The 2008–09 Israel State Cup (Hebrew: גביע המדינה, Gvia HaMedina) was the seventy-sixth season of Israel's nationwide football cup competition and the fifty-fifth after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. It started on September 5, 2008 while the final was held at Ramat Gan Stadium on May 26, 2009. The defending champions and this year's winners, Beitar Jerusalem, should have qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, but due to licensing difficulties will not participate in any European competition, as explained here. Since cup runners-up Maccabi Haifa already qualified for second qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, all three Europa League spots will be awarded to highest placed teams in the league other than Maccabi Haifa and Beitar.
Read more about 2008–09 Israel State Cup: Calendar
Famous quotes containing the words israel, state and/or cup:
“The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“Oh, the holiness of always being the injured party. The historically oppressed can find not only sanctity but safety in the state of victimization. When access to a better life has been denied often enough, and successfully enough, one can use the rejection as an excuse to cease all efforts. After all, one reckons, “they” don’t want me, “they” accept their own mediocrity and refuse my best, “they” don’t deserve me.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Sisters define their rivalry in terms of competition for the gold cup of parental love. It is never perceived as a cup which runneth over, rather a finite vessel from which the more one sister drinks, the less is left for the others.”
—Elizabeth Fishel (20th century)