Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 4.37

The Haifa Municipal Stadium, more commonly known as Kiryat Eliezer, was a multi-use stadium in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It was mostly used for football matches and as the home stadium of Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa. It was replaced by the new Sammy Ofer Stadium at the southern entrance to the city in 2014.BackgroundThe stadium was built in 1955, as a gift from the Italian Labour Union. It seats 14,002 among its 14 gates. Ownership of the stadium belonged to the Municipality of Haifa, though it was managed by a suborganization called ETHOS. The stadium was officially opened on 14 September 1955, with a match between Haifa XI and Tel Aviv XI. On 24 September 1955 the first Haifa derby was played at the stadium, with Maccabi beating Hapoel 4-1. Both clubs had previously played at Kiryat Haim Stadium in the Kerayot area of Haifa. The first match played at the stadium, while it was being built, was held during the 1953 Maccabiah Games, between Israel and Finland.The stadium did not meet UEFA's highest standards forcing the clubs in Haifa to host their European matches in the Tel Aviv area. At certain times, UEFA also has limited clubs from outside the Tel Aviv area from hosting even low level European qualifiers citing security concerns.