page_title: Netanya
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Netanya / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: Golden Ball sculpture in Netanya Stadium עברית: פסל כדור הזהב באצטדיון נתניה, Original Image Name:פסל כדור הזהב באצטדיון נתניה, Location:אצטדיון נתניה
context_page_description: Netanya is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is 30 km north of Tel Aviv, and 56 km south of Haifa, between Nahal Poleg and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north. Netanya was named in honor of Nathan Straus, a prominent Jewish American merchant and philanthropist in the early 20th century who was the co-owner of Macy's department store.
  Its 14 kilometres of beaches have made the city a popular tourist resort.
  In 2019, it had a population of 221,353, making it the 7th largest city in Israel. An additional 150,000 people live in the local and regional councils within 10 kilometres of Netanya which serves as a regional center for them. The city mayor is Miriam Feirberg.
context_section_description: The main stadiums in Netanya are the 13,610-seat Netanya Stadium. Netanya has three football teams, the main being Maccabi Netanya, whose main local rival is Beitar Nes Tubruk. The third is Maccabi HaSharon Netanya, though the team has been limited to fourth tier football in the Liga Bet. Elitzur Netanya represents the city in the first tier of Israeli basketball. In handball, the city is represented by Hapoel Netanya in the 2nd tier of the Israeli handball. In baseball, the city was represented by the Netanya Tigers of the Israel Baseball League. As part of the "Netanya – city of sport" program the beach soccer stadium was established and it currently hosts Israeli championship and international "Diamond tournament" games.
  Aside from the professional sport teams, Maccabi Netanya also has a boxing and fencing club while Hapoel Netanya has judo and gymnastic clubs, and Elitzur Netanya has a lacrosse club.
  The founder of Krav Maga, Imi Lichtenfeld opened a sports academy in Netanya for the continuation of his way and his martial art.
  Netanya is also the home of paragliding in Israel. The moderate cliffs plus a stiff offshore breeze provide an ideal environment for safe and fun comfortable paragliding. Gliders are often seen cruising high above the beach, just along the cliff line.
  Netanya was scheduled to host the 2015 European Short Course Swimming Championships in December. The venue of the event was to be the brand new swimming complex of the Wingate Institute. The new complex at the Wingate Institute features an Olympic-size pool with 10 lanes and 3m depth, backed by the latest built-in filtration systems, an 8-lane 50m pool and a 6-lane 25m pool.
  Netanya hosted the World Lacrosse Championship tournament on July 12–21, 2018, thus making Israel the first country to host such where English is not the primary spoken language. Forty-six nations from around the world sent teams.
caption: Netanya's Stadium and the Golden Ball sculpture
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