Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), 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. Beitar's fans have become a highly controversial political symbol in Israeli football culture, unofficially aligning with the Revisionist Zionist movement and Likud party. Beitar is the only club in the Israel Premier League to have never signed an Arab playerBeitar Jerusalem fans insist on changing name of latest signing Mohamed – The Jewish Post, 23 June 2019Beitar Jerusalem hails a year free of racist chanting in the stands – Jewish Chronicle, 1 January 2019 and the fanbase is notorious for its anti-Arab racism and anti-Muslim religious bigotry. Notably, the club has previously signed four non-Arab Muslim players.
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.
History
British Mandate Beitar Jerusalem was founded in 1936 by Shmuel Kirschstein and David Horn as a youth team.אני אוהב אותך בית"ר תולדות בית"ר ירושלים (I love you Beitar: The history of Beitar Jerusalem) The first games were held against Armenian and Arab teams in Jerusalem, though Hapoel Jerusalem boycotted for political reasons. In 1942, a match was held at Tel Aviv's Maccabiah Stadium between Beitar and the Islamic Sports Club of Haifa. Beitar won 5–1. At the end of 1943 and early 1944, Beitar played several games against the club from Katamon, Al-Dajani, the city's leading Arab team.Beitar Jerusalem and Arab Clubs: A Surprising Look at the History of Soccer in Israel , Haaretz
Jerusalem Cup Games of 1944 15 April 1944: Beitar Jerusalem 1–1 Plebis 22 April 1944: Beitar Jerusalem 2–2 Plebis 13 May 1944: Beitar Jerusalem 3–2 Plebis 20 May 1944: Beitar Jerusalem 1–3 Allwain"I Love You Beitar..." page 272
Later, Beitar Jerusalem qualified for the final, which was to be held against the team of the "Paymasters" of the British mandate. The fans of rival Hapoel Jerusalem disrupted the game, and the "Jerusalem Cup remained in the hands of the politicians in Tel Aviv.""I Love You Beitar..." page 16
On 19 October 1944, several club players were among 251 persons who were deported to Eritrea, Kenya, and Sudan by the British Mandate authorities. Among the deportees were David Horn and Rabinovich and some members of Beitar Jerusalem's "First team of 1936." A Beitar Jerusalem team was set up in Gilgil, where many deportees played in city-of-origin-based teams. A plan was made to dig a tunnel from the centre of a football pitch in the detention camp in Kenya. Two of the deportees were murdered by Sudanese guards for an alleged "escape attempt". Six succeeded in reaching Europe. All living deportees reached Israel in July 1948.
When a joint team of Beitar Jerusalem and Beitar Tel Aviv visited Lebanon and Syria, they played against Homenetmen, an Armenian team, which ended in 0–0, and the French Army team, in which Beitar lost 2–5. Both games were held in Beirut. Another game, planned in Aleppo, was cancelled because of a diplomatic incident as Arab delegates in the hotel protested seeing an "Eretz Yisrael" flag, now the Israeli flag, in an Arab country. The British ambassador intervened, suggesting that the Union Jack be raised instead of the "Eretz Yisrael" flag, but the head of delegation Hayyim Levin opposed. Due to the impasse, the game was canceled. Simon Alfasi, Shimon Stern, Yisrael Yehezqel, and goalkeeper Yosef Meyuhas were the Beitar Jerusalem players on the trip.(Hebrew): אני אוהב אותך בית"ר תולדות בית"ר ירושלים, Literally: "I love you Beitar The history of Beitar Jerusalem", p. 20.
In 1946, Beitar Jerusalem qualified for the 2nd round of the Cup Games against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The scores were a 3–3 and a loss 3–2 in game 2. Simon Alfasi scored all five goals for the club, three in the first and two in the second.
On 8 August 1947, all Beitar clubs were banned by the British mandate authorities. The club name was changed to "Nordiah Jerusalem" before a local league was set up in the Jerusalem district in November 1947. On 15 November 1947, Beitar as "Nordiah Jerusalem" won the first derby, 3–1 over Hapoel Jerusalem, and on 29 November 1947, a second win was achieved, 8–1 over Degel Zion when one player Simon Alfasi scored six goals in a game, the record for any Beitar Jerusalem's player that stands until today. The club led the league on 29 November 1947, on the same evening when UN GA Resolution 181 was proclaimed, and on 30 November 1947, the games were stopped abruptly: on that day, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War broke out. During the war, Beitar Jerusalem player Asher Benjamin was killed by the British when he entered a British camp in Jerusalem.
State of Israel After independence in 1948, Beitar, again by its original name, played since the 1949–50 season in a "Special League" of "Jerusalem's district", ending in 5th place while achieving a win of 8–0 over Hapoel Ramla on 17 December 1949, the highest league win of Beitar Jerusalem in any league the club has not played. In the 1951–52 season, the club integrated into Liga Bet southern part, then the second tier. In 1953–54 the club won the southern division of Liga Bet, and were promoted to the top league, which had just been renamed Liga Leumit. In their first season in the top flight, they finished 11th out of 14, and were forced to participate in promotion/relegation play-offs. Although they were the highest-placed club to take part in the play-offs, they finished at the bottom of the group,Israel – List of Final Tables RSSSF Beitar were relegated back to the second league, now renamed Liga Alef. In 1957–58 they won Liga Alef, but were not promoted, as there was no promotion or relegation that year.
They won Liga Alef again in 1966–68 (a two-year season) and were promoted back to Liga Leumit. That was the best league season ever for Beitar Jerusalem, although it was winning the 2nd division "only". 104 points out of a possible 120, for a season of 60 matches, when two points were given for winning a match. The club had 32 an undefeated streak with a sequence of 19 wins starting with the 42nd match to the 60th match inclusive, the record of Beitar Jerusalem in any league,The book: "I Love You Beitar...", pp. 74–75 scoring 161 league goals. 225,000 spectators saw the club's matches in that season. The prize that the club management gave to the players was a trip to the United States of America.
After finishing thirteenth in 1968–69, Beitar finished fifth in 1969–70, their best performance to date.
1970s In the 1971–72 Liga they finished as runners-up to Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 1974, during a match against Hapoel Petah Tikva, Beitar fans invaded the pitch and attacked Petah Tikva players and fans. This caused the first of several "radius" penalties, in which the club was forced to play matches in other cities behind closed doors. Beitar were also due to be relegated, but were saved by the intervention of Knesset members Ehud Olmert and Yossi Sarid, who forced the suspension of the relegation threat and called for an investigation of Israel Football Association corruption. In 1974–75 the club reached the State Cup final for the first time, but lost 3–1 to Hapoel Kfar Saba.Israel – List of Cup Finals RSSSF In the same season they finished second bottom of the league, and were due to be relegated to Liga Alef. However, an IFA decision to expand the league from 16 to 18 clubs saw them reprieved.
The next season they finished runners-up in the league to Hapoel Be'er Sheva and reached the State Cup final again, this time beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–1 to claim their first piece of major silverware, on 16 June 1976, 55,000 or 60,000 spectators saw the game in an overcrowded Ramat Gan Stadium. Danny Noyman and Uri Malmilian scored for Beitar Jerusalem. On 11 September 1976, the club won the Israeli Super Cup for the first time after beating Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3–2. Uri Malmilian scored two goals, and David Yishai scored another goal for Beitar Jerusalem. The club finished as runners-up in 1977–78.
In 1978–79, the club ended as runners-up: they also reached the cup final, winning 2–1 against Maccabi Tel Aviv, on 6 June 1979. Danny Noyman and Yossi Avrahami scored for Beitar Jerusalem to win the State Cup for the 2nd time.
Despite the run of success towards the end of the 1970s, the club was dependent mainly on Uri Malmilian's ability. Early in the season, he suffered an awful injury, crippling him with the need for three operations until 1981, and missing most of the games until the summer of 1981. Beitar finished bottom of the division in 1979–80, and were relegated to Liga Artzit. However, they made an immediate return to the top division after finishing as runners-up to Beitar Tel Aviv in their first season back in the second tier.
1980s The 1981–82 started with a sports disaster for the club. On 12 September 1981, referee Avraham Klein gave a win to Maccabi Tel Aviv in a series of a wrong decisions: cancelling a goal of Beitar Jerusalem's player Yaron Adiv when he and Beitar's players celebrated the goal, then allowing seconds after Maccabi player Moti Ivanir to score a goal from an offside position. A crowd of 8,000 Beitar Jerusalem's fans went crazy. The Israeli Football Association quickly decided to punish Beitar Jerusalem and discussed the so-called "football game" for six weeks before stating to leave the outcome as 2–1 win to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and filing a reprimand about Avraham Klein. Also, the next game of Beitar Jerusalem is remembered: on 19 September 1981, a player of Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Shalom Avitan hit his teammate Eli Vaitzman on his face, and the Hapoel Be'er Sheva coach entered the pitch and took Shalom Avitan by his hand out of the pitch, preventing a red card by the referee. Beitar Jerusalem won 2–0. Later, with Eli Ohana in his first season, Beitar Jerusalem improved its standing, ending the season in 6th place, above Maccabi Tel Aviv, who, to the delight of Beitar fans, ended that season in 8th place.