Bnei Sakhnin F.C.

Bnei Sakhnin FC is an Arab football club, playing in Sakhnin Israel. The team created history when it became the first Arab team to win the Israeli Cup when they defeated Hapoel Haifa FC by 4 goals to 1 in May 2004. Sakhnin participated in the UEFA Cup of 2004/2005 reaching the first round after beating KF Partizani 6-1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. There, they lost to eventual quarter-finalists Newcastle United 7-1 on aggregate. Although Sakhnin only recently moved into Israel's Premier League, they've automatically become one of the more controversial teams, a result entirely of its Arab identity. Beitar Jerusalem FC , a long-time elite team, has legions of fans who take offense to the success of the Arab team. Every game between the two sides has resulted in fan violence, despite Sakhnin's Chairman Ghnaim's stated mission to create a "cultural rainbow" out of his small football club in the Galilee. Their victories against Beitar Jerusalem have caused that club's manager, former superstar forward Eli Okhana, to be blamed for the disintegration of the prestigious club by its fanatical loyalists. When Sakhnin won the State Cup, an obituary was sponsored by Beitar fans in Israel's leading daily Yediot Akhronot claiming that Israeli football was dead. A "leader" of the hooligans stated during Sakhnin's humiliating defeat of Beitar in October that he felt that Israel had lost to Al Qaeda. Sakhnin's own fans have been at the center of controversy regarding acceptable behavior at games, mostly springing from the culture of obsession regarding football that has dwarfed the games themselves. On January 29,2005 Sakhnin fans rioted at Haifa's Kiryat-Eliezer stadium during a match against Hapoel Tel-Aviv after a violent incident on the field between a team official and a referee, who earlier had shown red cards to two of Sakhnin players for rude fauls. It cost Sakhnin the penalty of no-crowd games. One characteristic that most distinguishes the club from most Israeli teams is the presence of so many local players on its roster, including their captain Abbas Suan . This puts them in sharp contrast to Maccabi Haifa , which has succeeded with players from across the world, as well as most other domestic clubs. v t e¹