Maccabi will begin their 88th State Cup run as they host Hapoel Jerusalem at Bloomfield on Saturday.
Maccabi appeared in 37 State Cup Finals and lifted the Cup 24 times – ore than any other Israeli club.
Maccabi played their first ever State Cup tie on April 7th 1928 beating Maccabi Petah Tikva 5-2 in the Round of 16.
Maccabi’s final Cup match was against Maccabi Peta Tikva losing 2-4 in extra time to suffer a Quarter Final exit (5 days short of 96 years before bot sides met for the first time in the competition).
Over the years Maccabi faced 85 different opponents. Maccabi Petah Tikva was the opposition that met Maccabi in the Cup more than any other club (25), with Hapoel Tel Aviv (20) and Maccabi Haifa (19) in second and third.
Benny Tabak leads Maccabi’s top scorers chart in the Cup with 31 goals to his name.
Miko Belo made the most appearances for Maccabi in the Cup, wearing the Yellow and Blue strip on 75 matches.
Jerry Beit Halevi led Maccabi to the most State Cup’s winning Israel’s primary cup competition 4 times (1954, 1955, 1964 and 1965).
Maccabi advanced past the first round of the cup 79 times (90.8% )and were knocked out 8 times holding the highest success rate in Israel.
Saturday’s State Cup tie against Hapoel Jerusalem will be the 6th encounter between the two clubs in the first round of entry. Jerusalem met Maccabi at this stage more than any other club. Maccabi advanced on four occasions (1942, 1964, 1966 and 1996) while Jerusalem knocked them out in 2012.
