Israeli Football League System

The Premier League, or Ligat Ha’al, is the highest division, followed by the National League, or Liga Leumit.[3] Below these national competitions, the 2026/27 structure includes geographically divided leagues: Liga Alef has North and South districts, Liga Bet has four districts, and Liga Gimel may have as many as eight, depending on club registrations.[4] Promotion and relegation connect the levels, with the usual exchange between the Premier League and National League consisting of two clubs moving in each direction.[3]

The league system also provides a setting for longstanding club rivalries and participation across communities.[2][10] More than 160 national-league derbies between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv had been played since 1931 in an account covering the clubs through the 2019–20 season; wins for the two sides and draws were described as almost evenly divided.[10] Arab clubs’ share of teams in the top four divisions rose from 7 percent in 1977 to 35 percent in 2001.[2]

The Eretz Israel Football Association was founded in 1928, with inclusion of all population groups among the conditions for its acceptance into FIFA.[11] Also described as the Palestine Football Association, it comprised British, Jewish and Arab teams and was the first national sports federation.[6] It provided a shared organizational framework for Maccabi and Ha-Poel, which did not otherwise cooperate in a single body until after Israel’s establishment.[6]

One account dates the first football league in Mandatory Palestine to 1932 and says it admitted British Mandate clubs, one of which won the inaugural competition.[7] Other accounts identify Football Association championships in 1928 and 1929 and national-league derbies from 1931, suggesting that the sources describe different organizational milestones.[10] League matches brought Arab, Jewish and British teams into competition, while players from all three populations were eligible in principle, though not always in practice, for selection to an all-star national team.[11] Cross-community fixtures could receive a friendly reception: a 1941 newspaper account of the Muslim Club of Jaffa’s match against Maccabi Rehovot stated, “The Arab team was welcomed with friendly enthusiasm by the football fans in Rehovot.”[11]

Association membership was also affected by political conflict.[11] Arab teams withdrew in 1934 in protest against their treatment and formed a short-lived parallel organization.[11] During the 1942 League Cup, Maccabi Haifa advanced automatically when its scheduled quarter-final opponent, Greece’s Royal Hellenic Army team, left Mandatory Palestine.[11] Later in the competition, Maccabi Tel Aviv was disqualified for using two players slated for conscription, and Shabab al-‘Arab’s appeal against the resulting decision was rejected.[11] The conflict contributed to Arab teams renouncing membership in 1943 and establishing the Arab Sports Association in May 1944.[11]

During the 1950s, Israeli football was organized through three sports federations affiliated with different political camps.[12] In 1951, Maccabi and Ha-Poel agreed to cooperate on the Israel Olympic Committee and the Israel Sports Federation; both were already represented on the Israel Football Association.[6] Football was non-professional: players could not receive material remuneration and were expected to demonstrate loyalty to their clubs and the state.[13] Some went abroad to play professionally, provoking harsh reactions from the media, football authorities and politicians, as well as sanctions intended to stop the practice.[13]

By 1970, the Israel Football Association had 13,000 affiliated athletes, out of more than 40,000 participants in organized competitive athletics in Israel.[6] Football became increasingly commercial from the 1980s, and during the 1990s sport grew more dependent on capital and the commercial market.[9] This transition weakened the earlier dominance of political organization, although political influence remained evident in football institutions and stadium culture.[14]

Club histories illustrate movement between divisions as well as continuity at the top.[15] Until 1981, Hapoel Haifa was one of three clubs, with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv, never to have been relegated from the professional league’s highest division.[15] It subsequently spent the next decade in the second division amid financial difficulties, before eventually winning the first-division championship in 1999.[15] Through 2019–20, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv had both played in the top tier in every season since 1931 except two.[10]

The top division has repeatedly changed its size and format.[8] It contained 16 clubs in 1986/87, was reduced to 14 with a playoff in 1987/88, and fell to 12 in 1989/90.[8] Expansion toward 16 began in 1993, with a transitional 1993/94 season featuring 14 clubs and three rounds.[8] The Premier League was established in 1999, beginning with 14 clubs in 1999/00 and operating with 12 in 2000/01.[8] Across the 25 seasons examined in a 2011 retrospective, the top division used 11 different formats as administrators sought to improve competition, spectator interest and playing quality.[8]

For 2026/27, the Premier League has 14 clubs, a number also reported at the season’s opening in August 2026.[3][16] Its season usually runs from late August to May.[3] After two rounds, the competition divides into an upper group of six and a lower group of eight, with the club holding the most points at the end crowned champion.[3] The usual promotion and relegation arrangement exchanges two clubs with the National League each season.[3] Published 2026/27 National League standings list 16 positions, despite a 2025 proposal to reduce the division to 14.[17][18]

Liga Alef is the third tier in 2026/27, with 18 clubs in each of its North and South districts.[4] One club from each district is scheduled to advance to the National League, while clubs finishing second through fifth enter their district’s upper playoff.[4] The bottom two in each district are automatically relegated to Liga Bet.[4]

The fourth tier, Liga Bet, comprises North A, North B, South A and South B districts.[4] Liga Gimel forms the next level and can comprise up to eight districts, with the number depending on how many clubs register.[4] Earlier descriptions of the hierarchy placed Liga Artzit beneath the National League and described 12-team divisions, whereas the 2026/27 arrangement places Liga Alef third.[1][4]

In July 2025, the Israel Football Association approved a reform package introducing new professional-club requirements from 2026/27 and planning a nationwide Liga Artzit for 2027/28.[5] The minimum budgets were set at NIS 18 million for Premier League clubs and NIS 5 million for National League clubs, alongside baseline youth-development and infrastructure criteria.[5] Clubs failing to satisfy the conditions were to be relegated without replacement.[5]

The package also requires professional-league clubs to play home matches in a regulation stadium in their home city.[5] Where no suitable local stadium exists, a club must relocate to a nearby city with a compliant facility and a population exceeding 50,000.[5]

The planned Liga Artzit is intended to become a professional third tier under the association.[19] The July 2025 package provided for 18 clubs, with up to six places available to Premier League reserve sides, designated “B teams” and composed primarily of players under 23.[5] Those reserve teams would not be eligible for the State Cup or direct league funding.[5]

A later proposed format envisaged a base of 12 clubs: two relegated from the National League and five promoted from each Liga Alef district, with up to six reserve teams added.[19] That proposal included two direct relegation places from Liga Artzit to Liga Alef and a further club entering a playoff.[19]

Arab representation expanded substantially in the late twentieth century: the top four leagues contained eight Arab teams in 1976–77, 21 in 1992 and 40 by 2001.[2] Across all Israeli football teams, Arab teams accounted for approximately 40 percent in 2004, compared with an Arab share of approximately 20 percent of the country’s population.[20] Individual participation also grew: nine Arab players were recorded in the National League in 1995, compared with 56 in the Premier League in 2011.[20]

Many Arab clubs represented smaller communities than their competitors, a factor that could hinder progress to higher divisions.[2] In 1997–98, the median population of localities represented in the National League was about 154,000, compared with approximately 50,000 in the second division and 29,000 in the third.[2] Three Arab clubs in the second division represented localities of 15,000–25,000 people, while ten localities represented in the third division had a median population of about 13,000.[2]

On May 18, 2004, Ittihad Abna Sakhnin became the first Arab club to win Israel’s National Cup.[2] That evening, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Yasir Arafat both called club director Mazen Ghenayem: Sharon emphasized the team’s forthcoming representation of Israel in Europe, while Arafat spoke of pride for the Arab nation.[2]

Domestic success became connected to European club competition through Israel’s changing international affiliations.[6] UEFA invited Israeli youth teams to championships from 1987 and invited the national champion and cup-holder to its annual competitions in 1992. By that year, Israel’s integration into European sports federations was largely complete, although UEFA was among the last federations that had not yet granted full membership.[6]

A New Israel Fund program launched in April 2003 sought to combat racism and incitement at National League and Premier League grounds.[20] Its activity helped accelerate Israel’s entry into Football Against Racism in Europe in 2006.[20] On July 30, 2008, the Knesset enacted the Prohibition of Violence in Sports Law, which stipulated up to two years’ imprisonment for racist statements at sports grounds.[20]

The proposed restructuring of Liga Alef was linked in 2025 reporting to a match-fixing controversy in its northern district; that reported rationale does not establish the underlying allegations as proven.[18] Published plans also differed on Liga Artzit’s launch and size: an early account envisaged 16 clubs beginning in 2026/27, while later accounts described a 2027/28 start with either 18 clubs or a range of 12–18.[18][19] These were evolving plans rather than a single settled competition format.[18]