| Hapoel Eilat | |
| Nickname: | "Ha Krishim" (The Sharks) |
| Leagues: | Israeli Basketball Premier League |
| Arena: | Begin Arena |
| Capacity: | 1200 |
| Location: | Eilat, Israel |
| Colors: | Blue, Black |
| President: | Tal Pinchas |
| Manager: | Oren Almog |
| Coach: | Jurica Golemac |
| Captain: | Tyrus McGee |
| H Body: | 66CCFF |
| H Pattern B: | _thinblacksides |
| H Shorts: | 66CCFF |
| A Body: | 000000 |
| A Pattern B: | _lightbluesides |
| A Shorts: | 000000 |
Hapoel Eilat (Hebrew: הפועל אילת), for sponsorship reasons named Hapoel Yossi Avrahami Eilat, is an Israeli basketball club.[1] [2] [3] The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli basketball. The team represents the far-South region of the country - the Arabah area, and the Red Sea city of Eilat.
The team earned promotion to the First Division (known variously as Ligat HaAl, the Super League, or the Israeli Basketball Premier League) for the first time in the 1990–91 season, while being coached by Arik Shivek.
In the 1996–97 season, the team lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the playoff semi-finals. A year later the team reached the finals, in which it lost 0-3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In early 2000, the team found itself in serious financial difficulties, which resulted in relegation to the Second Division (Liga Leumit, or the National League). Later the team disbanded, and re-established in the lowest league.
In the 2010–11 season, the team won the Association Cup, the cup of the lower leagues, after beating Maccabi Kiryat Bialik in the final.
In June 2012, the team gained the license of Habik'a B.C. to play in the Israeli Basketball Super League, starting with the 2012–13 season.
In June 2015, the team knocked out Israeli basketball powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Basketball Premier League semi-finals, winning 3–2 in a best-of-five series. The team faced Hapoel Jerusalem in the finals, but lost.
| Season | Tier | League | Postseason | State Cup | League Cup | European competitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | 3 | Liga Artzit | 4th | colspan=2 | ||||
| 2011–12 | 3rd | colspan=2 | ||||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | Premier League | align=center bgcolor=cc9966 | 3rd | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | |
| 2013–14 | 5th | Semifinalist | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | Semifinalist | colspan=2 | ||
| 2014–15 | 4th | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | ||
| 2015–16 | 4th | Semifinalist | Round of 16 | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | colspan=2 | ||
| 2016–17 | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2nd | Quarterfinalist | Round of 16 | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | ||
| 2017–18 | 7th | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | |||
| 2018–19 | 4th | Semifinalist | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | |||
| 2019–20 | 10th | Round of 16 | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | ||||
| 2020–21 | 4th | Semifinalist | Round of 16 | Quarterfinalist | Balkan League | |||
| 2021–22 | align=center rowspan=2 | 9th | Runners-up | Champions League | Qualifying rounds | |||
| Europe Cup | Regular season | |||||||
| 2022–23 | 11th | — | Quarterfinalist | colspan=2 | ||||
| 2023–24 | bgcolor=#FFBBBB align=center | 13th | First round | First round | ||||
Chealey, Joe 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – 1 November 1995 PG 5 Israel Jorno, Koren 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) 24 – 21 November 1998 CG 55 Israel
Runners-up: 1998, 2015
Runners-up: 2014
Winners: 1991
Champions (1): 2011
Even though Eilat has constantly qualified for European basketball they choose not to participate due to financial difficulties.
