While the Middle East is waiting anxiously for some more live football, the only two active leagues in the past week were Syria and Israel.
The beauty of the Levantine game is that you don’t need too many leagues to find fascinating football stories. They literally find you. Despite both competitions played behind closed doors, this week was all about the fans - Middle Eastern football fans.
The Roof Is On Fire
The Syrian league was the first league to return from the coronavirus break and it did it with style.
On Saturday, Tishreen of Latakia faced eternal champions, Al-Jaish, and the two produced an eventful 2-2 draw, that saw the beach city club remain on top of the table.
In Aleppo, local Ittihad hosted Al-Shorta from Damascus. The city that was among the places which suffered the most during the Syrian civil war created one of the most optimistic views in world football this week. After Ittihad scored the first goal, there were cheers and singing that was coming from… the buildings around the stadium!
One roof hosted Ittihad fans, and there was no social distancing over there.
Yet, once must admit, it was a marvelous view.
Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv
Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, hosted two great encounters of Israeli football this week: The heated rivalry between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem, and the match of the season between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa.
Hapoel Tel Aviv is definitely one of the teams that enjoyed the break and took it as a chance to improve. Two victories out of two since coming back from the pandemic, as the 3-0 against arch-rivals Beitar Jerusalem was a genuine reason for the Red fans to celebrate. They were gathering outside of the stadium and watched the games in nearby pubs. So how do you celebrate a victory when fans are not present? Just watch this video:
A day later, on Wednesday, Maccabi Tel Aviv hosted their rivals from Haifa in a game that was the unofficial title decider. The Yellows produced a display that left no room for questions, won 2-0, opened a 12 point gap in the top of the table. The second championship title in-a-row looks like a definitive fact now, and of course the players went to the terrace to celebrate with the fans, who lightened the streets of Jaffa with flairs.
It’s their season, it’s their year and no pandemic can stop them.
Jerusalem’s Red Side Revival
A significant event took place in Jerusalem this week. 13 years ago a group of Hapoel Jerusalem fans decided to leave the club and create an alternative to owner Yossi Sassi - who led their beloved team to drown in debts, slowly relegating its way down the leagues. They called this team Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem, and it is the first fan-owned club in Israeli football.
During the years the teams even played each other in the second division a few times, in what created a severe dispute and conflict within Jerusalem’s red side. Hapoel Jerusalem’s original club kept suffering and reached its lowest point this year - for the first time since 1926, Hapoel Jerusalem didn’t sign up for the league, and practically stopped existing as a professional club. This situation, together with other administrative combinations, has opened the chance for Hapoel Katamon to acquire the name ‘Hapoel Jerusalem’ and complete the mission its fans started 13 years ago.
This week, the members of Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem voted whether to fulfill this option, and 77% of them were supportive of the idea of changing the club’s name ‘back’ to Hapoel Jerusalem.
It will take a few more details until the teams actually unite and merge into one club, but one thing is sure - after the fans will accomplish their goal, Jerusalem’s red side will uprise again, and the city won’t be famous due to Beitar Jerusalem alone.
The Jerusalemite ‘workers’ are coming back!
