INFORMATION AND HISTORY:

Cellcom Galil Elyon Israel is one of the best teams in Israel all over the years.

The team has 3 titles since it qualified to the first division in Israel: Leumit, which became later to Leumit Alef, National A. Galil qualified to the top Israeli league in 1979, and since then it has never left the top league.

Cellcom Galil Elyon was named until 1/12/96 as Hapoel Galil Elyon. Hapoel is a sportive Israeli club which has many teams all over Israel. Most famous "Hapoel" (The Worker) team in Israel is Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Baketball and Soccer. In December 1996 Galil Elyon management decided to leave "Hapoel" unity and the team found a sponser called: "Bezeq - Pelephone 050". "Bezeq" is the phone company in Israel and it handle also a cellular phones company named "Pelephone 050". This company has agreed to sponser the team and so the team was called since then "Pelephone" Galil Elyon. The team is the first team in Israel to be sponsered only by a sponser and not also by a sportive unity such as "Hapoel" and "Maccabi". Galil has decided to leave "Hapoel" because it didn't give the team any budget, for many years. In Summer 1998, during the "Pickles Season", "Pelephone 050" decided not continue to sponser Galil Elyon. The new sponser is "Cellcom". Cellcom is another cellular phones company in Israel, the big competator of "Pelephone". Now, "Cellcom 052" is the new sponser of the team, and so the team is now called: Cellcom Galil Elyon.

Galil Elyon is a county in North Israel. It's a very complicate place with many problems such as unemployment and security problems. "Galil Elyon" (Upper Galilee) has a border with Lebanon and many times the "Hizballah" terrorists shoot "Katyusha" missles on the Galilee. It's very difficult to all the people in the Galilee and so the team is very important to all of them, a source of proud and success.

My name is Alon Molad, I live in Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, which is about 400 km from the Galilee. There are not many Galil's fans here. Most of the Basketball fans in Jerusalem are fans of Hapoel Jerusalem or Maccabi Tel-Aviv - The most popular team in Israel. I'm very proud to be a fan of the team, and I hope to get there as a Basketball Coach (I'm a youth Basketball Coach).

The team colors are White and Red as most of the "Hapoel" teams in Israel. The team is no longer connected to "Hapoel" but the colors remain. At Home Games the main color is White and on Away games the main color is Red.

"Cellcom" symbol is Blue and Red.

Cellcom Galil Elyon is playing in "Kfar Blum" Arena, and its capacity is 1200 but in very important games there are about 2000 fans in the arena.

TITLES:

Cellcom Galil Elyon has won 3 Israeli titles. Galil is the 3rd team in titles rankings in Israel, all over the History, after Maccabi Tel-Aviv with over 70 titles and Hapoel Tel-Aviv with over 15.

1987/1988 Season:

First ever title of Hapoel Galil Elyon (today Cellcom). Galil has won the Israeli National Cup after beating in the final game Elitzur Netanya.

1991/1992 Season:

Hapoel Galil Elyon wins its second title, again the Israeli National Cup, after beating in the final game Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion.

1992/1993 Season:

The Best season ever to Hapoel Galil Elyon. Hapoel Galil Elyon has won the CHAMPIONSHIP after beating in the Final Series, Best of 5, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 3-1.

In the Semi-Finals Series of the Play-offs, Hapoel Galil Elyon has made History, by wining in the best of 5 serie Maccabi Tel-Aviv 3-2. This was the first year after 23 years, since 1970, that Maccabi Tel-Aviv WAS NOT the Israeli Champion. Hapoel Galil Elyon won the most famous Championship ever, and became the team that stopped 23 straight Championships of Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

In this Season, Galil finished the regular season in the second place, after Hapoel Tel-Aviv, and before Macabi Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem. Hapoel Tel-Aviv won in the semi-finals Play-offs Hapoel Jerusalem 3-2, while Hapoel Galil Elyon did the same thing vs. Maccabi Tel-Aviv, using the advantage of Hosting 3 games (won them all, lost in Tel-Aviv twice).

No doubt that this amazing season is the most famous season in Israel in the last 20 years. The first season which in Maccabi lost its Championship since 1970.

LAST YEARS RESULTS:

1992/1993:

LEAGUE: CHAMPIONS !!!

EUROPE: 3rd place in European Cup for Teams (Cup Winners,Galil won          1991/1992 cup and represented Israel in this European cup).

1993/1994:

LEAGUE: 6th place only. Galil failed to qualify to the Top Play-Offs, the            Final Four and finished 6th after a really bad season, in the league in in Europe. Galil didn't keep the Champ title and Maccabi Tel-Aviv took it again.

CUP: Galil didn't qualified to the advanced rounds.

EUROPE: Galil played for its first time in the European Champions  Cup                representing Israel, but failed qualifying to the Groups Level vs. Gillford Kings from England. Galil got back to the European Teams Cup but didn't get to the amazing    success from the year before. (3rd place).

1994/1995:

LEAGUE: Hapoel Galil Elyon is back to the top. Galil Finished regular                 season 3rd, after Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Holon. Galil won in the Play-offs Hapoel Holon 3-1, without Host advantage (won the first game in Holon). In the Finals vs, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Galil didn't play well and lost 0-3.

CUP: Lost in the first round to.... Maccabi Hadera.... from National B...

EUROPE: European Korac Cup, nothing special there.

1995/1996:

LEAGUE: Galil surprised everyone and itself and finished 3rd. That season, Galil had a very young, un-experienced team, with many young talented players, but the predictions were that Galil will finished in the last place and for its first time will drop from the top league, since Galil got to it in 1979. Well, it didn't happen        :-).

CUP: well, now they were back also in the National cup, and Galil got to the Semi-Finals, but lost there to Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the last second shot of Doron Jamchi. Galil players claimed to an offensive foul before the shot was made, but nothing helped, and we lost. That day, I cried a lot, cause we were deserved to win the Champions, and the young players did their best in that game.

EUROPE: European Teams cup (2nd important cup). Didn't go well...

1996/1997:

LEAGUE: 5th place. Galil was very close to get to the play-offs (best 4) but        eventually finished only fifth in a little dissapointing season. Galil finished with 10 wins and 10 losses. Again, Very young players, almost the same roster as the 95/96 season, but this time, less surprising.

CUP: Galil qualified Automaticly to the second round because her results in           the last season cup game (semi-final). In the second Round, Galil has lost to Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion, after winning at the first game in 10 points lead and losing in Rishon, by 14....

EUROPE: European Teams Cup, Got to the groups round, but finished 5th of 6 teams, while first 4 qualifying to the next round...

In the middle of this season, Hapoel Galil Elyon Changed its name to Pelephone Galil Elyon. (1/12/96)

1997/1998:

LEAGUE: Pelephone Galil Elyon finished 5th in the league with 35 points, 13 wins and 9 losses (59%). Galil entered to the playoffs without the host advantage and played vs. Hapoel "Isracard" Jerusalem and lost 1-3. Galil will represent Israel in the Korac Cup next season.

CUP: Pelephone Galil Elyon made all the way to the state cup final. Galil passed Maccabi Rehovot in the first round, Maccabi Netanya in the second, Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel in the quarter-finals, and Hapoel Holon in the semi. Galil lost in the final, to Maccabi "Elite" Tel-Aviv, 70-83.

EUROPE: Pelephone Galil Elyon represented Israel in the european Korac Cup and did pretty well. Galil finished 1st in its group in the first round, with 5 wins and only 1 loss. Galil played in the second round vs. Montpellier from France and Galil passed them too. Then, in the 1/16 finals, Galil met the Cup winners, Mash Verona from Italy. Verona passed Galil, but not before lossing in the Galil, 83-86, with an amazing game of Pelephone Galil Elyon. In Italy, Galil lost 60-71 and finished its great european season, with overall of 7 wins, and only 3 losses (70%).
 

1998/1999:

LEAGUE: Cellcom Galil Elyon Finishes in the 6th place in "Orange League", after a lose to Hapoel Holon 1-2 in games in the Quarter-Finals of the Play-Offs. Maccabi Tel-Aviv won again the Champioship. Galil will play in European Korac Cup next season.

CUP: This year wasn't successful as the last one in the state cup. Galil qualified automaticly to the 2nd round, and failed to pass Hapoel Eilat, after a loss in Eilat by 22 points, and a win by 18 in Kfar Blum.

EUROPE: Galil finished last one in Group M in the European Korac Cup. Galil passed PAO Limassol in the qualifying round, but got a tough group with teams from Italy, Slovenia and Yugoslavia. Only 1 win of 6 games (vs. Centije-YUG) and Galil says goodbye to Europe.