Israeli Premier League


The Israeli Premier League is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with its second division Liga Leumit. 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 to form a new league. It is also ranked 15th in the UEFA coefficients 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 one clubs to have competed] since the inception of the Israeli Premier League in 1999, six have won the title: Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Ironi Kiryat Shmona. The current champions are Maccabi Tel Aviv, who won the 2024–25 season.

Background

The Israeli Premier League was founded in 1999 to replace its predecessor Liga Leumit when the Israel Football Association 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. 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 to Liga Leumit 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 second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The runners-up and the third-placed teams qualify for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
In addition, the Israeli State Cup winners qualify for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
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 UEFA Europa Conference League. In case the State Cup winners also win the Israeli Premier League then the second-placed league team will play in first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
In addition, the bottom eight teams will play each other once to avoid two relegation spots.

Clubs

A total of 31 clubs have played in the Israeli Premier League from its inception in 1999 and the start of the 2025–26 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.
Three clubs have been members of the Israeli Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Members of the 2025–26 season

The following 14 clubs will compete in the Israeli Premier League during the 2024–25 season.
Club
Position
in 2024–25		First season in
the Israeli Premier League		Number of seasons
in the Israeli Premier League		First season of
current spell in
Israeli Premier League		Top division
titles		Last top division title
4th1999–200027th1999–200062007–2008
Bnei Sakhnin10th2009–201021st2020–20210
11th1999–200026th2016–20170
2nd2001–200221st2009–201052017–2018
Hapoel Haifa5th1999–200021st2009–201011998–1999
Hapoel Jerusalem7th1999–20006th2021-20220Never
Hapoel Petah Tikva2nd 1999–200015th2025–202651962-63
Hapoel Tel Aviv1st 1999–200025th2025–2026132009–2010
Ironi Tiberias12nd2024–20252nd2024–20250Never
Ironi Kiryat Shmona9th2007–200817th2024–202512011–2012
Maccabi Bnei Reineh8th2022–20234th2022–20230Never
Maccabi Haifa3rd1999–200027th1999–2000152022–2023
Maccabi Netanya6th2003–200424rd2017–201851982–1983
Maccabi Tel Aviv1st1999–200027th1999–2000262024–2025

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 – a mobile phone company
  • 2005–2010: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board
  • 2010–2016: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board
  • 2016–2018: Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board
  • 2018–2019: Japanika – Asian restaurant
  • 2019–2022: Tel Aviv Stock Exchange – Stock Exchange
  • 2022–2024: ONE ZERO – Digital Bank
  • 2024- : Toto Winner Organization – the Israeli Sports Betting Board

    Number of foreigners

Teams are limited to Eight foreign players per team. Special circumstances such as Druze players from the Golan or cases such as that of Toto Tamuz, 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 and Channel 1 HD network television. There is also a league review show on Saturday nights at Sport 5 channel.
Abroad, rights to broadcasting in Hebrew 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:
  • Broadcast rights
  • Ticket sales
  • Merchandise
  • Toto Winner – The Israeli Sports Betting Council
  • Sponsorship

    UEFA league ranking

;Country ranking in European Leagues:
UEFA League Ranking for the 2019–2024 period:
  • 15. Super League Greece
  • 16. Danish Superliga
  • 17. Israeli Premier League
  • 18. Ukrainian Premier League
  • 19. Serbian SuperLiga
Source: ,

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