Liga Bet

Liga Bet ( he, ליגה ב', lit. ''League B'') is the fourth tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into four regional divisions.

History

League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. However, the financial and security crises gripping the young nation caused the 1950–51 season to be abandoned before it had started. When football resumed in 1951–52, the new top division went by the name of Liga Alef with Liga Bet as the second division. The 1952–53 season was also not played, and Liga Bet resumed in 1953–54.

In the 1955–56 season, Liga Leumit came into existence as the new top division, with Liga Alef becoming the second division and Liga Bet demoted to the third division. Restructuring in 1976 saw the creation of Liga Artzit as a new second tier, and the second demotion of Liga Bet, as it became the fourth division. Further restructuring to create the Israeli Premier League in 1999 saw Liga Bet demoted again, this time to the fifth tier. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Liga Artzit was scrapped as the Premier League and Liga Leumit were expanded to 16 clubs each, resulting in Liga Bet returning to the fourth tier.

Structure

Since the 1959-60 season, Liga Bet is split into four regional divisions, North A, North B, South A and South B. Because Israel's northern half is much more densely populated than the desert south, the divisions are not spread equally and the southernmost division, South B, covers about two-thirds of the country. Although this inequality is partially offset by the fact that there are so few clubs south of Beersheba ( Arad, Dimona, Yeroham, Mitzpe Ramon and Eilat are the only sizable towns south of the city), the northern clubs tend to be clustered in the Galilee region, making travel to away matches much less of a chore.

Each division has sixteen clubs, who play each other home and away to make a 30-game season. The club finishing top of each regional division is promoted to Liga Alef, whilst the second to fifth-placed clubs in each division play-off at the end of the season, until the play-off winner of North A faces the play-off winner of North B, and the play-off winner of South A faces the play-off winner of South B. The two winners advance to a decisive match against the two third-bottom clubs in Liga Alef, North and South, for a place in that division. The club finishing bottom of each regional division is relegated to Liga Gimel, the fifth and bottom tier, whilst another club from each division is relegated after relegation play-offs, involving the clubs that finished twelfth to fifteenth in each division. Coming into Liga Bet are the two clubs are relegated from each of the regional Liga Alef divisions (and one or two more, had they failed the play-off) and the eight clubs promoted from Liga Gimel. The clubs are then pooled and assigned to the most geographically appropriate of the four divisions.

Current members

The following teams participating at the 2020-2021 season:

Liga Bet North A
* Ahi Acre
* Hapoel Arraba
* Ahva Kafr Manda
* Al-Nahda Nazareth
* Beitar Nahariya
*Bnei Bir al-Maksur
* Bnei M.M.B.E.
*Hapoel Tuba-Zangariyye
* Ironi Bnei Kabul
* Maccabi Bnei Nahf
* Maccabi Sektzia Ma'alot-Tarshiha
* Tzeirei Kafr Kanna
* Tzeirei Tamra
*Tzeiri Sakhnin

Liga Bet North B
* F.C. Pardes Hanna Lior Bokar
* Hapoel Beit She'an Mesilot
*Hapoel Bnei Musmus
* Hapoel Ihud Bnei Jatt
* Hapoel Ramot Menashe Megiddo
* Hapoel Sandala Gilboa
* Hapoel Tirat HaCarmel
* Ihud Bnei Baqa
* Ihud Bnei Kafr Qara
* Ironi Nesher
* Maccabi Ahi Iksal
* Maccabi Neve Sha'anan Eldad
*Maccabi Nujeidat Ahmad
* Maccabi Umm al-Fahm

Liga Bet South A
* Beitar Kfar Saba
* Beitar Petah Tikva
*Beitar Ramat Gan
* F.C. Bnei Jaffa Ortodoxim
* Hapoel Hod HaSharon
*Hapoel Kafr Bara
* Hapoel Kafr Qasim Shouaa
* Hapoel Kiryat Ono
* Hapoel Mahane Yehuda
*Hapoel Qalansawe
* Ironi Beit Dagan
* Maccabi Amishav Petah Tikva
* Otzma Holon
* Shimshon Bnei Tayibe
*Shimshon Tel Aviv

Liga Bet South B
*Beitar Ironi Ma'ale Adumim
* Beitar Kiryat Gat
* Beitar Yavne
* Bnei Eilat
*F.C. Be'er Sheva
* F.C. Shikun HaMizrah
*Hapoel Gedera
* Hapoel Lod
* Hapoel Yeruham
*Ironi Kuseife
* Ironi Modi'in
* Maccabi Ironi Netivot
* Maccabi Ironi Sderot
* Maccabi Kiryat Malakhi
* Tzeirei Rahat

Previous seasons

North A

¹

²

³

⁴

⁵

⁶

⁷

⁸

⁹

¹⁰

¹¹

North B

¹

²

³

⁴

⁵

⁶

⁷

South A

¹

²

³

⁴

⁵

⁶

⁷

⁸

⁹

South B

¹

²

³

⁴

⁵

⁶

⁷

⁸

⁹

¹⁰

¹¹

External links

Israel Football Association

{{UEFA fourth leagues

4
Isr
Professional sports leagues in Israel