champions and runners-up in the previous season, debuting. In 1979, due to the cost of travelling to Europe, only one team, Maccabi Netanya was entered into the competition,A Financial Proposal for Entering Two Teams to the Intertoto Was Prepared in Maccabi Ma'ariv, 5 December 1978, Historical Jewish Press The Champions Netanya Will Represent Israel in the Intertoto Ma'ariv, 13 December 1978, Historical Jewish Press Almog: We Decided Upon One in the Intertoto Since We Will Not Be Able to Tolerate a 25 Million IL Deficit Davar, 13 December 1978, Historical Jewish Press and between 1980 and 1992 the two Israeli entrants played in one group to reduce travelling expenses.The Condition to Entering 2 Teams to the Intertoto – In One Group Davar, 12 February 1980, Historical Jewish Press In 1993 and 1994, as the format of the competition was changed to allow participating teams to play only two away matches, Israeli teams were allocated to two different groups.
Season Club Group Rank Opponents W D L GF GA 1976Beitar Jerusalem 1 3rd Young Boys, Malmö FF, Admira Vienna 2 2 2 12 13Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2 3rd Hertha Berlin, Standard Liège, Køge 1 3 2 8 13 1977Maccabi Jaffa 1 4th Halmstad, Vojvodina, Amsterdam 2 1 3 9 15Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 4th Duisburg, Standard Liège, Twente 1 1 4 10 15 1978Maccabi Tel Aviv 5 3rd Malmö FF, FC Zürich, Admira Vienna 2 0 4 10 10Maccabi Netanya 81st Sloboda Tuzla, Elfsborg, Lillestrøm 3 3 0 16 8 1979Maccabi Netanya 1 3rd Werder Bremen, Standard Liège, Rapid Vienna 1 2 3 8 10 1980Maccabi Netanya31st KB, Royal Antwerp 3 2 1 11 6Maccabi Tel Aviv 4th 1 1 4 8 14 1981Maccabi Netanya1 3rd Wiener SK, R.F.C. de Liège 2 2 2 11 8Hapoel Tel Aviv 4th 0 2 4 6 16 1982Hapoel Tel Aviv5 2nd Admira Vienna, Norrköping 4 0 2 12 10Hapoel Kfar Saba 4th 1 1 4 8 18 1983Maccabi Netanya41st AGF, FC Lucerne 5 0 1 17 10Shimshon Tel Aviv 4th 1 1 4 5 10 1984Maccabi Netanya81st Admira Vienna, FC Wettingen 4 1 1 13 13Beitar Jerusalem 4th 0 1 5 6 14 1985Maccabi Haifa81st Arminia Bielefeld, Sturm Graz 4 1 1 13 12Beitar Jerusalem 4th 1 1 4 5 12 1986Maccabi Haifa8 2nd Lyngby, Grazer AK 2 2 2 7 10Hapoel Tel Aviv 3rd 1 2 3 9 12 1987Beitar Jerusalem8 3rd Brøndby, VfL Bochum 2 1 3 3 11Bnei Yehuda 4th 0 1 5 4 16 1988Beitar Jerusalem7 3rd Ikast FS, Sturm Graz 1 2 3 8 16Shimshon Tel Aviv 4th 0 2 4 3 16 1989Hapoel Petah Tikva8 3rd Sparta Prague, Wisła Kraków 2 1 3 9 11Beitar Jerusalem 4th 1 1 4 7 13 1990Maccabi Haifa3 2nd Lech Poznań, BFC Siófok 3 2 1 14 5Bnei Yehuda 4th 0 1 5 5 18 1991Maccabi Haifa10 3rd Örebro, Saarbrücken 2 0 4 6 17Hapoel Petah Tikva 4th 0 1 5 8 17 1992Maccabi Petah Tikva9 3rd Slavia Prague, Bayer Leverkusen 1 3 2 7 11Maccabi Netanya 4th 0 2 4 4 13 1993Maccabi Tel Aviv 5 5th Slavia Prague, Lokomotive Leipzieg, AaB, Häcken 0 1 3 2 9Beitar Jerusalem 8 5th Dynamo Dresden, FC Aarau, Wiener SK, Iraklis 0 2 2 3 6 1994Maccabi Netanya 1 3rd Halmstad, Lokomotiv Sofia, Sparta Prague, Silkeborg 1 2 1 5 5Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2 2nd Young Boys, , Karlsruhe, Häcken 2 1 1 9 5
Performance table Club APP. P W D L GF GA Maccabi Netanya 8 46 19 14 13 85 74 Beitar Jerusalem 7 40 7 10 23 44 85 Maccabi Haifa 4 24 11 5 8 40 44 Maccabi Tel Aviv 4 22 4 3 15 30 48 Hapoel Tel Aviv 3 18 5 4 9 27 38 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2 10 3 4 3 17 18 Hapoel Petah Tikva 2 12 2 2 8 17 28 Shimshon Tel Aviv 2 12 1 3 8 8 26 Bnei Yehuda 2 12 0 2 10 9 34 Maccabi Jaffa 1 6 2 1 3 9 15 Hapoel Kfar Saba 1 6 1 1 4 8 18 Maccabi Petah Tikva 1 6 1 3 2 7 11 Total 37 214 56 52 106 301 439
Full European record
Israeli clubs have participated in UEFA tournaments since 1992–93. Maccabi Haifa three times, Maccabi Tel Aviv twice and Hapoel Tel Aviv had managed to qualify to the Champions League group stage. The same clubs, along with Maccabi Petah Tikva and Ironi Kiryat Shmona qualified to the UEFA Cup/Europa League group stage. The furthest any club reached in a European tournament was the quarter-finals, reached by Maccabi Haifa in 1998–99 and by Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2001–02.
Performance table ClubUEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Europa League (includes UEFA Cup)UEFA Europa Conference LeagueUEFA Cup Winners' CupUEFA Intertoto CupTotalApps.PldWDLGFGAApps.PldWDLGFGAApps.PldWDLGFGAApps.PldWDLGFGAApps.PldWDLGFGAApps.PldWDLGFGAMac. Tel Aviv104715101647631494422032134130220106430181421164000000024165693753217215Mac. Haifa10*47199198570125522141986721 1253523133 1892729223 8305132422140582855236201Hap. Tel Aviv2145362120149243173213510100000000 0000001 400411017110482042157131Beitar Jerusalem51663720291033101013465500000000000000282151220145718142578104Hap. Be'er Sheva31693427249441492149722*137422291411231512101241179321730103124Bnei Yehuda0000000730154113029000000000000000000000730154113029Mac. Netanya00000004102357161201112000000012101336143471122Mac. Petah Tikva0000000211407212100000000000000314464162052586113741Hap. Haifa14022152831491500000000000000310226142052255122440Ir. Kiryat Shmona1622296414158142400000000000000000000042037102330Hap. Petah Tikva0000000163215300000001430162260331144166551316FC Ashdod0000000120203312011010000000142117338242107Bnei Sakhnin00000001420278000000000000001420244284041112Hap. Ramat Gan000000012011010000000000000000000001201101Hap. Rishon LeZion000000000000000000000121013300000001210133 Update: 8 September 2022, * currently in indicated competition.
Statistics
Most Champions League competitions appeared in: 3 – Maccabi Haifa (2002–03, 2009–10, 2022–23) Best performances: Maccabi Haifa (3rd place at Group stage – 2002–03) Most UEFA Cup/Europa League competitions appeared in: 10 – Hapoel Tel Aviv (1999–2000, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13) Best performances: Hapoel Tel Aviv (Quarter-finals – 2001–02) Most Conference League competitions appeared in: 2 – Maccabi Haifa (2021–22, 2023–24) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (2021–22, 2023–24) Best performances: Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv (Round of 16 – 2023–24) Most Cup Winners' Cup competitions appeared in: 3 – Maccabi Haifa (1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99) Best performances: Maccabi Haifa (Quarter-finals – 1998–99) Most Intertoto Cup competitions appeared in: 9 – Maccabi Netanya (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, 2003) Best performances: Maccabi Netanya (1st at Group stage – 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984) Most matches played: 201 – Maccabi Tel Aviv First match played: Valletta 1–2 Maccabi Tel Aviv, 19 August 1992 (1992–93 Champions League, preliminary round) Most match wins: 69 – Maccabi Tel Aviv Most match losses: 63 – Maccabi Haifa Biggest win: Khazar Lankaran 0–8 Maccabi Haifa (2013–14 Europa League Second qualifying round) Biggest defeat: Roda 10–0 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (1997–98 Cup Winners' Cup first round)
Notes: The total appearances column sum all club appearances by seasons and not by competitions (i.e. for a club which played in CL and EL in one season, only one appearance is calculated in the total column, while one appearance is calculated for each competition). Maccabi Haifa had beaten FC Haka 4–0 in 2001–02, which was later awarded to HJK as a walkover win due to Maccabi Haifa fielding a suspended player.Maccabi Haifa Win Over Haka Reversed; No Liverpool Game Doron Bergerfreund, 3 August 2001, HaAretz The original score is included in the table. Maccabi Tel Aviv had beaten PAOK 2–1 in 2004–05, which was later awarded to Maccabi Tel Aviv as a walkover win due to PAOK fielding a suspended player.PAOK punished with 3-0 loss UEFA, 13 August 2004 The original score is included in the table. In 2013–14 UEFA Europa League Maccabi Tel Aviv were drawn to meet PAOK in the Play-off round. However, on 14 August 2013, Metalist Kharkiv were disqualified from the 2013–14 UEFA club competitions because of previous match-fixing. UEFA decided to replace Metalist Kharkiv in the Champions League play-off round with PAOK, who were eliminated by Metalist Kharkiv in the third qualifying round. Thus, Maccabi Tel Aviv, the opponent of PAOK in the Europa League play-off round, qualified directly for the Europa League group stage without playing any match in the play-off round. The two cancelled matches are not included in the table.
References