Sammy Ofer Stadium of the city of Haifa, IsraelSammy Ofer Stadium
Sammy Ofer Stadium (Hebrew: אצטדיון סמי עופר), also known as Haifa Municipal Stadium (האצטדיון העירוני חיפה), is a 30,950 seats multi-purpose stadium in Haifa, Israel.[2] Construction began in late 2009 and was completed in 2014. The stadium was developed and built by the Haifa Economic Corporation, managed by Adv. Gal Peleg.
Currently, the stadium is used mostly for football matches, hosting the home games of Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa. The stadium replaced Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, which was closed in 2014 and demolished in 2015. The stadium is named after the late Israeli billionaire Sammy Ofer (1922–2011), who donated $20,000,000 to build the stadium. Ofer's contribution was 19% of the total cost of the stadium.
Statue of World Peace, a 15-meter high stainless steel sculpture created and donated by Chinese artist We Yuan Yan (Yao Yuan), adorns the stadium plaza.[3][4] The design features a woman and a dove poised as if about to take flight.
History
The World Peace Statue has stood on the stadium grounds since 2013
On 16 September 2008, the Haifa Construction Committee approved the stadium's plans and gave it the green light. In August 2009, official plans for the stadium were released. In September 2009, it has been announced that the works on building the foundations of the stadium would begin at the end of September 2009.
The first official match ever at Sammy Ofer Stadium was played on 27 August 2014. Hapoel Haifa hosted Hapoel Acre (Toto Cup) and won 2–0. The first historic goal in the new stadium was scored by Hapoel Haifa striker Tosaint Ricketts. The first league match was played on 15 September 2014. Maccabi Haifa hosted Bnei Sakhnin, who they defeated by a score of 4–2. The historic first goal by a Maccabi Haifa player was scored by Israeli national team midfielder Hen Ezra during stoppage time of the first half. Over 28,000 supporters were in attendance.[5]
The first concert at the stadium was by Omer Adam on 24 May 2018, there were 30,000 people in the audience, and all the tickets were sold within an hour of being released.[8][9]
Milestones and Records
On 5 January 2017, four goals were scored by a single player at the stadium for the first time, when Hanan Maman scored in Hapoel Haifa's 6–1 victory over Kfar Qassem in a cup match.[10] On 7 February 2022, this achievement was repeated, when Omer Atzili scored in Maccabi Haifa's 6–0 win over F.C. Ashdod in the Israeli Premier League.[11]
In the 2022–23 Israeli Premier League, Maccabi Haifa won their third consecutive championship, with a home record of 18 wins, one draw, and no losses, accumulating 52 points out of a possible 54.[12]
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