1996–97 Liga Leumit

The 1996–97 Liga Leumit season saw Beitar Jerusalem win their third title. Hapoel Tayibe (the first Arab club to play in the top flight since the establishment of Israel) and Tzafririm Holon were relegated to Liga Artzit. Motti Kakoun of Hapoel Petah Tikva was the league's top scorer with 20 goals.

Liga Leumit

Season	1996–97
Champions	Beitar Jerusalem 3rd title
Relegated	Hapoel Tayibe Tzafririm Holon
Top goalscorer	Motti Kakoun (20)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Beitar Jerusalem (C)	30	21	6	3	62	20	+42	69	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Hapoel Petah Tikva	30	18	6	6	57	37	+20	60	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	30	19	3	8	44	25	+19	60	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
4	Maccabi Petah Tikva	30	14	10	6	39	22	+17	52	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup group stage
5	Maccabi Haifa	30	13	9	8	48	34	+14	48
6	Maccabi Tel Aviv	30	13	7	10	47	34	+13	46
7	Hapoel Haifa	30	12	7	11	34	33	+1	43
8	Hapoel Kfar Saba	30	11	7	12	34	39	−5	40
9	Ironi Rishon LeZion	30	11	7	12	35	47	−12	40
10	Bnei Yehuda	30	10	8	12	32	40	−8	38
11	Hapoel Beit She'an	30	9	7	14	29	34	−5	34
12	Hapoel Jerusalem	30	9	7	14	30	41	−11	34
13	Hapoel Tel Aviv	30	8	9	13	29	32	−3	33
14	Maccabi Herzliya	30	9	5	16	19	28	−9	32
15	Tzafririm Holon (R)	30	4	9	17	17	43	−26	21	Relegation to Liga Artzit
16	Hapoel Tayibe (R)	30	4	3	23	19	66	−47	15

Source:
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Moti Kakoun	Hapoel Petah Tikva	20
2	Alon Mizrahi	Bnei Yehuda	18
3	Ofer Shitrit	Maccabi Petah Tikva	15
4	Eli Ohana	Beitar Jerusalem	14
	Itzik Zohar	Beitar Jerusalem	14
6	Hezi Shirazi	Maccabi Haifa	13
7	Avi Nimni	Maccabi Tel Aviv	12
	Yaniv Ofri	Hapoel Petah Tikva	12
9	Shay Holtzman	Hapoel Beer Sheva	11
10	Yaniv Abargil	Hapoel Kfar Saba	10
	István Sallói	Beitar Jerusalem	10

References

• Israel - List of Final Tables RSSSF
• Liga Leumit IFA (in Hebrew)