The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league which operates as the highest division of the

Israeli Football League The Israel Football League (IFL; he, ליגת הפוטבול הישראלית), also known as the Kraft Family Israel Football League for sponsorship reasons with the Kraft Family, is an amateur American football league consisting of eight tea ...

– the state's league of

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 ...

. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

with its second division

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

. 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 The Israel Football Association (IFA; he, ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל, ''HaHit'aḥdut leKaduregel beIsrael'', literally "The Association of Football in Israel") is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes a variet ...

to form a new league. It is also ranked 21st in the

UEFA coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in wome ...

s of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years. 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 Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jerus ...

(twice),

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

(three times), Hapoel Tel Aviv (twice),

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 ...

(seven times),

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 ...

(six times), and Ironi Kiryat Shmona (once). The current champions are Maccabi Haifa, who won the 2021–22 season.

Background

The Israeli Premier League was founded in 1999 to replace its predecessor

(which became the second division) when the

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 Liga Artzit ( he, ליגה ארצית, lit. ''Country League'') is the defunct third division of Israeli Football League, beneath its highest division Premier League and the second division Liga Leumit. Before being cancelled in 2009, it was run b ...

(then, the third division). That season three clubs were relegated and one from Liga Leumit was promoted.

Competition

There are 14 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-placed teams are

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

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. 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

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League. The runners-up and the third-placed teams qualify for the second qualifying round of the

2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania, with Roma ...

. In addition, the

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

winners qualify for the second qualifying round of the

. 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 Europa League. In case the State Cup winners also win the Israeli Premier League then the fourth-placed league team will play in second qualifying round of the

. In addition, the bottom eight teams will play each other once to avoid two relegation spots.

Clubs

A total of 30 clubs have played in the Israeli Premier League from its inception in 1999 and the start of the 2022–23 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 The association football champions of Israel are the winners of the highest league in Israeli football, which is currently the Israeli Premier League. The league is contested on a round robin basis and the championship awarded to the team that ...

. Three clubs have been members of the Israeli Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of

, and

Members of the 2022–23 season

The following 14 clubs will compete in the Israeli Premier League during the 2021–22 season.

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: * 1999–2002:

Pelephone Pelephone ( he, פלאפון, , lit. "wonder phone") is a mobile network operator in Israel, and also the first company to offer mobile telephony services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark for mob ...

– a mobile phone company (Ligat Pelephone) * 2005–2010: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Toto) * 2010–2016: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Winner) * 2016–2018: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board (Ligat Ha'al) * 2018–2019: Japanika – Asian restaurant (Ligat Japanika) * 2019–2022:

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ; colloquially known as The Bursa, ) is Israel's only public stock exchange and a public company that has been traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange since August 1, 2019. Legally, the exchange is regulated by ...

– Stock Exchange (Ligat Habursa Leniyarot Erech) * 2022–2024: ONE ZERO – Digital Bank (Ligat ONE ZERO)

Number of foreigners

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 Toto Adaruns Tamuz Temile ( he, טוטו אדיוראנס תמוז טמילה; born 1 April 1988) is a Nigerian-born Israeli professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in Nigeria, he grew up in Israel from infancy after his father ...

, 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

Television

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 Sports Channel ( he, ערוץ הספורט, ''Arutz HaSport''), also known as the Sport 5 ( he, ספורט 5, ''Sport Hamesh'') is one of the major Israeli television company and sports journalism outlet owned by the RGE Group. Available on Cab ...

and Channel 1 HD network television. There is also a league review show on Saturday nights at

channel. Abroad, rights to broadcasting in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

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

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

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

Since 2012, ONE owns the broadcasting rights, which was previously owned by Sport 5.

Revenue

Main sources of revenue for the clubs: * Television * Ticket sales * Merchandise * Toto Winner – The Israeli Sports Betting Council * Sponsorship

UEFA league ranking

In European Leagues: : :As of 8 September 2022 the coefficients are as follows: * 19. (''18'')

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

(24.625) * 20. (20)

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

(23.700) * 21 (''22'') Israeli Premier League (23.250) * 22. (''21'')

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

(22.275) * 23. (''23'')

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

(20.750) ''Source:''
UEFA Coefficients Graphs
'
ImageSize = width:660 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2023 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1999 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) PlotData= bar:Position width:20 color:white align:center from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:27 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:24 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:26 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:22 from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:22 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:20 from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:20 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:23 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:22 from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:27 from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:23 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:21 from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:22 from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:21 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2023 color:bl1 shift:(0,20) text: "Seasonal Coefficients Ranking Graph"

Champions

For the complete list read the main article.

Israeli Premier League (1999–present)

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. Having won seven titles in the league's 21 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

"Big Four" dominance

Since the 2015–16 season, the Big Four's Dominance has been challenged by

, 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

Individual records

Appearances

Top scorers

Player transfer fees

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 2021–22 season. Teams in green are part of the 2022–23 Israeli Premier League. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.

Notes

Record of finishing positions of clubs in the Israeli Premier League

''Table correct as at the end of the 2021–22 Israeli Premier League season.''

References

External links

* IPFL
Israel Football Association

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Professional sports leagues in Israel