Kiryat Shmona begins another season without a home: "It's just absurd, nothing is moving"
Three years without a home field, incidental expenses of four million shekels per season, and a stadium stuck in limbo. The northern team is forced to wander to the center of the country, team officials do not know if or when they will return home, and renovations are dragging on sluggishly: "An indescribable failure." The municipality reassures: "We hope to return in the coming months."
Kiryat Shmona is the city most battered by this long and endless war. The northernmost city in the country has endured incessant rocket barrages that caused direct hits on residential buildings, the commercial center, and twice on the municipal stadium. The prolonged evacuation has resulted in thousands of residents not returning to this day, and many do not intend to, even though the official evacuation has ended and state funding has ceased. Residents have grown accustomed to life in the center of the country, and more than 10,000 people—about 40% of the population—have yet to return, severely impacting the local economy and schools.
Despite the hardships, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. The Kiryat Shmona football team—a former league champion and State Cup winner—has been forced to move its games to the center of the country. The team wanders between training fields and hotels, hosting matches at the Netanya Stadium. For three years, the club has been without a home, and a recent tour of the municipal stadium casts doubt on whether they will be able to play there in the coming season.
In March, the team was scheduled to host playoff games, but another round of fighting in Lebanon forced them to remain in the center. Today, the field is dirt, the stands lack seats, and the locker rooms and facilities are under prolonged renovation. There is a noticeable lack of manpower on-site, fueling frustration within the club.
"What is happening with our stadium is simply an indescribable failure. We have no community; we train in Shefayim and play in Netanya for the fourth season already. If we changed the logo to 'Ironi Shefayim,' it would be exactly the same thing. The situation is severe, and we don't know if we will return at all. It's just absurd," said a source close to the team.
The economic consequences are severe, with costs reaching four million shekels per season, including hotels, transportation, and stadium rentals. A senior official familiar with the renovation explained that delays are due to bureaucratic hurdles, contractor demands for price adjustments, and global supply chain issues—essential equipment like lighting and seats is stuck at sea. Furthermore, war damage beneath the grass was more extensive than initially thought, requiring deeper infrastructure repairs.
The municipality, however, remains committed to the project:
"Extensive work is continuing at full speed to restore and upgrade the municipal stadium under the mayor's guidance. We hope the grass surface will be ready for training in the second half of September, and we look forward to the return of league games in the coming months, subject to approval from authorized bodies."
