In the 1993/94 season, the title race was a runaway affair between two Maccabis, yellow from Tel Aviv and green from Haifa. But it was against the red half of the northern city, Hapoel Haifa, that Maccabi Tel Aviv reached their season summit
Return with us if you will twenty-one years ago, to the 1993/94 season, to one of the most memorable matches of a most memorable season. In those days the rivalry between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa was reaching a high point – between 1991 and 1996 the two clubs shared five championships between them – and in '93/'94, more than in any other season, that rivalry was the most apparent, with the two clubs running neck-and-neck throughout the season. It was a rainy night in February '94 that produced one of the less pleasant memories of that year, a humiliating 5-0 defeat at the hands of their rivals in Haifa, which no doubt for many Maccabi Tel Aviv fans overshadowed all other events that season. But lest we forget, exactly twenty-one years to the day, on October 2nd 1993, Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrated a record achievement that, along with Haifa's now abandoned Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, will remain a part of history forever. On that day, more than twenty years before competing in the stadium's last ever match in May of 2014, the Maccabi beat Hapoel Haifa 0-7, and the thrashing they handed out was Maccabi Tel Aviv's largest ever victory at Kiryat Eliezer Stadium.
Only 2,500 Hapoel Haifa fans came to support their side that day, no doubt with foreboding of things to come. On the other hand, the 1,000 or so Maccabi fans that had made the journey up north could take great pride in the superlative performances of some of the greatest names in Maccabi Tel Aviv history: A hat-trick for Itzik Zohar, a brace by Avi Nimni and individual efforts by Eli Driks and Meir Melika. And just two weeks later that same illustrious crew nearly repeated the feat, beating Hapoel Tzfiririm 6-0 at home. Hapoel Haifa, on the other hand, would revisit their nightmare just a month later, losing for a second time 0-7 at Ironi Ashdod.
1993/94 was an historic season in many respects, even if Maccabi Tel Aviv wound up losing the title to their northern namesakes. Both Maccabi teams were breaking records left, right, and centre, and for one of the fiercest and most dominant sides Maccabi Tel Aviv had ever fielded, the season itself opened in historic fashion. Not until November would Maccabi Tel Aviv drop their first points, after a record eleven consecutive league victories, a record that would only be equalled by Maccabi Haifa themselves in the 2005/06 season. In fact it was Maccabi Haifa who interrupted that remarkable run when they came for a visit at the end of October and walked away with a 1-1 draw. Despite the setback, Maccabi Tel Aviv maintained their form and finished the year with 27 league victories, seven draws and only five defeats the entire season. These superlative stats produced yet another record, the club's highest ever points total, 88 in all, a number that in any other season would have resulted in the league championship. Only in 1993/94 Maccabi Haifa were "invincible", losing not one of their 39 league matches all season, finishing seven points ahead of runners up Maccabi Tel Aviv. But the team could at least take solace from the fact that they knocked their northern rivals out of the prestigious State Cup competition in Haifa in the round of the last 16, before ultimately defeating municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in the finals. Also in the fact that they finished the season with a winning record at Kiryat Eliezer, having won there two matches and losing just once.
photograph courtesy of David Duak
