Israeli Premier League

For the top division of Israeli basketball, see Israeli Basketball Super League.
Israeli Premier League

The Israeli Premier League logo
Countries Israel
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Founded 1999
Number of teams 16
Levels on pyramid 1
Relegation to Liga Leumit
Domestic cup(s) State Cup
Toto Cup Al
International cup(s) Champions League
Europa League
Current champions Maccabi Haifa
(2010–11)
Most championships Maccabi Haifa (7 titles)
TV partners Charlton Sport, Channel 1
Website football.org.il
2011–12 Israeli Premier League

The Israeli Premier League (Hebrew: ליגת העל‎, Ligat HaAl, lit. Super League) is an Israeli professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Israeli football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Liga Leumit. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 37 matches each, totalling 296 matches in the season. Most games are played on Saturdays, with a few games played on Sundays and Mondays. It is sponsored by Toto Winner and therefore officially known as Ligat Winner (Hebrew: ליגת ווינר‎).[1]

The competition formed on 1999 following the decision of the Israeli Football Association to form a new league. It is also ranked seventeenth in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years, ahead of the Scottish Premier League and the Czech's Gambrinus liga.[2]

Since 1923, a total of 13 clubs have been crowned champions of the Israeli football system. Of the twenty-six clubs to have competed since the inception of the Israeli Premier League in 1999, four have won the title: Beitar Jerusalem (2 titles), Hapoel Tel Aviv (2), Maccabi Haifa (7), and Maccabi Tel Aviv (1). The current champions are Maccabi Haifa, who won the 2010–11 season.

Contents

Background

Main article: Football in Israel

The Israeli Premier League was created in 1999 to replace Liga Leumit (which became the second tier) 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 second division). That season three clubs were relegated and one from Liga Leumit was promoted. Over the years the league has changed names though the new names were simply commercial rebranding, including Ligat Pelephone, Ligat Toto and Ligat Winner.

Competition

There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the three lowest-placed teams are relegated to Liga Leumit while winner of Liga Leumit is promoted in their place. The thirteen-placed team from the Premier League and the second team from Liga Leumit will play against each other to determine who will compete in the Premier League in the following season and who will compete in Liga Leumit. For the 2012–13 season the league will be decreased to 14 clubs as a result of reforms passed by the IFA on 27 June 2011.[3]

The participating clubs were first play a conventional double round-robin schedule for a total of 30 matches.

Following this, the top eight teams first play in a championship playoff. To determine the champion. Then the eight clubs play a single round-robin schedule. Upon its conclusion, the first place team wins the Israeli championship and qualifies to participate in the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. The runners-up qualify for the third qualifying round round of the UEFA Europa League. and the third-placed team qualifies for the second qualifying round round of the UEFA Europa League.

The Israeli State Cup winners qualify for the third qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. In case the State Cup winners finish in the top two league places, the third-placed league team would play in the third qualifying round and the fourth-placed league team would play in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

In addition, the bottom eight teams play out to avoid three relegation spots.

Clubs

See also: List of Israeli football champions, List of Israeli Premier League seasons, and #All-time table

A total of 27 clubs have played in the Israeli Premier League from its inception in 1999 and the start of the 2011–12 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.

Six clubs have been members of the Israeli Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of Beitar Jerusalem, F.C. Ashdod, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Petah Tikva and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Members for 2011–12

The following 16 clubs will compete in the Israeli Premier League during the 2011–12 season.

Club
 Position
in 2010–11		 First season in
in the Israeli Premier League		 Number of seasons
in the Israeli Premier League		 First season of
current spell in
Israeli Premier League		 Top division
titles		 Last top division title
Beitar Jerusalemab 1111th 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 06 2007–08
Bnei Sakhnin 1313th 2003–04 07 2007–08 00 Never
Bnei Yehudab 044th 1999–2000 12 2002–03 01 1989–90
F.C. Ashdodab 1212th 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 00 Never
Hapoel Acrea 088th 2009–10 03 2009–10 00 Never
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 099th 2001–02 08 2009–10 02 1975–76
Hapoel Haifab 1010th 1999–2000 07 2009–10 01 1998–99
Hapoel Petah Tikvab 1414th 1999–2000 12 2008–09 06 1962–63
Hapoel Tel Avivab 022nd 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 13 2009–10
Ironi Kiryat Shmona 055th 2007–08 04 2010–11 00 Never
Ironi Ramat HaSharona 171st;
Liga Leumit		 2011–12 01 2011–12 00 Never
Ironi Rishon LeZionb 182nd;
Liga Leumit		 1999–2000 04 2011–12 00 Never
Maccabi Haifaab 011st 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 12 2010–11
Maccabi Netanyab 066th 1999–2000 12 2005–06 05 1982–83
Maccabi Petah Tikvaab 077th 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 00 Never
Maccabi Tel Avivab 033rd 1999–2000 13 1999–2000 18 2002–03

a: Never been relegated from the Israeli Premier League
b: One of the original 14 Israeli Premier League teams

Location of teams in the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League

Sponsorship

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:

Number of foreigners

Teams are limited to five 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.

Broadcast Rights

Television

Israeli Premier League games are brodcasted 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 Channel 1 and Channel 1 HD network television. There is also a league review show on Saturday nights at Sport +5 LIVE 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 and in Europe.

In the United Kingdom, William Hill broadcasts matches live with English commentary on their online television service, William Hill TV.

Radio

The rights of broadcasting on the radio belongs to Radio Tel Aviv since 2011, which brodcast alongside Radio Haifa, Radio Darom, Radio Galei Zahal and Radio Darom 101.5 in a show called Saturday of Football which also brodcasts live on ONE TV channel.

Internet

The big match of the week are shown in Channel 1 website. since 2010, games summery are shown online by Ynet, ONE and Sport 5.

Cellular

Since 2007, Pelephone Company owns the brodcasting rights, which is aired by Sport 5.

Revenue

Main sources of revenue for the clubs:

UEFA league ranking

Source: UEFA Coefficients Graphs, 2012 UEFA Country Ranking


Champions

See also: Israeli football champions

Champions

Season Club
1999–2000 Hapoel Tel Aviv
2000–01 Maccabi Haifa
2001–02 Maccabi Haifa
2002–03 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2003–04 Maccabi Haifa
2004–05 Maccabi Haifa
2005–06 Maccabi Haifa
2006–07 Beitar Jerusalem
2007–08 Beitar Jerusalem
2008–09 Maccabi Haifa
2009–10 Hapoel Tel Aviv
2010–11 Maccabi Haifa

Total championships

Rank Club Titles
1 Maccabi Haifa 7
2 Beitar Jerusalem 2
Hapoel Tel Aviv 2
4 Maccabi Tel Aviv 1

"Big Four" dominance

Main article: Big Four (Israeli football)
"Big Four" since the start of the Israeli Premier League[4]
Season BJ HT MH MT
1999–2000 5 1 2 6
2000–01 5 2 1 4
2001–02 10 2 1 3
2002–03 9 3 2 1
2003–04 9 5 1 2
2004–05 4 9 1 8
2005–06 3 2 1 6
2006–07 1 4 5 3
2007–08 1 7 5 6
2008–09 3 2 1 6
2009–10 5 1 2 3
2010–11 11 2 1 3

Top goalscorers by season

Season Player Goals Club
1999–2000 Assi Tubi 27 Maccabi Petah Tikva
2000–01 Avi Nimni 25 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2001–02 Kobi Refua 18 Maccabi Petah Tikva
2002–03 Yaniv Abargil 18 Hapoel Kfar Saba
Shay Holtzman 18 Ironi Rishon LeZion / F.C. Ashdod
2003–04 Ofir Haim 16 Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Shay Holtzman 16 F.C. Ashdod
2004–05 Roberto Colautti 19 Maccabi Haifa
2005–06 Shay Holtzman 18 F.C. Ashdod
2006–07 Yaniv Azran 15 F.C. Ashdod
2007–08 Samuel Yeboah 15 Hapoel Kfar Saba
2008–09 Barak Yitzhaki 14 Beitar Jerusalem
Shimon Abuhatzira 14 Hapoel Petah Tikva
Eliran Atar 14 Bnei Yehuda
2009–10 Shlomi Arbeitman 28 Maccabi Haifa
2010–11 Toto Tamuz 21 Hapoel Tel Aviv

All-time table

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 2010–11 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.

Pos. Club Seasons Pld W D L GF GFPG GA GAPG GD Pts 1° 2° 3° Relegated Avg. Pts
1 Maccabi Haifa 12 411 250 93 68 753 1.832 348 0.847 405 843 7 3 70.25
2 Hapoel Tel Aviv 12 411 215 107 90 664 1.616 377 0.917 287 751 2 5 1 62.58
3 Maccabi Tel Aviv 12 411 183 109 119 576 1.401 412 1.002 165 652[nb 1] 1 1 4 54.33
4 Beitar Jerusalem 12 411 161 110 130 572 1.392 477 1.161 95 619[nb 2] 2 2 51.58
5 Maccabi Petah Tikva 12 407 151 116 140 493 1.211 467 1.147 26 569 1 1 47.42
6 F.C. Ashdod 12 411 137 102 171 519 1.263 596 1.45 –49 513 1 42.75
7 Maccabi Netanya 11 376 134 110 132 464 1.234 477 1.269 –10 509 2 1 46.27
8 Bnei Yehuda 11 378 126 98 154 429 1.135 519 1.369 –90 476 1 43.27
9 Hapoel Petah Tikva 11 378 119 76 163 469 1.241 563 1.489 –94 450[nb 3] 1 3 40.91
10 Hapoel Haifa 6 211 71 83 77 267 1.265 261 1.237 6 276 1 2 46
11 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 6 198 74 49 75 271 1.369 280 1.414 –9 271 1 33
12 Bnei Sakhnin 7 233 67 65 101 216 0.923 288 1.236 –72 266 1 38
13 Hapoel Kfar Saba 5 171 40 55 76 191 1.117 272 1.591 –81 172[nb 4] 3 34.4
14 Ironi Rishon LeZion 4 143 35 32 76 156 1.091 246 1.72 –90 137 1 34.25
15 Ironi Kiryat Shmona 3 101 35 30 36 124 1.228 123 1.218 1 135 1 1 45
16 Maccabi Herzliya 3 105 25 24 56 112 1.067 179 1.705 –67 99 2 33
17 Hapoel Acre 2 68 19 25 24 87 1.279 97 1.426 –10 82 41
18 Hapoel Nazareth Illit 2 66 20 20 26 71 1.076 93 1.409 –22 80 1 40
19 Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan 2 66 12 21 33 58 0.879 100 1.515 –42 57 2 28.5
20 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 2 68 15 13 40 73 1.074 143 2.103 –70 55[nb 5] 2 27.5
21 Hapoel Ramat Gan 2 70 12 20 38 58 0.829 114 1.629 –56 52[nb 6] 1 26
22 Hapoel Ra'anana 1 35 6 10 19 33 0.943 58 1.657 –25 28 1 28
23 Maccabi Kiryat Gat 1 33 7 6 20 34 1.03 58 1.758 –24 27 1 27
24 Hapoel Jerusalem 1 39 6 6 27 33 0.846 82 2.103 –49 24 1 24
25 Hapoel Ashkelon 1 35 9 5 21 33 0.943 66 1.886 –33 17 1 17
26 Hapoel Tzafririm Holon 1 38 4 4 30 25 0.658 85 2.237 –60 16 1 16
27 Ironi Ramat HaSharon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 12 2,637 1,943 694[nb 7] 1,943 6,781 2.571 – 6,507[nb 8] 12 25 543.58

Notes

  1. ^ Maccabi Tel Aviv were deducted 6 points
  2. ^ Beitar Jerusalem were deducted 4 points
  3. ^ Hapoel Petah Tikva were deducted 3 points
  4. ^ Hapoel Kfar Saba were deducted 3 points
  5. ^ Maccabi Ahi Nazareth were deducted 3 points
  6. ^ Hapoel Ramat Gan were deducted 4 points
  7. ^ 694 games ended up with a draw, resulting up with 1,388 points
  8. ^ 23 points were deducted over the years

References

  1. ^ "Israeli Premier League will now be known as "Ligat Winner"". (Hebrew). ONE. 1 July 2010. http://www.one.co.il/Msites/Biz/InsideArticle.aspx?id=161123&bz=9. Retrieved 1 July 2010. 
  2. ^ "UEFA ranking of European leagues". UEFA. 2012. http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2012.html. Retrieved 15 December 2011. 
  3. ^ "This season will have no halving of points". (Hebrew). ONE. 27 June 2011. http://www.one.co.il/Article/182085.html. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
  4. ^ Israel Football Association

External links

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