2021–22 Israeli Premier League

The season featured 14 clubs, each playing the other 13 sides home and away across a 26-match regular phase.[1] At the end of that stage, the league divided into two groups. The top six clubs entered a Championship Playoff, in which they faced each other home and away over a further 10 matches; the league title and four European places were decided within this group. The bottom eight clubs entered a separate lower playoff, where each side met the others once; the two lowest-placed teams at the end of that phase were relegated to the Leumit League.[1]

Two clubs returned to the top division for the season: Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Nof HaGalil, who faced each other on the opening weekend.[1][2] The schedule ran from August 28, 2021, through May 21, 2022, with the Maccabi Tel Aviv–Maccabi Haifa fixture placed in round three.[2]

Maccabi Haifa finished atop the regular-season table with 59 points from 26 matches — 18 wins, five draws, and three losses.[6] Hapoel Be'er Sheva were second on 55 points and Maccabi Tel Aviv third on 53. At the other end of the table, Maccabi Petah Tikva finished 13th with 21 points and Hapoel Nof HaGalil 14th with 20, placing both in serious danger of relegation ahead of the lower playoff.[6]

The championship and relegation playoffs opened in March 2022. Among the opening results, Hapoel Be'er Sheva beat Maccabi Netanya 4–1, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bnei Sakhnin drew 0–0, and Ashdod SC beat Hapoel Nof HaGalil 2–0.[7] More than 20,000 fans attended the Maccabi Tel Aviv–Bnei Sakhnin fixture at Bloomfield Stadium.[7]

Maccabi Haifa's path to the championship was not without drama. A significant setback came when Hapoel Be'er Sheva beat a ten-man Haifa side 1–0, with Eitan Tibi heading home an 80th-minute free-kick winner after Muhammed Abu Fani had been sent off early in the second half.[8] Be'er Sheva coach Elyaniv Barda acknowledged that the title percentages were against his side but pledged that his team would do its maximum.[8]

The title became practically secure on May 10, when Haifa lost 3–1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv at Sammy Ofer Stadium but Hapoel Be'er Sheva simultaneously lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Haifa remained six points clear with two matches left and held a 24-goal advantage in goal difference that was described as insurmountable.[9][3] Maccabi Haifa finished the upper-playoff table with 78 points from 36 matches — 24 wins, six draws, and six losses — eight points ahead of Be'er Sheva, with Maccabi Tel Aviv third on 69.[4] Maccabi Netanya, Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Bnei Sakhnin completed the six-team upper playoff.[4]

Maccabi Haifa's Omer Atzili finished as the league's top scorer with 20 goals, ahead of Dean David, Stipe Perica, and Itamar Shviro, who each scored 15.[10] Walla's Maccabi Haifa statistics also list Atzili with 10 assists across the season.[4] His standout individual display came in the round-21 match against Ashdod, when he scored four goals — the only four-goal haul of the season — making him the sixth Maccabi Haifa player to achieve the feat, after Zahi Armeli, Itay Mordechai, Sergey Kleshchenko, Wiam Amasha, and Dino Ndlovu.[3]

As a team, Maccabi Haifa put together a 16-match unbeaten run comprising 13 wins and three draws, stretching between a home loss to Hapoel Be'er Sheva on October 3 and an away loss at Ironi Kiryat Shmona on February 14.[3] The club also recorded two 6–0 victories, against Bnei Sakhnin and Ashdod, as well as a 5–1 derby win.[3]

Maccabi Petah Tikva and Hapoel Nof HaGalil were confirmed as the two relegated clubs.[8][11] Petah Tikva's fate was sealed one round before the lower playoff concluded, when they lost 1–0 to Hapoel Jerusalem. William Agada's first-half goal ensured Jerusalem's survival and sent Petah Tikva down.[8] A Petah Tikva equalizer was disallowed following a VAR review during that match.[11]

On the same day, Ironi Kiryat Shmona beat Hapoel Nof HaGalil 2–0, with Itamar Shviro scoring both goals, condemning the newly promoted Nof HaGalil to an immediate return to the second division.[8] In their final top-flight appearance of the season, Nof HaGalil earned a 1–0 win over Hapoel Haifa through Omer Fadida's second-half goal, departing with a victory.[8]

The most prominent off-field incident involved the cancellation of the May 16 match between Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Haifa at Moshava Stadium in Petah Tikva, which had been set to serve as Haifa's formal title-crowning occasion. Police issued a four-day closure order for the stadium approximately two hours before kickoff, with the venue reportedly lacking roughly half the required security personnel.[12] Sakhnin had stated beforehand that sufficient stewards were available. The league's statement said agreed security forces had not arrived, while also asserting that Sakhnin had failed to meet its commitments.[12] League chairman Erez Halfon announced that harsh measures would be taken against Sakhnin.[5] The final table records the fixture as a 0–3 Maccabi Haifa win, consistent with the technical loss ONE reported Sakhnin would receive.[4][12]

Ynet's end-of-season review characterized the campaign as marred by disciplinary proceedings, suspensions, refereeing concerns, and incidents of violence and racism among some supporters.[13] The same review noted that COVID-19 complicated direct attendance comparisons with previous seasons, even as large crowds attended numerous matches.[13]

Maccabi Haifa's back-to-back championship — its 14th title overall — earned the club a place in UEFA Champions League qualification the following summer.[9][3] Ironi Kiryat Shmona's attacking performance in the lower playoff also drew attention: the club finished the season with 48 goals, more than ten above any other lower-playoff side and a total exceeded across the league only by Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.[13]

Contemporary reports differed over the precise moment when the championship should be described as clinched. The Jerusalem Post's May 11 report treated the May 10 results as decisive because Haifa held a six-point lead and a 24-goal goal-difference advantage with two matches remaining.[9] A May 17 report instead described Hapoel Be'er Sheva's later 1–1 draw with Maccabi Tel Aviv as the clinching result and labeled Haifa's interrupted celebration an “anti-climactic crown.”[5] The accounts can be reconciled as distinguishing between the point at which the title became practically secure and its later formal confirmation.