Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit
Founded	1955
Country	Israel
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Premier League
Relegation to	Liga Alef
Domestic cup(s)	State Cup; Toto Cup (Leumit)
Current champions	Maccabi Petah Tikva ; (2019–20)
TV partners	Sport 5
Website	football.org.il
	Current: 2020–21 Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit (Hebrew: ליגה לאומית‎, lit. National League) is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League.

Structure

There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-placed teams are relegated to Liga Alef while the two highest-placed teams from Liga Alef are promoted in their place. The two highest-placed Liga Leumit teams are promoted to the Israeli Premier League while the bottom two teams from Israeli Premier League are relegated in their place.

The participating clubs were first play a conventional round-robin schedule for a total of 30 matches, with all points accumulated by the clubs are halved.

Following this, the top eight teams will first play in a promotion playoff. To determine the promoted teams. and the eight clubs play a single round-robin schedule.

The Israeli State Cup winners qualify for the third qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.

In addition, the bottom eight teams play out to avoid two relegation spots.

Broadcast Rights

Television

Since the 2010–11 season, One match is broadcast live on Sport +5 LIVE channel on Friday or Saturday afternoons. The rest of the matches have no TV cover.

History

Liga Leumit came into existence at the start of the 1955–56 season, replacing Liga Alef as the top division in Israeli football. However, it was usurped as the top flight in the 1999–2000 season, when it was replaced by the Premier League. Since then it has operated as the second tier in the Israeli football league system.

Current Liga Leumit clubs (2019–20)

The following clubs are participating in the 2019–20 season:

Past seasons Champions

Season	Promoted to First Division	Relegated from First Division	Promoted from Third Division	Relegated to Third Division
1999–2000	Tzafririm Holon	Maccabi Herzliya Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Jerusalem	Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim	Hapoel Ashkelon
2000–01	Hapoel Be'er Sheva Maccabi Kiryat Gat	Tzafririm Holon Bnei Yehuda	Maccabi Kafr Kanna Hapoel Ra'anana	Hapoel Jerusalem Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata
2001–02	Hapoel Kfar Saba Bnei Yehuda	Maccabi Kiryat Gat Hapoel Haifa	Hapoel Nazareth Illit Hapoel Jerusalem	Hakoah Ramat Gan Hapoel Beit She'an
2002–03	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Bnei Sakhnin	Hapoel Kfar Saba Ironi Rishon LeZion	Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hakoakh Amidar Ramat Gan	Beitar Be'er Sheva Maccabi Kafr Kanna
2003–04	Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Nazareth Illit	Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	Hapoel Acre Ironi Ramat HaSharon	Hapoel Ramat Gan Maccabi Kiryat Gat
2004–05	Hapoel Kfar Saba Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Haifa	Hapoel Ashkelon Maccabi Be'er Sheva	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Tzafririm Holon
2005–06	Maccabi Herzliya Hakoakh Amidar Ramat Gan	Bnei Sakhnin Hapoel Nazareth Illit	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Hapoel Bnei Lod	Ironi Rishon LeZion Maccabi Be'er Sheva
2006–07	Ironi Kiryat Shmona Bnei Sakhnin	Hapoel Petah Tikva Hakoakh Amidar Ramat Gan	Hapoel Rishon LeZion Hapoel Ramat Gan	Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Jerusalem
2007–08	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan Hapoel Petah Tikva	Maccabi Herzliya Hapoel Kfar Saba	Hapoel Jerusalem Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata	Ironi Rishon LeZion Hapoel Nazareth Illit
2008–09	Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Acre Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Ra'anana Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hakoakh Amidar Ramat Gan	Sektzia Nes Tziona Hapoel Ashkelon Ironi Rishon LeZion Hapoel Marmorek Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam Hapoel Nazareth Illit Ahva Arraba Maccabi Be'er Sheva	Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata
2009–10	Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hapoel Ashkelon	Hapoel Ra'anana Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	Hapoel Herzliya Maccabi Ironi Jatt Al-Ahli	Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Marmorek
2010–11	Ironi Ramat HaSharon Hapoel Rishon LeZion	Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim	Hapoel Jerusalem Maccabi Umm al-Fahm	Maccabi Ironi Jatt Al-Ahli Ahva Arraba
2011–12	Hapoel Ramat Gan	Ironi Rishon LeZion Maccabi Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva	Maccabi Yavne	Ironi Bat Yam Hapoel Herzliya Maccabi Be'er Sheva
2012–13	Maccabi Petah Tikva Hapoel Ra'anana	Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Afula Hapoel Jerusalem	Sektzia Nes Tziona Hapoel Kfar Saba
2013–14	Maccabi Netanya Hapoel Petah Tikva	Ironi Ramat HaSharon Bnei Yehuda	Hapoel Kfar Saba Ironi Kiryat Gat Ironi Tiberias	Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Ashkelon Maccabi Umm al-Fahm
2014–15	Bnei Yehuda Hapoel Kfar Saba	F.C. Ashdod Hapoel Petah Tikva	Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Ashkelon	Ironi Tiberias Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan
2015–16	F.C. Ashdod Hapoel Ashkelon	Maccabi Netanya Hapoel Acre	Ironi Nesher Maccabi Sha'arayim	Maccabi Yavne Maccabi Kiryat Gat
2016–17	Maccabi Netanya Hapoel Acre	Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Kfar Saba	Hapoel Hadera Hapoel Marmorek	Maccabi Sha'arayim Hapoel Jerusalem
2017–18	Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Hadera	Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Acre	Hapoel Iksal Sektzia Nes Tziona	Maccabi Herzliya Ironi Nesher
2018–19	Hapoel Kfar Saba Sektzia Nes Tziona	Bnei Sakhnin Maccabi Petah Tikva	Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C. Kafr Qasim	Hapoel Iksal Hapoel Marmorek
2019–20	Maccabi Petah Tikva Bnei Sakhnin	Sektzia Nes Tziona Hapoel Ra'anana	Hapoel Kfar Shalem Hapoel Iksal	Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Bnei Lod

In Bold team that won the Championship

External links

Israel Football Association
Liga Leumit Soccerway

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