2008–09 Maccabi Haifa F.C. season

Maccabi Haifa
2008–09 season
Chairman	Ya'akov Shahar
Manager	Elisha Levy
Liga Al	1st
State Cup	Runners-up
Toto Cup	Quarterfinals
Top goalscorer	League: ; Thembinkosi Fanteni (11); All: ; Thembinkosi Fanteni (16)
Highest home attendance	14,500 vs Hapoel Tel Aviv (8 December 2008 & 18 May 2009)
Lowest home attendance	7,000 vs Bnei Sakhnin (24 January 2009)
Average home league attendance	10,472
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 season was Maccabi Haifa's 51st season in Israeli Premier League, and their 27th consecutive season in the top division of Israeli football.

The season was a great success for the club winning the league and coming extremely close to winning the State Cup to go with it.

Liga Al

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
30 August 2008	F.C. Ashdod	H	3 – 1	Keinan, Katan (2)	11,000
13 September 2008	Hapoel Tel Aviv	A	0 – 0		0 (closed doors)
21 September 2008	Bnei Yehuda	H	1 – 0	Rafaelov	7,500
28 September 2008	Beitar Jerusalem	A	1 – 1	Keinan	18,000
4 October 2008	Maccabi Petah Tikva	H	3 – 1	own goal, Fanteni (2)	8,000
18 October 2008	Bnei Sakhnin	A	1 – 0	Rafaelov	2,500
27 October 2008	Maccabi Tel Aviv	H	3 – 2	Fanteni (2), Lior Rafaelov	14,000
1 November 2008	Hakoah Amidar/Ramat Gan	A	3 – 0	Rafaelov, Boccoli, Kayal	2,500
10 November 2008	Maccabi Netanya	H	2 – 3	Keinan, Fanteni	14,000
15 November 2008	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	H	1 – 1	Rafaelov	10,000
22 November 2008	Hapoel Petah Tikva	A	4 – 1	Ghadir, Rafaelov, Kayal, Arbeitman	4,000
29 November 2008	F.C. Ashdod	A	3 – 1	Fanteni, Golasa, Kayal	5,000
8 December 2008	Hapoel Tel Aviv	H	2 – 2	Arbeitman, Maimon	14,500
15 December 2008	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	A	1 – 0	Katan	8,000
22 December 2008	Beitar Jerusalem	H	0 – 0		14,000
17 January 2009	Maccabi Petah Tikva	A	0 – 2		4,000
24 January 2009	Bnei Sakhnin	H	2 – 1	Fanteni, Katan	7,000
2 February 2009	Maccabi Tel Aviv	A	1 – 1	Boccoli	13,000
2 February 2009	Hakoah Amidar/Ramat Gan	H	2 – 0	Katan, Boccoli	8,000
23 February 2009	Maccabi Netanya	A	0 – 2		5,000
4 March 2009	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	A	0 – 1		1,000
7 March 2009	Hapoel Petah Tikva	H	1 – 0	Osei	9,000
15 March 2009	Bnei Yehuda	A	1 – 0	Masilela	6,000
21 March 2009	Maccabi Petah Tikva	H	0 – 0		9,000
6 April 2009	F.C. Ashdod	A	3 – 0	Arbeitman, Rafaelov, Boccoli	2,500
11 April 2009	Hapoel Petah Tikva	H	2 – 1	Arbeitman, Meshumar	10,000
19 April 2009	Maccabi Tel Aviv	A	1 – 1	Fanteni	12,000
25 April 2009	Hapoel Petah Tikva	H	2 – 1	Fanteni (2)	8,000
4 May 2009	Bnei Sakhnin	A	0 – 0		3,000
9 May 2009	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan	H	2 – 0	Arbeitman, Rafaelov	8,000
18 May 2009	Hapoel Tel Aviv	H	1 – 0	Katan	14,500
23 May 2009	Maccabi Netanya	A	2 – 0	Fanteni, Kayal	6,000
1 June 2009	Beitar Jerusalem	H	1 – 1	Rafaelov	14,000

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Maccabi Haifa (C)	33	19	10	4	49	24	+25	67	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	33	17	10	6	49	28	+21	61	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
3	Beitar Jerusalem^[a]	33	16	12	5	47	28	+19	57^[b]
4	Maccabi Netanya	33	14	12	7	40	32	+8	54	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round^[c]
5	Bnei Yehuda	33	14	7	12	38	31	+7	49	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round^[c]

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions because they failed to meet their commitments to UEFA.^[1] Since Beitar won the cup and the cup runners-up are league champions Maccabi Haifa, all Europa League spots were awarded to teams according to their league positions. Since Beitar also finished third in the league, Europa League spots were given to league runners-up Hapoel Tel Aviv, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda.
^ Beitar Jerusalem were deducted two points due to Beitar fans pitch invasion the previous year against Maccabi Herzliya^[2] and one point due to racist calls from Beitar fans.^[3]
^ ^a ^b Qualified because Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions.

State Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
14 February 2009	Round 9	Hapoel Ramat Gan	A	1 – 0 (aet)	Katan 113'
12 March 2009	Round of 16	Hapoel Tel Aviv	A	1 – 1^{[permanent dead link]} (2 – 1p)	Katan 81'	12,500
22 April 2009	Quarter-final	Maccabi Ah"i Nazareth	A	4 – 0^{[permanent dead link]}	Fanteni (2) 30', 87', Katan 45', Harazi 82'	4,000
13 May 2009	Semi-final	Maccabi Netanya	N	1 – 1^{[permanent dead link]} (5 – 4p)	Meshumar 65'	36,000
26 May 2009	Final	Beitar Jerusalem	N	1 – 2^{[permanent dead link]}	Kayal 88'	40,000

Toto Cup

Group stage

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Group position
9 August 2008	Beitar Jerusalem	H	1 – 1	Fanteni 31'	1st
17 August 2008	Maccabi Netanya	H	1 – 1	Boccoli 5'	1st
23 August 2008	Bnei Yehuda	A	3 – 1	Kayal 6', Rafaelov 16', Fanteni 21'	1st
5 November 2008	Beitar Jerusalem	A	2 – 0	Ghadir 59', Arbeitman 89'	1st
29 October 2008	Maccabi Netanya	A	4 – 1	Ghadir 20', Osei 43', Arbeitman (2) 53', 82'	1st
12 November 2008	Bnei Yehuda	H	1 – 1	Ghadir 12'	1st

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Maccabi Haifa (A)	6	3	3	0	12	5	+7	12
2	Bnei Yehuda (A)	6	3	1	2	10	10	0	10
3	Maccabi Netanya (A)	6	2	1	3	6	10	−4	7
4	Beitar Jerusalem	6	1	1	4	6	9	−3	4

Source: football.org.il (in Hebrew)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(A) Advanced to the quarterfinals

Knockout stage

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
5 January 2009	Quarter-final First leg	Hapoel Tel Aviv	A	0 – 2
11 March 2009	Quarter-final Second leg	Hapoel Tel Aviv	H	2 – 0 (3 – 4p)	Boccoli 22', Keinan 55'

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		State Cup		Toto Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Gad Amos	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
GK	Nir Davidovich	22	0	5	0	3	0	30	0
GK	Amir Edri	11	0	0	0	5	0	16	0
DF	Ronnie Gafney	4	0	1	0	7	0	12	0
DF	Alon Harazi	24	0	3	1	4	0	31	1
DF	Dekel Keinan	28	3	5	0	4	1	37	4
DF	Leo Krupnik	30	0	4	1	5	0	39	1
DF	Tsepo Masilela	32	0	4	0	3	0	39	0
DF	Shai Maimon	6	1	0	0	6	1	12	2
DF	Eyal Meshumar	18	1	4	2	6	0	28	3
DF	Anderson West	3	0	1	0	1	0	5	0
MF	Omri Afek	14	0	1	0	3	0	18	0
MF	Gustavo Boccoli	33	4	5	0	4	2	42	6
MF	John Jairo Culma	30	0	5	1	6	1	41	2
MF	Liad Elmaliah	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
MF	Eyal Golasa	26	1	5	0	6	0	37	1
MF	Beram Kayal	30	4	5	2	5	1	40	7
MF	Lior Rafaelov	33	9	5	0	6	1	44	10
MF	Yisrael Zaguri	2	0	0	0	6	1	8	1
FW	Shlomi Arbeitman	28	5	5	1	7	3	40	9
FW	Thembinkosi Fanteni	30	11	5	3	6	2	41	16
FW	Mohammad Ghadir	14	1	0	0	7	3	21	4
FW	Yaniv Katan	31	10	5	4	4	0	40	14
FW	Ransford Osei	11	1	2	0	4	1	17	2

References

^ "Betar Jerusalem will not be eligible to play in European competition next season". Haaretz. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
^ "Beitar punished for pitch invasion". FIFA. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
^ "Beitar punished for racist abuse". FIFA. 1 May 2009. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.

[table_note_BEI0.88158394344225-2] Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions because they failed to meet their commitments to UEFA.^[1] Since Beitar won the cup and the cup runners-up are league champions Maccabi Haifa, all Europa League spots were awarded to teams according to their league positions. Since Beitar also finished third in the league, Europa League spots were given to league runners-up Hapoel Tel Aviv, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda.

[table_hth_BEI0.88158394344225-5] Beitar Jerusalem were deducted two points due to Beitar fans pitch invasion the previous year against Maccabi Herzliya^[2] and one point due to racist calls from Beitar fans.^[3]

[table_note_res_R40.88158394344225-6] Qualified because Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions.

[1] "Betar Jerusalem will not be eligible to play in European competition next season". Haaretz. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.

[3] "Beitar punished for pitch invasion". FIFA. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2008.

[4] "Beitar punished for racist abuse". FIFA. 1 May 2009. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.

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[b]

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