I have decided to make a thread that hopefully will be a sticky thread so that viewers of the Beitar forum can come and get some information about Beitar and its Football club better. So hopefully with History, State cup wins and legends we can give people some information about Beitar that they didnt know about 
Beitar Jerusalem FC
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The Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים; Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayyim, also known as Beitar Yerushalayyim is one of the most popular sports franchises in the Middle East, as well as one of the most controversial off the field. Beitar Jerusalem is the Israeli football team with the largest following, and the second largest of all of Israeli sports clubs (next to Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club). They play in Teddy Kollek Memorial Stadium (capacity c. 23,000) in the Malkha complex in Jerusalem, nicknamed Gehinnom("Hell") for the hostile atmosphere they present to visiting teams and their fans.
Early History
Two Jerusalemites, David Horn and Shmuel Kirschstein, decided in 1936 to form a local football team. David Horn was the local chief of Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist (liberal nationalist) Party, a pre-statehood Zionist movement. To this day Beitar fans are generally identified with that movement's successor party, the Likud or other right-wing groups. The leaders of the youth federation saw this as a project to produce a football club with Beitar's self-defined qualities of Hadar (self-respect) and Hod (glory). The earliest squad was composed entirely of Beitar youth members, including a future government minister, Chaim Corfu. They played initially at the "banana field" close to Beitar youth group's "nest".
Political Interferences
Beitar's association with the Revisionist Party quickly brought them into conflict with the British authorities of that time, as well as the fans of Hapoel Jerusalem, a team connected with the Jewish socialist Israel Workers Party (Mapai) in the years 1939-48. Most Beitar players were also secretly members of the Revisionist-affiliated National Military Organization (Irgun Zva'i Leumi) or extremist Freedom Fighters of Israel (Lekhi), two groups in open rebellion against Britain's control over Palestine. In the 1940s the British arrested most of the group's players, exiling them to Eritrea and Kenya along with many Irgun and Lekhi leaders. Part of their defiance (which also included legendary prison escapes) was the forming of the Beitar Eritrea side that included Micah Aharoni, Corfu, and the goalie Moshe Baruch. In 1948 the British Mandate ended and the interned players were repatriated to the new State of Israel.
Nordia Jerusalem FC
During the internment era, David Horn refused to suspend management of the Jerusalem club, and renamed it Nordia Jerusalem so as to deny ties with the Irgun. Most of the Nordia players nevertheless came from Beitar Youth's ranks, including their legendary striker Simon Alfasi. He soon formed the backbone of an offensive group that included Yisrael Yekhezkel and Aharon "Iron Leg" Khason.
Beitar in the 1950's
Beitar started the 1950s in the Bet (B) League, then Israel's no. 2 level of competition after the Aleph (A) League. In 1953 they succeeded in rising to the A League, but the same year fell back. In 1958 they won the B League championship, but were denied a chance to qualify due to a realignment in league structures that left them in the no. 2 league, now called the A League.
Beitar in the 1960's
Beitar Jerusalem now had one goal in mind: To qualify to play in the top league, then known as the National League. Their roster then included Dr. Raul Geller, Shaul Mizrahi and Udi Rabowitch among others. In the 1967-68 season that followed the June 1967 reunification of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, Beitar clinched the A League regular season title against Ramat Amidar. They had accomplished their decades long dream.
Beitar in the 1970's
The team manager in the early 1970s was Imannuel Sheffer, a practice coach for the national squad. He discovered Uri Malmilian, a 16-year-old who Sheffer promoted to the adult squad and who helped them evolve from virtually a pick-up squad to a more practiced, strategic squad. Beitar soon made headlines the wrong way for the first time during a 1975 match against Hapoel Petakh Tiqwa, one of the best teams historically, when their fans charged the field and attacked Hapoel PT players and fans. This caused the first of many "radius" penalties in club history, and they were forced to play several home games in another city without an audience. Also that year the club was supposed to descend one league, but instead was saved by the intervention of Members of Knesset Ehud Olmert (Likud, also ex-Beitar Youth) and Yossi Sarid (Civil Rights group; today a leading critic of Beitar fans).They suspended the descension of Beitar and called for an investigation of Israeli Football Association corruption.
This salvation proved to be a burst of stimulant in Beitar. In 1976, under coach Nissim Bechar, they won their first State Cup title, defeating Maccabi Tel-Aviv, which had 8 Cup titles to its name, 2:1 in the final. They also came in second in the more important championship (points) play to Hapoel Beer Sheva. In 1979 they once again downed Mac T-A by the same score in the Cup final under manager Shimon Shenhar.
Beitar in the 1980's
In 1980 Beitar Jerusalem's potentially historic season cascaded in the face of a season-ending injury to striker Uri Malmilian. The team finished the season at the bottom of the National League, and fell to the A League. The following season a new striker, Eli Ohana, joined the team, and became the face of the modern club. Ohana was well-known for being perhaps the most competitive player in modern Israeli football, and by 1983-84 Beitar was the top team in the National League, the champions' tier of Israeli football. The last game of that season was between Beitar and Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem needed a win or a tie to clinch their first title. But Hapoel's legendary Moshe Sinai foiled it in a tight game that gave the title to 2nd place Maccabi Haifa. The bitter defeat created a deep-seated hatred between Beitar and Hapoel fans that has not cooled with the times and only seems to get more violent.
In 1985 Beitar moved on by defeating Mac. Haifa 1:0 in the State Cup Final for their third title, and in 1986 they once again took the final against Beitar/Samson Tel Aviv, then a growing power in Israeli football, in the premier season of manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan did not fluke on his early success, and in 1987, Beitar played a full season in Tel Aviv's Bloomfield stadium and became champions. That years roster included Malmilian, Eli Ohana, Yossi Mizrahi (the "suicidal goalee"), Hanan Adolai, Shlomo Shirazi, Avi Cohen, Sammy Malkha, Yakov Schwartz, Udi Ashash, Meir Kadosh, Gary Wandermolin, and Avi Golder. In the postseason Ohana signed with KV Mechlen of the Belgian league and was one of their leaders on the way to their first and only European Supercup title. In 1989 Beitar once again took the State Cup final, this time winning on penalty kicks against Mac. Haifa.
Beitar in the 1990's
Beitar disintegrated in 1990-91, and was relegated to the second league, then called "Liga Artzit" (country wide league). Ohana returned the next season, and the squad returned to the first ("National") League under Lupa Kadosh's unpopular but effective conservative tactics. Kadosh was then sacked, and replaced by the popular former manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan lived up to the expectations and more, winning the national title for 1992-93. Afterward (1995) came manager Eli Cohen, who built one of Israel's all time greatest teams. This squad won the 1996-97 championship and repeated the achievement in the following season, this time under Dror Kashtan who thus won his third cap with Beitar. Kashtan went on to train the team in the dreary 98-99 season, which ended in a loss on penalty shootout in the cup final. After this traumatic game, the helm was passed to Kashtan's disciple, Eli Ohana. Ohana's first year as a manager was less than mediocre, despite the fortunate draw that allowed the team to cruise all the way to the cup final, where it lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv 1:3 on penalty kicks (2:2 in regulation).
However, the end of the 90's marked more than the end of good football in Jerusalem. Due to the scandalous financial management of Moshe Dadash, the legendary chairman, Beitar found itself bankrupt and devoid of assets. Dadash sold the team's training grounds, pocketed 6 million shekels from the purchase money and sold the team to a business group led by businessman Kobi Ben Gur.
The Slowdown of Beitar
Ohana was fired after the 1999-2000 season when Hapoel T-A downed Beitar in the second straight Cup final 1:4 on penalty kicks (2:2 regulation). He was replaced by Eli Gutman, who was helped by the signing of Croation star midfielder Giovanni Rosso. But Gutman's conservative "bunker" style strategy made him a fan target for derision, and he was soon fired as well, a move that ended the directorship of Gad Ze'evi and moved it into the hands of the group that previously bought the team's training grounds - Meir Fenigel, Meir & Shaul Levi and Sasson Shem Tov. The next few seasons showed a Beitar club barely surviving. Rosso signed with Maccabi Haifa and led them to two championships while Beitar struggled to make budgets.
Political Problems
In recent years Beitar has made several coups in the way of personnel, including reeling in superstar forward Avi Nimni from Mac. Tel-Aviv (Nov. 2003), Brazilian Indio Ferreira as defender, Tal Banin at midfielder, and retaining Itzik Cornfein, a holdover from the '90s, at goalee. However the decade saw off-the-field events that hurt the club immensely. The Second Intifadeh demolished attendance in Jerusalem, where many bus bombings occurred and citizens were afraid to go to public events. Fan incidents began to explode as frustration over a crumbling employment sector spilled over often among working class football fans, especially those in Jerusalem. By the time Nimni, Ferreira, and the current roster were signed, Fenigel and Levi knew that the club was in financial straits and urged players to take smaller salaries than their contracts stated. Another important move was an attempt to revive Eli Ohana as manager, a move that in 2004-05 led to tensions between himself and Nimni. Ohana has currently been confirmed as coach for next season. But neither of the two past and present superstars have been able to change the club more than moving it out of the basement and into the middle of the pack.
Beitar 2005 to Present
n the summer of 2005, Beitar experienced a worrying trend of financial woes and player desertions. The first was the long-expected return of Nimni to Mac. Tel-Aviv. At the same time Beitar signed the Congolese forwards Jeff Totuana and Mezue Ansombo from Hapoel Haifa to compensate. Then midfielder Tal Banin left the team for Maccabi Natanya.
Then in August a bombshell was laid on Israeli football when Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaidamak bought the club from cash-strapped owners Meir Fenijel and Meir Levi. Gaidamak promised to revitalize the clubs, but has rapidly been wrapped in a wave of controversy. Gaidamak is under investigation in France for dealing arms to the Angolan government. He also enraged many Beitar fans when he donated $400 thousand to Bnei Sakhnin in a diplomatic gesture, and when he remarked that Eli Ohana was unfit to be a manager and that his days were numbered. Ohana within days quit the team on August 10 after an embarrassing home loss to Hapoel Nazareth Illit, leaving the team without a manager and with a skeleton roster. Gaidamak earlier announced he would sign an Arab player, a promise he rapidly revoked because of fan opposition.
At the moment Beitar is seen as a major challenger to Maccabi Haifa. The team looks like returning to it's best days, all thanks to Arkady Gaidamak.
Beitar Jerusalem FC
The Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים; Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayyim, also known as Beitar Yerushalayyim is one of the most popular sports franchises in the Middle East, as well as one of the most controversial off the field. Beitar Jerusalem is the Israeli football team with the largest following, and the second largest of all of Israeli sports clubs (next to Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club). They play in Teddy Kollek Memorial Stadium (capacity c. 23,000) in the Malkha complex in Jerusalem, nicknamed Gehinnom("Hell") for the hostile atmosphere they present to visiting teams and their fans.
Early History
Two Jerusalemites, David Horn and Shmuel Kirschstein, decided in 1936 to form a local football team. David Horn was the local chief of Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist (liberal nationalist) Party, a pre-statehood Zionist movement. To this day Beitar fans are generally identified with that movement's successor party, the Likud or other right-wing groups. The leaders of the youth federation saw this as a project to produce a football club with Beitar's self-defined qualities of Hadar (self-respect) and Hod (glory). The earliest squad was composed entirely of Beitar youth members, including a future government minister, Chaim Corfu. They played initially at the "banana field" close to Beitar youth group's "nest".
Political Interferences
Beitar's association with the Revisionist Party quickly brought them into conflict with the British authorities of that time, as well as the fans of Hapoel Jerusalem, a team connected with the Jewish socialist Israel Workers Party (Mapai) in the years 1939-48. Most Beitar players were also secretly members of the Revisionist-affiliated National Military Organization (Irgun Zva'i Leumi) or extremist Freedom Fighters of Israel (Lekhi), two groups in open rebellion against Britain's control over Palestine. In the 1940s the British arrested most of the group's players, exiling them to Eritrea and Kenya along with many Irgun and Lekhi leaders. Part of their defiance (which also included legendary prison escapes) was the forming of the Beitar Eritrea side that included Micah Aharoni, Corfu, and the goalie Moshe Baruch. In 1948 the British Mandate ended and the interned players were repatriated to the new State of Israel.
Nordia Jerusalem FC
During the internment era, David Horn refused to suspend management of the Jerusalem club, and renamed it Nordia Jerusalem so as to deny ties with the Irgun. Most of the Nordia players nevertheless came from Beitar Youth's ranks, including their legendary striker Simon Alfasi. He soon formed the backbone of an offensive group that included Yisrael Yekhezkel and Aharon "Iron Leg" Khason.
Beitar in the 1950's
Beitar started the 1950s in the Bet (B) League, then Israel's no. 2 level of competition after the Aleph (A) League. In 1953 they succeeded in rising to the A League, but the same year fell back. In 1958 they won the B League championship, but were denied a chance to qualify due to a realignment in league structures that left them in the no. 2 league, now called the A League.
Beitar in the 1960's
Beitar Jerusalem now had one goal in mind: To qualify to play in the top league, then known as the National League. Their roster then included Dr. Raul Geller, Shaul Mizrahi and Udi Rabowitch among others. In the 1967-68 season that followed the June 1967 reunification of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, Beitar clinched the A League regular season title against Ramat Amidar. They had accomplished their decades long dream.
Beitar in the 1970's
The team manager in the early 1970s was Imannuel Sheffer, a practice coach for the national squad. He discovered Uri Malmilian, a 16-year-old who Sheffer promoted to the adult squad and who helped them evolve from virtually a pick-up squad to a more practiced, strategic squad. Beitar soon made headlines the wrong way for the first time during a 1975 match against Hapoel Petakh Tiqwa, one of the best teams historically, when their fans charged the field and attacked Hapoel PT players and fans. This caused the first of many "radius" penalties in club history, and they were forced to play several home games in another city without an audience. Also that year the club was supposed to descend one league, but instead was saved by the intervention of Members of Knesset Ehud Olmert (Likud, also ex-Beitar Youth) and Yossi Sarid (Civil Rights group; today a leading critic of Beitar fans).They suspended the descension of Beitar and called for an investigation of Israeli Football Association corruption.
This salvation proved to be a burst of stimulant in Beitar. In 1976, under coach Nissim Bechar, they won their first State Cup title, defeating Maccabi Tel-Aviv, which had 8 Cup titles to its name, 2:1 in the final. They also came in second in the more important championship (points) play to Hapoel Beer Sheva. In 1979 they once again downed Mac T-A by the same score in the Cup final under manager Shimon Shenhar.
Beitar in the 1980's
In 1980 Beitar Jerusalem's potentially historic season cascaded in the face of a season-ending injury to striker Uri Malmilian. The team finished the season at the bottom of the National League, and fell to the A League. The following season a new striker, Eli Ohana, joined the team, and became the face of the modern club. Ohana was well-known for being perhaps the most competitive player in modern Israeli football, and by 1983-84 Beitar was the top team in the National League, the champions' tier of Israeli football. The last game of that season was between Beitar and Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem needed a win or a tie to clinch their first title. But Hapoel's legendary Moshe Sinai foiled it in a tight game that gave the title to 2nd place Maccabi Haifa. The bitter defeat created a deep-seated hatred between Beitar and Hapoel fans that has not cooled with the times and only seems to get more violent.
In 1985 Beitar moved on by defeating Mac. Haifa 1:0 in the State Cup Final for their third title, and in 1986 they once again took the final against Beitar/Samson Tel Aviv, then a growing power in Israeli football, in the premier season of manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan did not fluke on his early success, and in 1987, Beitar played a full season in Tel Aviv's Bloomfield stadium and became champions. That years roster included Malmilian, Eli Ohana, Yossi Mizrahi (the "suicidal goalee"), Hanan Adolai, Shlomo Shirazi, Avi Cohen, Sammy Malkha, Yakov Schwartz, Udi Ashash, Meir Kadosh, Gary Wandermolin, and Avi Golder. In the postseason Ohana signed with KV Mechlen of the Belgian league and was one of their leaders on the way to their first and only European Supercup title. In 1989 Beitar once again took the State Cup final, this time winning on penalty kicks against Mac. Haifa.
Beitar in the 1990's
Beitar disintegrated in 1990-91, and was relegated to the second league, then called "Liga Artzit" (country wide league). Ohana returned the next season, and the squad returned to the first ("National") League under Lupa Kadosh's unpopular but effective conservative tactics. Kadosh was then sacked, and replaced by the popular former manager Dror Kashtan. Kashtan lived up to the expectations and more, winning the national title for 1992-93. Afterward (1995) came manager Eli Cohen, who built one of Israel's all time greatest teams. This squad won the 1996-97 championship and repeated the achievement in the following season, this time under Dror Kashtan who thus won his third cap with Beitar. Kashtan went on to train the team in the dreary 98-99 season, which ended in a loss on penalty shootout in the cup final. After this traumatic game, the helm was passed to Kashtan's disciple, Eli Ohana. Ohana's first year as a manager was less than mediocre, despite the fortunate draw that allowed the team to cruise all the way to the cup final, where it lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv 1:3 on penalty kicks (2:2 in regulation).
However, the end of the 90's marked more than the end of good football in Jerusalem. Due to the scandalous financial management of Moshe Dadash, the legendary chairman, Beitar found itself bankrupt and devoid of assets. Dadash sold the team's training grounds, pocketed 6 million shekels from the purchase money and sold the team to a business group led by businessman Kobi Ben Gur.
The Slowdown of Beitar
Ohana was fired after the 1999-2000 season when Hapoel T-A downed Beitar in the second straight Cup final 1:4 on penalty kicks (2:2 regulation). He was replaced by Eli Gutman, who was helped by the signing of Croation star midfielder Giovanni Rosso. But Gutman's conservative "bunker" style strategy made him a fan target for derision, and he was soon fired as well, a move that ended the directorship of Gad Ze'evi and moved it into the hands of the group that previously bought the team's training grounds - Meir Fenigel, Meir & Shaul Levi and Sasson Shem Tov. The next few seasons showed a Beitar club barely surviving. Rosso signed with Maccabi Haifa and led them to two championships while Beitar struggled to make budgets.
Political Problems
In recent years Beitar has made several coups in the way of personnel, including reeling in superstar forward Avi Nimni from Mac. Tel-Aviv (Nov. 2003), Brazilian Indio Ferreira as defender, Tal Banin at midfielder, and retaining Itzik Cornfein, a holdover from the '90s, at goalee. However the decade saw off-the-field events that hurt the club immensely. The Second Intifadeh demolished attendance in Jerusalem, where many bus bombings occurred and citizens were afraid to go to public events. Fan incidents began to explode as frustration over a crumbling employment sector spilled over often among working class football fans, especially those in Jerusalem. By the time Nimni, Ferreira, and the current roster were signed, Fenigel and Levi knew that the club was in financial straits and urged players to take smaller salaries than their contracts stated. Another important move was an attempt to revive Eli Ohana as manager, a move that in 2004-05 led to tensions between himself and Nimni. Ohana has currently been confirmed as coach for next season. But neither of the two past and present superstars have been able to change the club more than moving it out of the basement and into the middle of the pack.
Beitar 2005 to Present
n the summer of 2005, Beitar experienced a worrying trend of financial woes and player desertions. The first was the long-expected return of Nimni to Mac. Tel-Aviv. At the same time Beitar signed the Congolese forwards Jeff Totuana and Mezue Ansombo from Hapoel Haifa to compensate. Then midfielder Tal Banin left the team for Maccabi Natanya.
Then in August a bombshell was laid on Israeli football when Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaidamak bought the club from cash-strapped owners Meir Fenijel and Meir Levi. Gaidamak promised to revitalize the clubs, but has rapidly been wrapped in a wave of controversy. Gaidamak is under investigation in France for dealing arms to the Angolan government. He also enraged many Beitar fans when he donated $400 thousand to Bnei Sakhnin in a diplomatic gesture, and when he remarked that Eli Ohana was unfit to be a manager and that his days were numbered. Ohana within days quit the team on August 10 after an embarrassing home loss to Hapoel Nazareth Illit, leaving the team without a manager and with a skeleton roster. Gaidamak earlier announced he would sign an Arab player, a promise he rapidly revoked because of fan opposition.
At the moment Beitar is seen as a major challenger to Maccabi Haifa. The team looks like returning to it's best days, all thanks to Arkady Gaidamak.
