Top-division men's association football league in Israel
Football league
The
Israeli Premier League
(
Hebrew
:
???? ???
,
Ligat HaAl
,
lit.
'
The Super League
'
) is a professional
association football
(
soccer
) league, that operates as the highest-division of the
Israeli football league
. This top tier league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of
promotion and relegation
with its second division
Liga Leumit
. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing between 33 and 36 matches each, totalling 240 matches in every season.
The competition formed in 1999 following the decision of the
Israel Football Association
to form a new league. It is also ranked 15th in the
UEFA coefficients
of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years.
[1]
Since 1932, a total of 15 clubs have been crowned
champions of the Israeli Football League
. Of the
thirty clubs to have competed
since the inception of the Israeli Premier League in 1999, six have won the title:
Beitar Jerusalem
(twice),
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
(three times),
Hapoel Tel Aviv
(twice),
Maccabi Haifa
(ten times),
Maccabi Tel Aviv
(seven times), and
Ironi Kiryat Shmona
(once). The current champions are Maccabi Tel Aviv, who won the
2023?24
season.
Background
[
edit
]
The Israeli Premier League was founded in 1999 to replace its predecessor
Liga Leumit
(which became the second division) when the
Israel Football Association
decided to reshuffle all the leagues in hopes of improving competition. In its first season there were 14 clubs; the top thirteen clubs from the 1998?99 season and the top place club from the
Liga Artzit
(then, the third division). That season three clubs were relegated and one from Liga Leumit was promoted.
[
citation needed
]
Competition
[
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]
There are 14 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-placed teams are
relegated
to
Liga Leumit
while two highest-placed teams of Liga Leumit are promoted in their place. For the 2012?13 season the league was decreased from 16 to 14 clubs as a result of reforms passed by the IFA on 27 June 2011.
[2]
The participating clubs first play a conventional
round-robin
schedule for a total of 26 matches.
Following this, the top six teams play in a championship playoff, where they meet each other twice. Upon its conclusion, the first place team wins the Israeli championship and qualifies to participate in the second qualifying round of the
UEFA Champions League
. The runners-up and the third-placed teams qualify for the second qualifying round of the
UEFA Europa Conference League
.
In addition, the
Israeli State Cup
winners qualify for the first qualifying round of the
UEFA Europa League
.
If the State Cup winners are also one of the teams to finish in the league's top three places then the fourth-placed team will also play in UEFA Europa Conference League. In case the State Cup winners also win the Israeli Premier League then the second-placed league team will play in first qualifying round of the
UEFA Europa League
.
In addition, the bottom eight teams will play each other once to avoid two relegation spots.
Clubs
[
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]
A total of 31 clubs have played in the Israeli Premier League from its inception in 1999 and the start of the 2024?25 season. For a list of winners and runners-up of the Israeli Premier League since its inception, and top scorers for each season, see
List of Israeli football champions
.
Three clubs have been members of the Israeli Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of
Beitar Jerusalem
,
Maccabi Haifa
and
Maccabi Tel Aviv
.
Members of the 2024?25 season
[
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]
Locations of the 2024?25 Israeli Premier League teams
}}
The following 14 clubs will compete in the Israeli Premier League during the
2024?25
season.
- ^
a
b
c
Never
been relegated from the Israeli Premier League
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
One of the original Israeli Premier League teams
In recent years, the league has been sponsored. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:
- 1999?2002:
Pelephone
? a mobile phone company (Ligat Pelephone)
[3]
- 2005?2010: Toto Winner Organization ? the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Toto)
- 2010?2016: Toto Winner Organization ? the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Winner)
[4]
- 2016?2018: Toto Winner Organization ? the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Ha'al)
[5]
- 2018?2019: Japanika ? Asian restaurant (Ligat Japanika)
[6]
- 2019?2022:
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
? Stock Exchange (Ligat Habursa Leniyarot Erech)
- 2022?2024: ONE ZERO ? Digital Bank (Ligat ONE ZERO)
Number of foreigners
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]
Teams are limited to six foreign players per team. Special circumstances such as Druze players from the Golan (no citizenship) or cases such as that of
Toto Tamuz
, do not count against the foreign player limit.
In addition, players who play in the league for 6 consecutive years do not count against the foreign player limit. Also, Jewish players and players who are married to Israelis are exempt from these restrictions, as they are entitled to Israeli citizenship.
Broadcast rights
[
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]
Television
[
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]
Israeli Premier League games are broadcast live on
Sport 1
, Sport 1 HD, and Sport 2 channels, with the big match of the week which is reserved to be shown by
Sport 5
and Channel 1 HD network television. There is also a league review show on Saturday nights at
Sport 5
channel.
Abroad, rights to broadcasting in
Hebrew
are owned by
The Israeli Network
which broadcasts the matches in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, Costa Rica and in Europe.
In the United Kingdom, William Hill broadcasts matches live with English commentary on their online television service, William Hill TV.
Radio
[
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]
The rights of broadcasting on the radio belongs to Radio Tel Aviv since 2011, which broadcast alongside Radio Haifa, Radio Darom, Radio Galei Zahal and Radio Darom 101.5 in a show called
Saturday of Football
which also broadcasts live on ONE TV channel.
Internet
[
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]
The big match of the week is shown on the Channel 1 website. Since 2010, games summaries are shown online by Ynet, ONE and Sport 5.
Cellular
[
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]
Since 2012, ONE owns the broadcasting rights, which was previously owned by Sport 5.
Revenue
[
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]
Main sources of revenue for the clubs:
- Broadcast rights
- Ticket sales
- Merchandise
- Toto Winner ? The Israeli Sports Betting Council
- Sponsorship
UEFA league ranking
[
edit
]
In European Leagues:
- Country ranking
UEFA League Ranking for the 2018?2023 period:
[9]
Source:
UEFA Coefficients Graphs
,
2023 UEFA Country Ranking
Champions
[
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]
For the complete list read the main article.
Performance by club
[
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]
A star above the crest is awarded for every five titles.
Israeli Premier League (1999?present)
[
edit
]
When the Israeli Premier League became the top division of Israeli football in
1999?2000
, Liga Leumit became the second division. Since then, only six clubs have won the title; Hapoel Tel Aviv,
Ironi Kiryat Shmona
, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem are sometimes referred to as the "Big Four" of Israeli football.
[10]
Having won nine titles in the league's 23 seasons, the most successful club during this period is Maccabi Haifa; during the same period Maccabi Tel Aviv have added six to their total while Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv have won two championships each. Although Hapoel Tel Aviv have only finished top of the league twice since 1999?in 1999?2000 and ten years later in
2009?10
?they have won the double on both occasions. This achievement was matched by Beitar Jerusalem in
2007?08
.
Ironi Kiryat Shmona won their first championship during the
2011?12
season, thereby becoming the first
northern
title-winners. Maccabi Tel Aviv then won three titles in a row, including a
Treble
in
2014?15
.
- Key
†
|
Won
the
Israel State Cup
during the same season.
|
‡
|
Won the
League Cup
during the same season.
|
§
|
Won both cups during the same season.
|
(titles)
|
A running tally of the total number of championships won by each club is kept in brackets.
|
"Big Four" dominance
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]
Since the
2015?16
season, the Big Four's Dominance has been challenged by
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
, winning 3 successive championships, they also finished runners up in the 2021-22 season.
Notably, three of the big four teams all finished near or at the bottom of the table at some point. (Hapoel Tel Aviv has been the only one to be relegated so far)
Top scorers by season
[
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]
Individual records
[
edit
]
Appearances
[
edit
]
- As of 20 December 2022
|
Top scorers
[
edit
]
- As of 26 May 2024
|
Player transfer fees
[
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]
All-time table
[
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]
The
All-time Israeli Premier League table
is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Israeli Premier League since its inception in 1999. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the
2021?22
season. Teams in green are part of the
2024?25 Israeli Premier League
. Numbers in
bold
are the record (highest) numbers in each column.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
British Police ceased to exist along its parent organisation, the
Palestine Police Force
, in 1948.
- ^
Maccabi Tel Aviv were deducted 7 points and had 0-0 tie without points
- ^
Hapoel Tel Aviv were deducted 13 points and had 0-0 tie without points
- ^
Beitar Jerusalem were deducted 9 points
- ^
Maccabi Petah Tikva were deducted 3 points
- ^
Bnei Sakhnin were deducted 2 points
- ^
Hapoel Petah Tikva were deducted 12 points
- ^
Hapoel Kfar Saba were deducted 3 points
- ^
Hapoel Ironi Acre were deducted 2 points
- ^
Hapoel Ramat Gan were deducted 4 points
- ^
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth were deducted 3 points
- ^
2724 games ended up with a draw, resulting up with 5,448 points
- ^
58 points were deducted over the years
Record of finishing positions of clubs in the Israeli Premier League
[
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]
Table correct as at the end of the 2023?24 Israeli Premier League season.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"UEFA Country Ranking 2021"
.
kassiesa.net
. Retrieved
5 October
2020
.
- ^
"This season will have no halving of points"
(in Hebrew). . ONE. 27 June 2011
. Retrieved
27 June
2011
.
- ^
Daskal, Oriel (7 August 2013).
"80 ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???, ?? ???????"
[80 million shekel for the Premier League, haven't we exaggerated?].
Calcalist
(in Hebrew).
- ^
"???? ??? ??????? ??? ????? "???? ?????"
"
[The Football Premier League is from now on "Winner League"].
Maariv
(in Hebrew). 1 July 2010.
- ^
Blech, Dor (18 July 2016).
"?? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???"
[This is how the next sponsorship deal of the Premier League will look].
Haaretz
(in Hebrew).
- ^
"???? ??? ????? ???? "???? ?'?????"
"
[The Premier League will be called "Japanika League" from now on].
ynet
(in Hebrew). 23 August 2018.
- ^
"UEFA Country Ranking 2021 ? kassiesA ? Xs4all"
.
- ^
Sinai, Allon (20 July 2011).
"Local Soccer: Season schedule released"
.
The Jerusalem Post
. Retrieved
6 August
2011
.
- ^
Bleicher, Yaniv (13 September 2009).
"Israel 2000/01"
.
Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
. Retrieved
5 August
2011
.
- ^
Adar, Shaul (October 2010).
"Walid objection"
.
When Saturday Comes
. Archived from
the original
on 4 November 2011
. Retrieved
5 August
2011
.
- ^
Maccabi Haifa
's final match of the
2000?01
season, at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv, was abandoned after 82 minutes with Maccabi Haifa 3?2 ahead when supporters attempted to invade the pitch, resulting in a crush which injured 41 people. Maccabi Tel Aviv were awarded a 2?0 victory.
[11]
[12]
- ^
"Israel Football Association"
. Archived from
the original
on 23 July 2012
. Retrieved
17 June
2008
.
External links
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]
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Current
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Defunct
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Liechtenstein
is the only UEFA member association without a national league.
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