The 1962–63 Liga Leumit season saw

Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, הפועל פתח תקווה) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva, currently playing in the Liga Leumit. Its most successful period was throughout the 1950s and 1960s, in which the club won ...

crowned champions for the fifth successive season, a record which remains unbeaten. Hapoel's Zecharia Ratzabi was the league's top scorer with 12 goals. No club was relegated at the end of the season, as the league was expanded to 15 clubs the following season.

Match fixing allegations and Sarig Committee

During the season, several cases of match fixing were rumored to happen, most notably after a match played on 16 March 1963 between Maccabi Jaffa and

Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...

(in which Maccabi Petah Tikva won 3–1), prior to which an attempt was made to bribe Jaffa goalkeeper Zion Digmi to let Petah Tikva score. Following the match,

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

president, Arie Sarig, established a committee, with himself as its chairman, to look into the alleged fixed matches, including poor performances by

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

during the team's matches against

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and

, accusations against IFA board member from

Hapoel Hapoel ( he, הפועל, lit. ''the worker'') is an Israeli Jewish sports association established in 1926 by the Histadrut Labor Federation. History During the British Mandate of Palestine period Hapoel had a bitter rivalry with Maccabi and org ...

faction, Menachem Heller, that he acted to have the referee for the match between

and

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל חיפה, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1 ...

switched and alleged bribery attempt accusations against Hapoel Haifa player Ziggy Blum in the same match. The Sarig Committee ruling, given after the end of the season, ruled that the match between Maccabi Jaffa and Maccabi Petah Tikva was fixed and that the match result should be recorded as a 0–0 with no points given. The committee also banned Maccabi Petah Tikva footballer Yeshayahu Alon for life for the attempted bribery and rejected all other complaints filed to it. The ruling deducted two points from Maccabi Petah Tikva, and the club dropped to 12th place and faced relegation. The club turned to the civil Tel Aviv District Court, claiming that not only the committee's ruling is wrong, but that Sarig was acting out of his jurisdiction in establishing the committee. On 14 July 1963, Judge Yosef-Michael Lamm ruled that the Sarig Committee was established without jurisdiction and that its ruling is void. The ruling re-instated Maccabi Petah Tikva's victory over Maccabi Jaffa and elevated the club back to 10th place, relegating Hapoel Haifa to

Liga Alef Liga Alef ( he, ליגה א', , League A) is the third tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into two regional divisions, north and south. History League football began in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declar ...

. Following the ruling, the IFA considered its action, eventually choosing not to relegate any team and to play the next season with 15 clubs. In February 1964, the lifetime ban given to Yeshayahu Alon was lifted.Alon's Punishment Cancelled
Herut, 4 February 1964, Historical Jewish Press

Final table

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1962-63 Liga Leumit Liga Leumit seasons

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

1962–63 in Israeli football leagues