The Yad Eliyahu Arena, commercially Nokia Arena is a 11,700-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in southeastern Tel Aviv, Israel. The arena is home to the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club, a member of the Maccabi Tel Aviv sports club. The facility is the largest indoor sports arena in Israel, and it hosts the Israeli Super League final four, the State Cup final four and most of the Israeli national basketball team home games. In other sports, it has hosted a Davis Cup World Group match between Israel and France in 1989, and the Davis Cup quarterfinals between Israel and Russia in July 2009.

The arena is owned by the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is managed by Sports Palaces Ltd., a company also fully owned by the municipality (which also manages Bloomfield Stadium).

History

The arena was opened on 17 September 1963 with a game between the national basketball teams of Israel and Yugoslavia, in which the latter won 69-64.

In its early years it held a seating capacity 5,000 spectators, with just concrete stands, without any seats, and without a roof. In 1972, a second floor of tiers was built, increasing the capacity to 10,000 spectators. The concrete stands were covered by seats and the arena was covered with a roof. Further renovations through the years 2006 - 2008 modernized the arena further, added commercial facilities, and increased its capacity to 11,700.

The arena hosted the FIBA European All star game in 1997, the FIBA European Champions Cup final game in 1972, and the Euroleague final four in 1994 and 2004.