1997–98 Liga Leumit

The 1997–98 Liga Leumit season began on 2 August 1997 and ended on 9 May 1998, with Beitar Jerusalem win their second consecutive title.

Liga Leumit

Season	1997 (1997)–98
Champions	Beitar Jerusalem 4th title
Relegated	Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Ashkelon
Champions League	Beitar Jerusalem
UEFA Cup	Hapoel Tel Aviv
Intertoto Cup	Hapoel Haifa
Cup Winners' Cup	Maccabi Haifa
Matches played	240
Goals scored	650 (2.71 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alon Mizrahi (18)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

That season had two rounds, each team played the other teams twice. The two teams that were relegated to Liga Artzit were: Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

Two team from Liga Artzit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hapoel Ashkelon and Maccabi Ironi Ashdod. The two teams relegated were: Hapoel Tayibe and Hapoel Tzafririm Holon.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Beitar Jerusalem (C)	30	20	9	1	71	33	+38	69	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	30	21	5	4	44	16	+28	68	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Hapoel Haifa	30	17	9	4	59	27	+32	60	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round
4	Maccabi Haifa	30	15	7	8	49	34	+15	52	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
5	Hapoel Petah Tikva	30	12	6	12	41	41	0	42
6	Maccabi Tel Aviv	30	10	9	11	42	35	+7	39
7	Hapoel Kfar Saba	30	10	8	12	39	39	0	38
8	Maccabi Herzliya	30	9	9	12	37	40	−3	36
9	Maccabi Petah Tikva	30	8	12	10	27	31	−4	36
10	Ironi Rishon LeZion	30	10	6	14	42	52	−10	36
11	Hapoel Jerusalem	30	8	10	12	35	45	−10	34
12	Maccabi Ironi Ashdod	30	8	9	13	39	57	−18	33
13	Hapoel Beit She'an	30	8	7	15	35	51	−16	31
14	Bnei Yehuda	30	8	7	15	26	42	−16	31
15	Hapoel Be'er Sheva (R)	30	7	9	14	38	57	−19	30	Relegation to Liga Artzit
16	Hapoel Ashkelon[lower-alpha 2] (R)	30	5	6	19	26	50	−24	19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Maccabi Haifa won the Israeli State Cup and was awarded with entry to the Cup Winner's Cup.
2. Deducted 2 points.

Results

Home \ Away	BEI	BnY	HAS	HBS	BTS	HHA	HJE	HKS	HPT	HTA	IRZ	MHA	MHE	MIA	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	3–1	5–1	7–2	5–2	0–0	2–1	4–3	4–2	2–1	4–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	1–1
Bnei Yehuda	0–1	—	0–0	1–1	3–1	1–4	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–3	2–3	1–4	0–4	2–0
Hapoel Ashkelon	1–2	0–0	—	2–0	0–0	1–3	1–2	0–1	3–1	2–3	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–0
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–5	2–0	3–1	—	3–0	4–5	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–4	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1
Hapoel Beit She'an	2–3	2–0	1–3	2–0	—	1–1	3–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	3–1	1–1	3–0	3–1	1–1	0–1
Hapoel Haifa	2–2	1–0	4–1	2–0	5–2	—	3–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	4–0	0–0	2–1
Hapoel Jerusalem	1–1	1–0	3–3	1–0	1–0	0–1	—	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–1
Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–4	1–2	—	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–0	1–1
Hapoel Petah Tikva	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	3–2	0–2	3–2	1–0	—	0–1	2–2	1–4	2–1	4–0	2–0	1–1
Hapoel Tel Aviv	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	—	6–0	1–0	1–0	3–2	0–0	1–0
Ironi Rishon LeZion	0–3	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	5–1	1–3	2–1	1–1	—	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–3	1–1
Maccabi Haifa	0–0	1–0	4–2	2–0	4–1	2–4	2–1	0–4	2–1	0–1	5–3	—	2–2	0–0	3–1	2–0
Maccabi Herzliya	1–1	0–2	2–0	3–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–2	—	0–1	1–0	2–1
Maccabi Ironi Ashdod	0–4	1–2	2–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	4–2	1–4	2–2	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–0	—	2–3	1–2
Maccabi Petah Tikva	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	0–1	0–2	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–0	—	0–2
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–3	1–1	2–0	3–0	4–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–3	0–1	2–1	2–1	7–1	0–1	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alon Mizrahi	Maccabi Haifa	18
2	Ofer Shitrit	Hapoel Tel Aviv	17
3	István Sallói	Beitar Jerusalem	16
4	Yossi Benayoun	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	15
	István Pisont	Beitar Jerusalem	15
6	Eli Driks	Maccabi Tel Aviv	14
7	Assi Tubi	Hapoel Jerusalem	13
8	Motti Kakoun	Hapoel Petah Tikva	12
	Nir Sevilia	Beitar Jerusalem	12
10	Liron Basis	Hapoel Haifa	11

References

• Israel - List of Final Tables RSSSF
• RSSSF - Israel 1997-98 Season