Early years Maccabi Haifa Football Club was established in 1913 in the port city of Haifa in the
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (present-day Israel). As the
local football association wasn't founded in
Mandatory Palestine until July 1928, there were no officially organized competitions during the season, and the club played only friendly matches. After a period of inactivity, the club was re-organized in February 1923. The club playing a handful of matches during the season, including taking part in a cup competition which was called "The Hebrew Cup". Due to its distance, the club was given a bye to the final, which it lost to
Maccabi Nes Tziona 0–2. The club was overshadowed by its
city rival Hapoel Haifa, but even in its first years adopted a very adventurous and offensive style of play based on technique and short passes. In 1942, the club reached the
Israel State Cup final, but was defeated 12–1 by
Beitar Tel Aviv in the final. Maccabi Haifa remained a small, struggling club that spent most of its time shifting between
Liga Leumit and the lower leagues. In 1962, the team defeated
Maccabi Tel Aviv 5–2 in the
State Cup final, and won the first title of the club. In 1963 it reached the final again, but lost to
Hapoel Haifa 1–0 in the first
Haifa derby in
State Cup final.
The 1980s In the 1980s Maccabi Haifa finally entered the 'Israeli' champions' club, clinching the title thrice (in 1983–84, 1984–85 and 1988–89 seasons). In the
1983–84 season Maccabi Haifa won its first ever championship, under coach
Shlomo Sharf and general manager
Yochanan Vollach, overcoming
Beitar Jerusalem and
Hapoel Tel Aviv. The
Yerukim (Greens) were known for their "all-around-offense" and flashy technique football style, often resulting in bad defensive formation and resultant losses. Sharf's team played with 4 strikers, including:
Moshe Selecter,
Zahi Armeli and
Ronny Rosenthal who were positioned at point and midfield and managed to build their defense around the legendary goalkeeper
Avi Ran. A year later, Maccabi Haifa won a second championship in a decisive performance. In 1986 Maccabi Haifa lost the championship in a controversial final match against runners-up
Hapoel Tel Aviv. The single goal scored in that match by
Gili Landau was said to be scored from a passive offside position, which by the rules of the time should have resulted in a disqualification of the goal and a scoreless draw, guaranteeing Maccabi Haifa the title. Due to poor TV coverage, the issue has never been resolved. In 1988, Maccabi Haifa decimated
Maccabi Tel Aviv 10–0 to earn its biggest win ever. That game, one of the more famous in Israeli's football lore, wasn't even televised. Furthermore, it probably was the beginning of the intense rivalry between the two clubs. In 1989, under the capable hands of
Amazzia Levkovic, the club won another championship.
The 1990s , played 10 years at the club. In the 1990s Maccabi Haifa established itself as a dominant club in Israel. It began by winning the
Double – League championship and the national cup in the 1990–1 season and continued with the introduction of three talented young players:
Eyal Berkovic,
Reuven Atar and
Tal Banin. In 1992, Maccabi Haifa was purchased by
Ya'akov Shahar, who became the owner and president of the club. Under Shahar's management, Maccabi Haifa enjoyed financial stability and professional working regulations on a par with European football clubs' standards. Maccabi Haifa's highlight season was
1993–94. After winning the 1993 cup, Maccabi Haifa gave a stunning performance in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (CWC), beating
Torpedo Moscow 3–1 and
Parma 1–0 in the last 16, only to lose on penalties. During the season in the domestic league (then called
Liga Leumit), the team became the first and only in Israeli football history to go unbeaten for the entire season, with an overall unbeaten streak of 48 games, thus winning a spectacular championship, and breaking many Israeli records. The Maccabi Haifa 1993–94 squad including
Eyal Berkovic,
Reuven Atar,
Alon Mizrahi and
Serhiy Kandaurov, and is considered one of, if not the best squads in Israeli football history. In 1995, Maccabi Haifa begun a period of seven years without winning the league championship, and most of its popular soccer superstar were sold to Europe. In 1996,
Eyal Berkovic and
Haim Revivo, the latter had joined the team the previous season, both left Haifa for European clubs. While the two gained great personal success there, Maccabi Haifa went into a slump. The team's standards of maintaining the services of the manager for multiple seasons was thrown as the team went through several managers during 4 years. As result, the team failed to win the national championship title, despite securing the National cup in 1998. In 1999, under the guidance of the
Czech manager
Dušan Uhrin, Maccabi Haifa beat French giants
Paris Saint-Germain and Austrian club
SV Ried to reach the quarter-final of the
Cup Winners' Cup. In the middle of the season, Haifa's excellent striker
Alon Mizrahi left for French club
Nice resulting in a defeat in the CWC quarter-final and a slump in the club's league performance. The club's winning record continued to falter until the arrival of
Avram Grant.
2000 and beyond , Manager, 2000–02. , team captain, 2000–2006. Former
Maccabi Tel Aviv Manager
Avram Grant was appointed in 2000 as manager of Maccabi Haifa. Under Grant's guidance, the team regained its dominating offensive style. Grant, along with a much improved squad, led the club with an almost unstoppable team, winning the
championship. At the center of attention were a series of virtuoso performances by
Yossi Benayoun, including what some consider to be several of the finest goals in Israeli league history. A spontaneous burst of celebrating fans onto the pitch caused a tragic disaster. A young fan, Amir Rand, was crushed against the guarding rails and left comatose. A year later, Grant won a second
championship, relying on a veteran Israeli defense:
Alon Harazi,
Arik Benado and
Adoram Keise, and on a trio of foreign footballers:
Giovanni Rosso (Croatia),
Raimondas Žutautas (Lithuania) and the young Nigerian striker
Yakubu. Following the 2nd championship, Avraham Grant left Haifa for the
Israeli national team and was replaced by then
Israel U-21 manager
Itzhak Shum. In 2002, Haifa made Israeli club history by becoming the first Israeli team to qualify for the group phase of the
UEFA Champions League. In the group phase, the team defeated
Olympiacos and
Manchester United. Haifa managed 7 points overall scoring 12 goals, and finished in 3rd place, securing a place in the
UEFA Cup. , played 15 years in the club and was captain of the team, 2006–14. In the
2003–04 season Maccabi Haifa, led by ex-Maccabi Haifa footballer
Ronny Levy, won the championship mainly due to the poor showing of the other league teams. Maccabi Haifa youth club (ages 16–18) won the domestic championship, and an Israel national kids team of Maccabi Haifa players won Fox Kids World Cup for 12-year-olds. History was made during the
2005–06 season. After months of indecision regarding the contract of Ronny Levy, it was renewed and Levy guided the club to 11 straight victories in the first 11 games of the Israeli Premier League season. This was also the key to Maccabi Haifa taking the league title after building a strong lead. While the club enjoyed great domestic success, it was not as fortunate in European play. Though Haifa was a seeded team for the
UEFA Champions League second qualifying round, it drew the strong Swedish club,
Malmö FF. Haifa lost 3–2 in Sweden, and drew 2–2 at home. In the
2006–07 season, the club played against
Liverpool. In the 1st game of the 3rd round of the qualifying matches held in England, Haifa's
Gustavo Boccoli scored on the 29th minute, an advantage that lasted just 4 minutes.
Craig Bellamy evened the score and in front of 40,000 local fans, Haifa stood bravely up to the 88th minute when
Mark González scored the winning goal for the hosts. Due to the security situation in Israel, the return match was not held in
Ramat Gan but in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the Valery Lobanovsky stadium, with 1,700 spectators. The game ended in a 1–1 tie. The last twenty minutes of the game were stressful for Rafa Benitez's players. After
Peter Crouch gave the guests the advantage (54) and an away goal, but
Roberto Colautti (63) tied the score and from here on the movement towards the host's goalpost became one-sided. The tie score sent Haifa to compete in the UEFA Cup. In the return match in Bulgaria against
Litex Lovech, Haifa played well:
Xavier Dirceu scored an impressive goal from distance,
Alain Masudi and
Roberto Colautti left Eljendario Sanderinio one honor goal. In the group stage, Haifa faced strong opponents: The Scottish
Rangers, the Serbian
Partizan Belgrade, the French
Auxerre and the Italian
Serie A team
Livorno. In the 88th minute, the Scots succeeded in doubling the score from another penalty kick given away by a Haifa defender. This time Charlie Adam scored and sealed the victory. Haifa returned home and hosted Partizan Belgrade. An early goal by
Anderson Xavier, the Brazilian midfielder, put Haifa in an excellent place with six points. Haifa needed one point in the away game in Italy against Livorno to complete the task successfully. At this stage Haifa was drawn against
CSKA Moscow. The game was moved to the Spartak stadium in
Vladikavkaz due to extreme weather in
Moscow. 30,000 Russian fans crowded the stadium. Torpedo beat Haifa 1–0 and Lokomotiv beat it 3–0. Again Haifa did not score an away goal, but the result (0–0) signaled that Haifa might use its home advantage in the return match. In the
2007–08 season, Maccabi Haifa finished 5th place in the league and was eliminated in the last-16 phase of the State Cup. Ronny Levy announced that he was leaving. Haifa won the Toto Cup after a 2–0 victory over
Bnei-Sakhnin. Haifa opened the
2008–09 season with hopes of remaining a top team. At the end of the season, coach
Elisha Levy won his first personal title and Haifa made Israeli soccer history, winning six championships in one decade. in
2009–10 UEFA Champions League group stage. Maccabi Haifa returned to the
Champions League for the 2009–10 season. A 3–0 win over
FC Red Bull Salzburg ensured its second win in the span of seven years, with goals by
Dvalishvili,
Golasa and
Ghadir. Haifa entered the
2009–10 Champions League group stage in Group A, competing against
Bayern Munich,
Juventus and
Bordeaux. Haifa finished the competition with a record of 6 losses, conceding 8 goals and without scoring. The club subsequently lost the
championship title to
Hapoel Tel Aviv on the last day of the season. In the
2010–11 Israeli Premier League season, Maccabi Haifa has won the Israeli Championship title but lost the chance to achieve the Double by losing to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in the State Cup final. The 2011–12 season was a disappointing one. After winning the League title in the previous season, the team started the season with qualification matches in the UEFA Champions League, but eliminated after a penalty defeat to the Belgian club
Genk. Domestically, it was another disappointment. Maccabi Haifa struggled for the European football spot, and a draw in the last round wasn't enough, as Maccabi Haifa finished in a disappointing 5th place. Another failure was at the State Cup as the team lost in the Final to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv from a controversial 93rd-minute goal. The disappointing season caused owner
Ya'akov Shahar to appoint former player and club icon
Reuven Atar as the manager for the next season instead of
Elisha Levi, who left the club after clinching 2 championship titles in 4 years with the club. With
Reuven Atar on the sidelines, Haifa opened the season with 1 win, 4 draws, and 4 losses and was next to last, the worst start in club history. After the 9th round,
Atar was fired and replaced by
Arik Benado, the youth team coach and former team captain. Under Benado, Haifa returned to the top of the table and showed good performances during the season. Haifa gave fight to
Maccabi Tel Aviv but finished 2nd. On 25 July 2013, Maccabi Haifa defeated
Khazar Lankaran 8–0 in the 2nd qualifying round of
UEFA Europa League. thus setting a new record for the largest win by an Israeli club in European competition. On 24 May 2016, Maccabi Haifa defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0 in the
Israel State Cup Final, winning for the 1st time in 18 years and, thus, returning to European competition after 3 years. In the start of the 2020/21 season, Maccabi Haifa reached the
UEFA Europa League play-off round, beating
Kairat Almaty and
FC Rostov in the qualifying rounds. In the play-off round, the team lost 2–7 to
Tottenham Hotspur, its biggest defeat ever in the tournament, and were eliminated. On 30 May 2021, after 10 long tough years full of disappointments for the club and its fans, Maccabi Haifa has won the Israeli Premier league championship, its 13th in total, defeating
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3–2 in the final fixture. Haifa's players
Josh Cohen,
Neta Lavi and
Dolev Haziza won the league MVP titles, awarded by 3 major Israeli football organizations. Josh Cohen was voted
footballer of the year, and the team's coach,
Barak Bakhar, won the "coach of the year" title unequivocally. In the start of the 2021/22 season, the team was eliminated by Kairat in the early qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Two weeks later, the team won the
2021 Israel Super Cup, after a 2–0 victory against the
state cup winner
Maccabi Tel Aviv. Despite its early elimination from the Champions League qualifiers, the team entered the
Europa Conference League qualifiers, and qualified to the group stage after beating
Neftci Baku in the
play-off round. The team finished the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in third place and did not advance to the knockout phase. The club went on to win the
league cup, and at the end of the season it won the
2021-22 Israeli Premier League championship, its second championship title in a row and 14th in total.
Omer Atzili finished as the top scorer (20 goals) and top assister (10 assists), and was voted
footballer of the year. The team reached the
Israel State Cup final, but lost to
Hapoel Be'er Sheva in a penalty shoot-out, and lost to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in penalty shoot-out again in the
2022 Israel Super Cup. In August 2022 the club advanced to the
UEFA Champions League group stage for the third time in its history, after beating
Olympiacos and
Apollon Limassol in the qualifying rounds, and beating
Red Star Belgrade in the
play-off round. In the
group stage, the club was drawn into
Group H with European giants
Paris Saint-Germain,
Juventus and
Benfica. In matchday 2, Maccabi Haifa scored its first UEFA Champions League goal in 20 years, when
Tjaronn Chery scored the opener against Paris Saint-Germain, a match which ended in a 1–3 loss. In matchday 4, Maccabi Haifa beat Juventus 2–0. In matchday 5, the team suffered a 7–2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, its biggest defeat ever in the tournament, and were eliminated. On 15 May 2023, the team won the
2022–23 Israeli Premier League championship, the club's third championship title in a row and 15th in total, after a 1–5 victory over
Maccabi Netanya, and became the first Israeli club to do so in a season which it also reached the UEFA Champions League group stage. On 14 August 2025, during a
UEFA Conference League match between Maccabi and Polish team
Raków Częstochowa, Israeli fans displayed a banner reading "Murderers since 1939," which provoked significant outrage both in Poland and internationally. The banner, perceived as an offensive reference to the atrocities committed during
World War II, sparked condemnation from various quarters. The
Israeli Embassy in Poland described the action as "disgusting" and expressed that it did not reflect the views of the majority of Israeli fans. The Polish government and President
Karol Nawrocki swiftly condemned the banner, emphasizing the harm caused to the memory of Polish citizens and Jews who perished during the war. Maccabi Haifa, in turn, faced widespread criticism, with club president
Ya'akov Shahar condemning the actions of the fans, asserting that such behavior did not reflect the club’s values. ==Sponsorships, fan base and rivalries==