Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. () (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish sports clubs. The team promoted to first division at 2019/20 after only one season in second division (Liga Leumit). History The club was founded in 1912 by a group of Jewish students from Petah Tikva, who were studying in the Ottoman city of Constantinople (many of them would later serve in the Ottoman army during World War I), making it the second oldest Jewish football club in Israel after Maccabi Tel Aviv, which was formed in 1906. In 1921, after the death of founder member Avshalom Gisin during the 1921 Palestine riots, the club added his name to the club's name, and the club was named "Maccabi Avshalom Petah Tikva". In 1927 the club moved to the Maccabi Petah Tikva Ground, where they would play until the 1970s. In 1935 they won their first piece of silverware, beating Hakoah Tel Aviv 1–0 in the cup final. In 1939 they reached the final again, but lost 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv. The following year they won the Haaretz tournament. The club was included in the new Israeli League in 1949, and finished fifth in the inaugural post-independence league table. In the next season (1951–52 – there was no 1950–51 edition) they finished as runners-up to champions Maccabi Tel Aviv and also won the State Cup, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0. In 1953–54 (1952–53 was also not played) they also finished second with Eliezer Spiegel finishing as the league's top goalscorer on 16 goals from 22 matches. After several seasons of mid-table finishes, Maccabi finished bottom of the table in 1962–63 (a season in which the club were deducted 3 points due to suspicions of bribery during a game with Maccabi Jaffa) and were due to be relegated to Liga Alef. However, the Israel Football Association decided to expand the league from 12 to 15 clubs and they were spared demotion. However, the club was relegated at the end of the 1965–66 season after finishing second from bottom. After two seasons in Liga Alef (one of which – 1966–68 Liga Leumit – lasted for two years) the club returned to the top division in 1969. At the end of the 1970–71 season the club was