2008–09 Liga Leumit

The 2008–09 Liga Leumit season began on 29 August 2008, and ended on 29 May 2009.

Two teams from Liga Artzit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata along with two teams relegated from Israeli Premier League: Maccabi Herzliya and Hapoel Kfar Saba.
The two teams relegated to Liga Artzit were Hapoel Nazareth Illit and Hapoel Rishon LeZion.

Due to an expected league expansion,[1] at the end of the season five clubs were automatically promoted to the Israeli Premier League, whilst the sixth-placed club in Liga Leumit played in a play-off match against the 11th-placed team in the Premier League. Only one team relegated automatically, and one team played in a play-off match against a team from Liga Artzit (which ceased to exist, with the regionalised Liga Alef becoming the third tier).

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Promotion or relegation
1 Hapoel Haifa (C) (P) 33 17 11 5 44 29+15 0621 Promotion to Israeli Premier League
2 Hapoel Acre (P) 33 17 10 6 50 23+27 61
3 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (P) 33 16 11 6 53 35+18 59
4 Hapoel Ramat Gan (P) 33 14 11 8 37 31+6 53
5 Hapoel Ra'anana (P) 33 15 6 12 36 382 51
6 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth (O) (P) 33 12 9 12 41 33+8 45 Qualification to promotion play-offs
7 Maccabi Herzliya 33 10 8 15 34 4612 38
8 Hapoel Kfar Saba 33 8 12 13 34 417 36
9 Hapoel Bnei Lod 33 8 13 12 35 383 0371
10 Hapoel Jerusalem 33 9 10 14 32 408 37
11 Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon (O) 33 8 12 13 37 5013 36 Qualification to relegation play-offs
12 Maccabi Kiryat Ata (R) 33 4 7 22 24 5329 19 Relegation to Liga Alef

Source: The Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
1Hapoel Haifa received a technical lose of 3-0 to Hapoel Bnei Lod for fielding an ineligible player.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Positions by round

Team \ Round 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
Hapoel Haifa 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Hapoel Acre 12 12 9 6 3 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 4 5 4 4 5 4 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 6 9 5 4 5 4 3 3 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 3 4 5 5 5 4 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 3
Hapoel Ramat Gan 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Hapoel Ra'anana 5 7 6 8 9 7 5 4 3 5 5 4 5 4 5 5 3 3 4 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 6 4 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Maccabi Herzliya 9 6 4 5 6 6 8 8 8 10 11 11 11 11 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 10 10 9 9 10 10 8 7
Hapoel Bnei Lod 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 11 11 10 10 8 8 8 10 10 11 10 11 11 10 10 9 8 9 8
Hapoel Jerusalem 8 4 7 9 7 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 7 7 7 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 9 10 9
Hapoel Kfar Saba 3 5 8 7 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 10
Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon 7 8 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 9 9 9 7 7 7 7 7 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 11 11 11 11 11 11
Maccabi Kiryat Ata 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

Source: The Israel Football Association

Results

The schedule consisted of three rounds. During first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

First and second round

Home ╲ Away HAC HBS HBLHHAHJEHKSHRAHRGIRHMANMHEIKA
Hapoel Acre 02 30 04 30 21 10 20 30 21 01 00
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 21 22 11 02 10 31 01 23 02 21 30
Hapoel Bnei Lod 00 02 12 02 12 01 03 40 11 10 00
Hapoel Haifa 22 11 12 20 00 20 00 01 10 11 20
Hapoel Jerusalem 00 11 00 01 11 02 23 41 10 12 00
Hapoel Kfar Saba 10 01 02 11 10 11 00 32 13 13 20
Hapoel Ra'anana 01 04 11 02 10 32 00 10 00 10 10
Hapoel Ramat Gan 11 11 33 11 01 10 31 21 00 10 31
Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon 02 00 10 02 11 11 12 10 22 30 20
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 21 01 30 00 22 11 12 30 11 41 20
Maccabi Kiryat Ata 02 01 11 01 01 02 12 01 11 10 00
Maccabi Herzliya 01 11 04 12 21 11 13 02 10 10 12

Source: The Israel Football Association
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):

Rounds
23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd
3 – 12
4 – 2
5 – 1
6 – 11
7 – 10
8 – 9
12 – 9
10 – 8
11 – 7
1 – 6
2 – 5
3 – 4
4 – 12
5 – 3
6 – 2
7 – 1
8 – 11
9 – 10
12 – 10
11 – 9
1 – 8
2 – 7
3 – 6
4 – 5
5 – 12
6 – 4
7 – 3
8 – 2
9 – 1
10 – 11
12 – 11
1 – 10
2 – 9
3 – 8
4 – 7
5 – 6
6 – 12
7 – 5
8 – 4
9 – 3
10 – 2
11 – 1
1 – 12
2 – 11
3 – 10
4 – 9
5 – 8
6 – 7
12 – 7
8 – 6
9 – 5
10 – 4
11 – 3
1 – 2
2 – 12
3 – 1
4 – 11
5 – 10
6 – 9
7 – 8
12 – 8
9 – 7
10 – 6
11 – 5
1 – 4
2 – 3
Home ╲ Away HAC HBS HBLHHAHJEHKSHRAHRGIRHMANMHEIKA
Hapoel Acre 00 71 11 00 10 50
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 02 22 31 33 32 32
Hapoel Bnei Lod 11 01 21 42 00
Hapoel Haifa 21 032 30 00 31 31
Hapoel Jerusalem 12 01 11 02 31
Hapoel Kfar Saba 01 11 30 22 11
Hapoel Ra'anana 13 10 10 20 12 21
Hapoel Ramat Gan 11 31 02 31 04 21
Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon 33 11 12 20 11
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 03 10 10 01 30 11
Maccabi Herzliya 00 00 20 21 11
Maccabi Kiryat Ata 20 23 12 30

Source: The Israel Football Association
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
2Hapoel Haifa received a technical lose of 3–0 to Hapoel Bnei Lod for fielding an ineligible player.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/Relegation playoff

Promotion playoff

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth as the 6th-placed team faced the 11th-placed Israeli Premier League team Hakoah Ramat Gan for a two-legged playoff. Maccabi Ahi Nazareth won both games and were promoted to the Israeli Premier League.


6 June 2009
19:00 UTC+2
Hakoah Ramat Gan 1 – 2 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth
For  23' Report Jida  46'
Ayeli  76'
Winter Stadium, Ramat Gan
Referee: Eitan Tabrizi

Relegation playoff

Ironi Ramat HaSharon as the 11th-placed team faced the 8th-placed Liga Artzit team Maccabi Kafr Kanna for a two-legged playoff, Ironi Ramat HaSharon won both games and will continue playing in Liga Leumit next season.


5 June 2009
15:30 UTC+2
Maccabi Kafr Kanna 0 – 1 Ironi Ramat HaSharon
Report Banahene  19'
Azmi Nassar Stadium, Kafr Kanna
Referee: Assaf Keinan

Season statistics

Scoring

Discipline

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals[5]
1 Israel Ohad Kadousi Hapoel Be'er Sheva 18
2 Israel Eran Levy Hapoel Haifa 13
Israel Achmad Saba'a Hapoel Bnei Lod 13
Ivory Coast Serge Ayeli Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 13
5 Israel Shay Aharon Hapoel Jerusalem 12
6 Georgia (country) Irakliy Geperidze Hapoel Haifa 11
7 Israel Dovev Gabay Maccabi Herzliya 10
Ghana Emmanuel Banahene Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon 10
9 Israel Ronen Shwartzman Hapoel Acre 8
Israel Dudu Biton Hapoel Ra'anana 8
Israel Mor Golan Hapoel Ramat Gan 8
Democratic Republic of the Congo Alain Masudi Maccabi Herzliya 8
Total 457
Average per game 2.3

Stadia

Club Stadium Capacity
Hapoel Jerusalem Teddy Stadium 21,600
Hapoel Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 14,002
Hapoel Be'er Sheva Vasermil Stadium 13,000
Maccabi Herzliya Herzliya Municipal Stadium 8,100
Hapoel Ramat Gan HaMakhtesh Stadium 5,500
Hapoel Kfar Saba Levita Stadium 5,500
Hapoel Acre Napoleon Stadium 5,0001
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Ilut Stadium 4,932
Hapoel Ra'anana Karnei Oren Memorial Field 2,500
Hapoel Bnei Lod Lod Municipal Stadium 2,000
Ironi Ramat HaSharon Yankela Grundman Stadium 2,000
Maccabi Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata Municipal Stadium 726

1Currently undergoing construction work to convert it to a 5,000-seat stadium. In the meanwhile they play at the Nahariya Municipal Stadium.

See also

References

  1. June 24th IFA meeting summary (Hebrew)
  2. 1 2 3 "Hapoel Acco 0:4 Hapoel Haifa". The Israel Football Association. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Hapoel Acre 7:1 Hapoel Haifa". The Israel Football Association. 22 May 2009. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  4. "Hapoel Akko 2-1 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth". The Israel Football Association. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  5. "Liga Leumit Top Scorers". The Israel Football Association. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
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