← Back to lessons
Hapoel Jerusalem (basketball) won the EuroCup 2024, the second-tier European trophy and a major Israeli sporting milestone. The club was founded in 1942, plays in red and yellow at Pais Arena (~11,000 capacity), and has a strong fan culture organized around "Shevet Achim" (the brotherhood tribe). Nicknames include "HaSlavim" (the Slaves) and "HaTzuyivim" (the Yellow). Owner Ofer Yannay's group bankrolls the project, and the 2024 EuroCup title broke Maccabi Tel Aviv's near-monopoly on Israeli basketball glory.
Cultural note, Hapoel Jerusalem is the political-cultural opposite of Beitar Jerusalem (football, right-wing). Hapoel basketball draws secular, mixed-religious, often left-leaning Jerusalemites. Pais Arena games have a distinct atmosphere: smaller than Maccabi\'s Menora Mivtachim, but louder per fan. Hapoel won the FIBA EuroChallenge in 2004 and the EuroCup in 2024, its biggest titles. The 2024 win sent the city into spontaneous celebration: Pais Arena exploded, and Mahane Yehuda market hosted street parties deep into the night.
Hapoel Jerusalem Basics
Rivals & Other Clubs
Other Hapoel Sports
Sports Fan Vocabulary
Hapoel Wins the EuroCup 2024
Two Jerusalem fans recount the night Hapoel Jerusalem won the EuroCup.