2009–10 Liga Leumit

The 2009–10 Liga Leumit was the 11th season since it became the second-tier in 1999 and the 68th season of second-tier football in Israel. It began on 21 August 2009 and ended on 15 May 2010.

Liga Leumit

Season	2009–10
Champions	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Promoted	Ironi Kiryat Shmona Hapoel Ashkelon
Relegated	Hapoel Marmorek Hapoel Jerusalem
Matches played	276
Goals scored	652 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Akaki Mikuchadze (18)
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Changes from 2008–09 season

Structure changes

League size has been increased from twelve to sixteen teams for this season, teams will thus play a home-and-away round-robin schedule for a total of 30 matches.

After the conclusion of this "regular season", teams will be split up into three playoff groups according to their league position. Points earned during the season will be halved and taken over to the respective playoff group. The best six teams will compete for the promotion spots. Clubs ranked 7th through 10th will engage in a placement round, while the bottom six teams will play out two relegation spots.

Team changes

Beitar Shimshon

Sektzia Nes Tziona

Ironi Ramat HaSharon

Hapoel Bnei Lod

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Hapoel Marmorek

H. Rishon LeZion

Hapoel Ashkelon

Hakoah Ramat Gan

Ahva Arraba

H. Nazareth Illit

Maccabi Be'er Sheva

Hapoel Jerusalem

Hapoel Kfar Saba

Maccabi Herzliya

Ironi Bat Yam

Location of teams in the 2009–10 Liga Leumit

Maccabi Kiryat Ata were directly relegated to the 2009–10 Liga Alef after finishing the 2008–09 season in last place.

Due to the increase in the number of teams, seven teams were directly promoted from the 2008–09 Liga Artzit. These were champions Sektzia Nes Tziona, runners-up Hapoel Ashkelon, third-placed Hapoel Marmorek, fourth-placed Hapoel Rishon LeZion, fifth-placed Ironi Bat Yam, sixth-placed Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv and seventh-placed Hapoel Nazareth Illit.

In addition, five teams were directly promoted from the 2008–09 Liga Leumit to the 2009–10 Israeli Premier League. These were champions Hapoel Haifa, runners-up Hapoel Acre, third-placed Hapoel Be'er Sheva, fourth-placed Hapoel Ramat Gan and fifth-placed Hapoel Ra'anana.

Overview

Stadia and locations

Club	Stadium	Capacity
Ahva Arraba	Doha Stadium	08,500
Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv	Hatikva Neighborhood Stadium	06,500
Hakoah Ramat Gan	Winter Stadium	08,000
Hapoel Ashkelon	Sala Stadium	5,250
Hapoel Bnei Lod	Lod Municipal Stadium	03,000
Hapoel Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	21,600
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Levita Stadium	05,800
Hapoel Marmorek	Haberfeld Stadium	06,000
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	Green Stadium	04,000
Ironi Bat Yam	Bat Yam Municipal Stadium	03,100
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona Municipal Stadium	05,300
Ironi Ramat HaSharon	Grundman Stadium	02,200
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	Haberfeld Stadium	06,000
Maccabi Be'er Sheva	Vasermil Stadium	13,000
Maccabi Herzliya	Herzliya Municipal Stadium	08,100
Sektzia Nes Tziona	Ness Ziona Stadium	06,000

Regular season

Regular season table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	30	18	8	4	43	20	+23	62	Top Playoff
2	Hapoel Kfar Saba[a]	30	14	9	7	47	37	+10	51
3	Sektzia Nes Tziona	30	11	14	5	33	21	+12	47
4	Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon[b]	30	12	10	8	44	27	+17	46
5	Ironi Bat Yam	30	13	6	11	35	29	+6	45
6	Hapoel Ashkelon[b]	30	11	11	8	41	35	+6	44
7	Hapoel Nazareth Illit	30	10	13	7	34	23	+11	43	Middle Playoff
8	Ahva Arraba[c]	30	12	8	10	35	32	+3	43[d]
9	Hapoel Rishon LeZion[a]	30	11	7	12	35	28	+7	40
10	Maccabi Herzliya	30	10	10	10	28	24	+4	40
11	Hapoel Bnei Lod	30	9	12	9	31	30	+1	39	Bottom Playoff
12	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan	30	9	11	10	36	39	−3	38
13	Maccabi Be'er Sheva[c]	30	11	3	16	37	49	−12	36
14	Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv	30	7	12	11	27	42	−15	33
15	Hapoel Jerusalem	30	5	8	17	35	61	−26	23
16	Hapoel Marmorek	30	2	8	20	19	63	−44	14

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match.
Notes:

1. Hapoel Kfar Saba received a technical loss of 3–0 to Ironi Rishon LeZion for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 0–0 draw.
2. Hapoel Ashkelon received a technical loss of 3–0 to Ironi Ramat HaSharon for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 0–2 win for Hapoel Ashkelon.
3. Maccabi Be'er Sheva received a technical loss of 3–0 to Ahva Arraba for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 1–1 draw.
4. Ahva Arraba were deducted one point for editing double contracts with several players.

Regular season results

Home \ Away	AHV	BTA	HAR	HAS	HBL	HJE	HKS	HMK	HNI	HRL	IBY	IKS	IRH	MBS	MHE	SNT
Ahva Arraba		1–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0[a]	1–0	2–2
Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv	0–0		1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–3	1–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–0
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan	2–2	0–1		1–2	1–2	3–2	2–2	0–0	2–4	2–1	2–1	0–2	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–1
Hapoel Ashkelon	3–1	5–0	0–1		1–1	6–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–1
Hapoel Bnei Lod	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–0		2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	3–2	0–2	1–0	0–1	4–1	0–0	0–1
Hapoel Jerusalem	1–4	2–2	3–3	2–1	2–1		0–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–4	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1
Hapoel Kfar Saba	0–0	0–0	2–1	4–0	2–2	1–2		1–0	2–1	2–1	2–3	3–1	2–1	5–1	3–2	2–0
Hapoel Marmorek	3–2	0–1	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–1	1–1		0–0	0–3	1–2	0–4	0–2	1–3	1–2	2–2
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	2–0	4–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–1	4–1	0–0		1–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	3–0	2–3	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	3–0[b]	3–0	1–0		1–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–0
Ironi Bat Yam	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–3	3–0	1–0	3–0		0–1	2–2	2–0	0–3	0–0
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	3–1	3–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–1		1–0	3–1	1–0	0–0
Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon	0–1	3–2	4–1	3–0[c]	1–1	3–3	1–1	5–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1		5–1	0–1	3–1
Maccabi Be'er Sheva	2–1	4–2	0–0	3–0	1–2	5–0	1–1	5–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	0–1		1–1	0–1
Maccabi Herzliya	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–0	3–1	0–2	4–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0		0–0
Sektzia Nes Tziona	2–0	1–1	3–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	3–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	2–0	2–1

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Maccabi Be'er Sheva received a technical loss of 3–0 to Ahva Arraba for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 1–1 draw.
2. Hapoel Kfar Saba received a technical loss of 3–0 to Hapoel Rishon LeZion for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 0–0 draw.
3. Hapoel Ashkelon received a technical loss of 3–0 to Ironi Ramat HaSharon for fielding an ineligible player. The original game was finished in a 0–2 win for Hapoel Ashkelon.

Playoffs

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 30 games):

Rounds
31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th
1 – 6 2 – 5 3 – 4	1 – 2 5 – 3 6 – 4	2 – 6 3 – 1 4 – 5	1 – 4 2 – 3 6 – 5	3 – 6 4 – 2 5 – 1
07 – 10 8 – 9	7 – 8 10 – 90	08 – 10 9 – 7	0 0	0 0
11 – 16 12 – 15 13 – 14	11 – 12 15 – 13 16 – 14	12 – 16 13 – 11 14 – 15	11 – 14 12 – 13 16 – 15	13 – 16 14 – 12 15 – 11

Top Playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Ironi Kiryat Shmona started with 31 points, Hapoel Kfar Saba with 26, Sektzia Nes Tziona with 24, Ironi Ramat HaSharon with 23, Ironi Bat Yam with 23 and Hapoel Ashkelon started with 22.

Top Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Ironi Kiryat Shmona (C, P)	35	21	9	5	51	22	+29	41	Promotion to Israeli Premier League
2	Hapoel Ashkelon (P)	35	15	11	9	47	42	+5	34
3	Hapoel Kfar Saba	35	16	9	10	56	47	+9	32	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Sektzia Nes Tziona	35	13	15	7	45	29	+16	31
5	Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon	35	13	11	11	50	37	+13	27
6	Ironi Bat Yam	35	14	7	14	43	41	+2	27

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Top Playoff results

Home \ Away	HAS	HKS	IBY	IKS	IRH	SNT
Hapoel Ashkelon			1–0		1–0
Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–2		5–2			1–2
Ironi Bat Yam				0–0		4–3
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1–2	3–0			3–0
Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon		1–2	3–2
Sektzia Nes Tziona	5–0			0–1	2–2

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Middle Playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Hapoel Nazareth Illit started with 22 points, Ahva Arraba with 22, Hapoel Rishon LeZion with 20 and Maccabi Herzliya started with 20.

Middle Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
7	Hapoel Nazareth Illit	33	12	14	7	38	24	+14	29
8	Hapoel Rishon LeZion	33	13	7	13	39	31	+8	26
9	Ahva Arraba	33	12	9	12	37	37	0	23
10	Maccabi Herzliya	33	10	12	11	31	28	+3	22

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match.

Middle Playoff results

Home \ Away	AHV	HNI	HRL	MHE
Ahva Arraba			0–1	2–2
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	2–0			0–0
Hapoel Rishon LeZion		1–2
Maccabi Herzliya			1–2

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom Playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Hapoel Bnei Lod started with 20 points, Hakoah Ramat Gan with 19, Maccabi Be'er Sheva with 18, Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv with 17, Hapoel Jerusalem with 12 and Hapoel Marmorek started with 7.

Bottom Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
11	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan	35	11	14	10	44	42	+2	28
12	Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv	35	10	13	12	31	47	−16	27
13	Hapoel Bnei Lod	35	10	15	10	37	34	+3	26
14	Maccabi Be'er Sheva (O)	35	12	6	17	42	53	−11	24	Qualification for relegation play-offs
15	Hapoel Jerusalem (R)	35	6	11	18	40	66	−26	18	Relegation to Liga Alef
16	Hapoel Marmorek (R)	35	2	9	24	21	72	−51	8

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match.
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Bottom Playoff results

Home \ Away	BTA	HAR	HBL	HJE	HMK	MBS
Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv		0–4		1–0
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan				0–0	1–0	1–1
Hapoel Bnei Lod	0–0	2–2			3–0
Hapoel Jerusalem			2–1			1–1
Hapoel Marmorek	0–1			2–2
Maccabi Be'er Sheva	1–2		0–0		2–0

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation playoff

Promotion playoff

The 3rd-placed team Hapoel Kfar Saba faced the 14th-placed Israeli Premier League team Hapoel Ramat Gan. The winner Hapoel Ramat Gan earned a spot in the 2010–11 Israeli Premier League. The match took place on 22 May 2010.

22 May 2010

18:45 UTC+3

Hapoel Ramat Gan	1–0	Hapoel Kfar Saba
Hermon 84'	Report (in Hebrew)

Haberfeld Stadium, Rishon LeZion

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Eitan Tabrizi

Relegation playoff

The 14th-placed team Maccabi Be'er Sheva faced the Liga Alef promotion playoff winner Maccabi HaShikma Ramat Hen.^[1] The winner Maccabi Be'er Sheva earned a spot in the 2010–11 Liga Leumit. The match took place on 31 May 2010.

31 May 2010

15:30 UTC+3

Maccabi Be'er Sheva	2–0	Maccabi HaShikma Ramat Hen
Barda 74', 90+5'	Report (in Hebrew)

Haberfeld Stadium, Rishon LeZion

Attendance: 350

Referee: Shay Sheetrit

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Ofir Azu for Maccabi Be'er Sheva against Hapoel Kfar Saba, 6th minute (21 August 2009)^[2]
• Widest winning margin: 5 goals –
  • Ironi Ramat HaSharon 5–0 Hapoel Marmorek (21 August 2009)^[3]
  • Maccabi Be'er Sheva 5–0 Hapoel Jerusalem (25 September 2009)^[4]
  • Hapoel Ashkelon 6–1 Hapoel Jerusalem (29 January 2010)^[5]
  • Hapoel Ashkelon 5–0 Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv (3 April 2010)^[6]
  • Sektzia Nes Tziona 5–0 Hapoel Ashkelon (14 May 2010)^[7]
• Most goals in a match: 7 goals –
  • Hapoel Ashkelon 6–1 Hapoel Jerusalem (29 January 2010)^[5]
  • Hapoel Kfar Saba 5–2 Ironi Bat Yam (16 April 2010)^[8]
  • Ironi Bat Yam 4–3 Sektzia Nes Tziona (23 April 2010)^[9]

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Oren Nisim for Ironi Ramat HaSharon against Hakoah Ramat Gan, 33rd minute (21 August 2009)^[10]
• First red card of the season: Aimé Lavie for Hakoah Ramat Gan against Ironi Ramat HaSharon, 90th minute (21 August 2009)^[10]

Miscellaneous

• First drawn match: Maccabi Herzliya 0–0 Sektzia Nes Tziona (22 August 2009)^[11]
• First goalless match: Maccabi Herzliya 0–0 Sektzia Nes Tziona (22 August 2009)^[11]

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[12]
1	Akaki Mikuchadze	Ironi Bat Yam	18
2	Shay Aharon	Hapoel Jerusalem	17
3	Shlomi Azulay	Hapoel Kfar Saba	15
	Tomer Swisa	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	15
5	Gaga Chkhetiani	Ironi Ramat HaSharon / Sektzia Nes Tziona	14
6	Yehiel Tzagai	Hapoel Ashkelon	13
7	Liron Diamant	Hakoah Ramat Gan	12
8	Ido Exbard	Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv	11
	Wiyam Amashe	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	11
10	Ronen Schwartzman	Ahva Arraba	09
	Mohamad Kial	Hapoel Bnei Lod	09
	Meir Asor	Ironi Bat Yam	09
	Eran Zeger	Maccabi Be'er Sheva	09
Total			652
Average per game			2.36

See also

• 2009–10 Israel State Cup
• 2009–10 Toto Cup Leumit
• List of 2009–10 Israeli football summer transfers
• List of 2009–10 Israeli football winter transfers