Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club is an Israeli professional basketball club, based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Historically the second-most successful side in Israeli basketball with five national championships, the club is owned by Hapoel Tel Aviv Supporters Trust. The team was established in 1935, and plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League and in EuroCup Basketball. History Hapoel Tel Aviv was founded in 1935, as part of the Tel Aviv branch of the "Hapoel" sports cooperative, the sports department of the Histadrut labor union, which was socialist and mostly Ashkenazi. The 15 years following the foundation of the Israeli national league in 1954 were the golden age in the club's history. During that time, it won most of its trophies. However, since then the club has failed to repeat its past success, and has watched as its bitter city rival, Maccabi Tel Aviv, beat them constantly in the race to trophies and European glory. In 1980 the club inaugurated its home venue of Hapoel Arena at Ussishkin Street in the north of Tel Aviv in place of the open court that Hapoel had used for home games since 1953.Fall from Glory The new arena was named after the adjacent street bearing the name of Menachem Ussishkin, a famous Zionist leader. The uncomfortable conditions, along with the fact that Hapoel Tel Aviv's fans were considered among the most fanatic in Israeli sports, contributed to Ussishkin being known for an extremely hostile atmosphere for visiting teams. In 1995 the Histadrut decided to suspend financial support of all its "Hapoel" sports teams, including Hapoel Tel Aviv. The club was sold to a group of private businessmen, and from 1998 until 2009 (with a short pause for the 2003–04 season), it was owned by Shaul Eizenberg, an Israeli businessman and former press officer of the Israel Football Association. Except for three years of financial support by Russian multi-millionaire Vladimir Gusinsky, Hapoel Tel Aviv has since consistently suffered from financial difficulties. The result of this was an immediate deterioration in the club's stability, which led to relegation to the second league in 1996–97, 1998–99, and 2005–06. During this period the club also conceded its most humiliating defeat of all time at the hands of local rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv by a staggering 54 points. This was part of a streak of nine defeats in one season to Maccabi Tel Aviv.