 | ||||
| Full name | Beitar Jerusalem Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Beitar The Menorah The Lions from the Capital The Flag of the State | |||
| Short name | BEI | |||
| Founded | 1936 | |||
| Ground | Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel | |||
| Capacity | 31,733 | |||
| Owner | Barak Abramov | |||
| Head coach | Barak Yitzhaki | |||
| League | Israeli Premier League | |||
| 2023–24 | Israeli Premier League, 11th of 14 | |||
| Website | https://www.beitarfc.co.il | |||
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Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, romanized: Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem ([בית"ר ירושלים] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= (help)) or simply Beitar (בית"ר), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football. The club has traditionally worn kit colours of yellow and black and plays its home matches in Teddy Stadium. The stadium is the largest stadium in Israel, with a capacity of 31,733.
The club is one of the most popular in Israel and is among the Israeli clubs with the highest number of fans in the country. The club was founded in 1936 by Shmuel Kirschstein and David Horn, who chaired the Betar branch in Jerusalem. Several team members were also part of the outlawed Irgun and Lehi militias closely associated with the right-wing Revisionist Zionism movement.[1][2] Beitar's fans have become a highly controversial political symbol in Israeli football culture, unofficially aligned with the Revisionist Zionist movement and to the right-wing Likud party.[1] The club, whose fanbase is notorious for its anti-Arab racism and anti-Muslim religious bigotry,[3][4][5] remains the only one in the Israel Premier League to have never signed an Arab player,[6][7] although the club signed four non-Arab Muslim players in the past.[8]
Domestically, Beitar has won the Israeli Premier League six times, in 1986–87, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2006–07, and 2007–08; the Israeli Cup eight times, in 1975–76, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1988–89, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2022–23; and Israeli Supercups twice in 1976 and 1986.
- ^ a b Sorek, Tamir. "The right-wing origins of the Jerusalem soccer team that wants to add 'Trump' to its name". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Betar's Russian revolution". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Abu Dhabi ruling family member buys 50% stake of Israel's Beitar Jerusalem". Reuters. 7 December 2020. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Beitar Jerusalem, the most racist football club in Israel, gets an Arab owner". The Economist. 10 December 2020. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ Halbfinger, David M.; Rasgon, Adam (7 December 2020). "Israeli Soccer Team, Infamous for Anti-Arab Fans, Has New Co-Owner: a Sheikh". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ Beitar Jerusalem fans insist on changing name of latest signing Mohamed Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine – The Jewish Post, 23 June 2019
- ^ Beitar Jerusalem hails a year free of racist chanting in the stands Archived 23 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine – Jewish Chronicle, 1 January 2019
- ^ "לא ממש היסטוריה : בבית"ר כבר שיחקו מוסלמים". הארץ. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2020.