Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan

Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan, originally known as Ironi Ramat Gan, is a professional basketball club from Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv District. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the country's top division, and plays its home games at the Shalom Zisman Municipal Sports Arena, which holds 1,400 spectators.

The club was founded in 1946 as Maccabi Ramat Gan and has been a constant presence in the top league since 1968. In 1972, it lost the cup final to Maccabi Tel Aviv, 108–99, despite a record-breaking 43-point performance from Belgian-born star Kamil Dirks—a cup final scoring record that still stands. The team finished second in the league during the 1971–72, 1972–73, and 1982–83 seasons.

Ramat Gan made its European Cup debut in the 1973–74 season, highlighted by a 114–94 upset victory over Sinudyne Bologna, coached by club founder Samuel Jacobson and featuring players like Larry Gordon and Bob Griffin. Doron Jamchi, the club’s all-time leading scorer, began his career there in 1978 before moving to Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1985; he went on to become the all-time leading scorer in Israeli Premier League history.

In the 1987–88 season, under head coach Effi Birnbaum, the team again lost the cup final to Maccabi Tel Aviv, 107–85. In December 1989, Ramat Gan won the Israeli Basketball League Cup by defeating Hapoel Tel Aviv 83–80, with Milton Wagner scoring 30 points. Following pressure from the city mayor, the club merged with Beitar Ramat Gan in the 1996–97 season and was renamed Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan.

The team finished second in the league in the 2001–02 season, behind champion Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2009–10, it was relegated to Liga Leumit after losing a relegation playoff. After a 13-year absence, Ramat Gan returned to the top division at the end of the 2022–23 season, led by former captain and now coach Shmulik Brener. The return proved successful: the club finished third in the 2023–24 season and earned a spot in the Basketball Champions League for the 2024–25 season.

The Israeli league requires at least one Israeli player on the court at all times, and a maximum of five foreign players can be on a 12-man game sheet. Notable former players include Doron Jamchi, Haim Starkman, Shmulik Brener, Ben Altit, Dror Cohen, Nir Cohen, Itzik Ohanon, Mike Carter, Erez Markovich, Ruan Stik, Tunji Awojobi, Nuni Omot, Danny Lewis, Bob Griffin, Mark Brisker, Joe Dawson, Sean Labanowski, Isaac Rosefelt, Chris Watson, David Bernsley, Harold Keeling, Milt Wagner, Rodney Alexander, Erick Barkley, Earl Williams, J.J. Eubanks, James Gulley, and Andy Hill.