Ligat Nashim

Ligat Nashim
Founded 1998
Country  Israel
Confederation UEFA
Divisions 2
Number of teams 15
Level on pyramid 1+2
Domestic cup(s) Israeli Women's Cup
International cup(s) UEFA Champions League
Current champions F.C. Kiryat Gat (1st title)
(2016–17)
Most championships ASA Tel Aviv University (7 titles)
Website Official
2016–17

Ligat Nashim (Hebrew: ליגת נשים‎‎, lit. Women's League) is the Israeli women's football league. It has been run by the Israel Football Association since 1998.

Format

The league is divided into two divisions, with the top division, titled Women's Premier League (previously Ligat Nashim Rishona, lit. "First Women's League"), comprising 9 teams, and the second division, titled Women's Leumit League (previously Ligat Nashim Shniya, lit. "Second Women's League"), comprising a variable number of teams, depending on registration. In 2015, a third division was created, named Mama-Foot League (meaning: a football league for mothers) at first,[1] and changed to Women's Artzit League in 2016. The third division is contested in smaller pitches, over two halves of 15 minutes each and with unlimited substitutions and the winner does not promote to the second division.[2][3]

Between 2007–08 and 2010–11 the league was made of one division of 12 teams in a round-robin tournament with the top club winning the championship, with a deciding play-off match to decide the winner if the two teams were tied, as was the case in 2009–10. In 2010–11 the IFA re-introduced a second division that previously existed in 2006–07.[4]

Since 2011, the participating clubs first play a conventional round-robin schedule, followed by a championship playoff contested by the four top teams, where they meet each other twice. Upon its conclusion, the first place team wins the Israeli championship and qualifies to participate in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The bottom teams play each other once to avoid relegation, with the bottom club dropping to the second division. The second division is played as a double round-robin schedule, each team playing its opponents four times, with the top club promoting to the top division.[5]

Champions

A women's football league was organized in late 1998 and started playing during October 1998.[6] In 2003–04 the league was abandoned in mid-season and was never completed.[7][8]

Season First Division Second Division
1998–99 Maccabi Haifa –
1999–2000 ASA Tel Aviv University –
2000–01 Hapoel Tel Aviv –
2001–02 Maccabi Haifa –
2002–03 Maccabi Holon –
2003–04 League abandoned –
2004–05 Maccabi Holon –
2005–06 Maccabi Holon –
2006–07 Maccabi Holon Ironi Bat Yam
2007–08 Maccabi Holon –
2008–09 Maccabi Holon –
2009–10 ASA Tel Aviv University –
2010–11 ASA Tel Aviv University Hapoel Be'er Sheva
2011–12 ASA Tel Aviv University[9] F.C. Ramat HaSharon
2012–13 ASA Tel Aviv University F.C. Kiryat Gat
2013–14 ASA Tel Aviv University Maccabi Tzur Shalom Bialik
2014–15 ASA Tel Aviv University Maccabi Be'er Sheva
2015–16 F.C. Ramat HaSharon Bnot Netanya F.C.
2016–17 Kiryat Gat

Total championships

Club Titles
ASA Tel Aviv University7
Maccabi Holon6
Maccabi Haifa2
Hapoel Tel Aviv 1
F.C. Ramat HaSharon
Kiryat Gat

References

  1. ↑ Women's Football Launched the Mama-Foot League IFA, 27 January 2015 (in Hebrew)
  2. ↑ Liga Artzit Nashim IFA (in Hebrew)
  3. ↑ Oho Mama: Ironi Modi'in Went Top of the Women's Amateur League Dorit Siton, 14 March 2016, Modiinet (in Hebrew)
  4. ↑ The FA: The Police Will Return Partially to the Stadiums Dana Bahat, 27 October 2010, One (in Hebrew)
  5. ↑ Championship Regulations IFA, pp. 74-81 (in Hebrew)
  6. ↑ Women's Football History Avraham Kochen, Women's Football in Israel (via Internet Archive) (in Hebrew)
  7. ↑ Iche Menache At the End of Ligat Nashim: It's a Year We'd Rather Forget Lior Weitz, 1 June 2014, walla.co.il (in Hebrew)
  8. ↑ Women: If There's No League, At Least There's the Cup Lior Weitz, 17 May 2004, walla.co.il (in Hebrew)
  9. ↑ "ASA Tel Aviv won the League of Women" (in Hebrew). football.org.il. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.

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