The 2020–21

Liga Alef Liga Alef () 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 Declaration of Independence. Howe ...

season is the 12th season as third tier since its re-alignment in 2009 and the 54th season of third-tier football in Israel.

Changes from last season

Team changes

* Hapoel Iksal and Hapoel Kfar Shalem were promoted to

Liga Leumit The Israeli Liga Leumit (, HaLiga HaLeumit, ) is the second division of the professional Israeli association football (soccer) league system. This second-tier league is placed directly below the Israeli Premier League. Structure There are 16 ...

;

Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Ashkelon F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Ashkelon'') was an Israeli football club based in Ashkelon. It was reestablished in 2024 as "Ironi Ashkelon". History After being founded in 1955, Hapoel Ashkelon spent their first few decades in ...

and Hapoel Bnei Lod (both to South division) were relegated from

. * Since the previous season was abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, no team was relegated to

Liga Bet Liga Bet () 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 ...

. However Ironi Kiryat Gat and Hapoel Asi Gilboa folded and didn't register to this season. * Maccabi Tzur Shalom and Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata merged in July 2020. * Ihud Bnei Majd al-Krum, Hapoel Bu'eine, Hapoel Bnei Fureidis, Maccabi Bnei Reineh, Tzeirei Tayibe (to the North division), F.C. Dimona and Ironi Kuseife (to the South Division) were promoted from Liga Bet to complete a 34 team line-up, 18 teams in each division.

Format change

To accommodate the shortened schedule caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the league was split into two phases. For the first phase each division was split to two sub-divisions with nine teams in each sub-division, to be played as a

double round robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

tournament (16 matches in total). At the end of the first phase in each division the two top teams from each sub-division qualifying to a promotion group of four teams, again to be played as a double round robin tournament (6 matches in total), with the winning team gaining promotion to

and the second-placed team qualifying to the promotion play-offs.
The seven bottom placed teams in each sub-division would continue in their respective sub-division with the points gained during the first phase, playing an additional round robin schedule (six matches in total). The bottom team in each sub-division would be relegated to

and the sixth placed team would compete to the relegation play-offs.

North Division

Sub-division A

Sub-division B

Promotion group

South Division

Sub-division A

Sub-division B

Promotion group

Promotion play-offs

In the first round of the play-offs the two second-placed teams from the promotion groups faced each other in a single match on neutral ground. The winner of the match faced the 14th-placed team from

in a single match.

First round

Second round

''Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa was not promoted to Liga Leumit.''

Relegation play-offs

In each division (North and South) the sixth-placed teams from each sub-division played each other, with the winning team staying in Liga Alef. The losing team from each division faced the Liga Bet play-off winner in a single match for a place in Liga Alef.

Changes from last season

Team changes

Format change

North Division

Sub-division A

Sub-division B

Promotion group

South Division

Sub-division A

Sub-division B

Promotion group

Promotion play-offs

First round

Second round

Relegation play-offs

North division

First round

Second round

South division

First round

Second round

References