2013–14 Israeli Premier League

The 2013–14 Israeli Premier League was the fifteenth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 71st season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 24 August 2013 and ended on 17 May 2014. Maccabi Tel Aviv were the defending champions, having won their second Premier League title, and 19th championship last season. They successfully defended their title this season.

Israeli Premier League

Season	2013–14
Dates	24 August 2013 – 17 May 2014
Champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Relegated	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon Bnei Yehuda
Champions League	Maccabi Tel Aviv (Second qualifying round)
Europa League	Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Third qualifying round) Hapoel Be'er Sheva & Hapoel Tel Aviv (Second qualifying round)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	606 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Eran Zahavi (29)
Biggest home win	Maccabi Tel Aviv 5–0 Hapoel Ironi Acre
Biggest away win	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon 0–5 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Highest scoring	F.C. Ashdod 4–5 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Longest winning run	7 games Maccabi Tel Aviv
Longest losing run	7 games Hapoel Ramat HaSharon
Average attendance	5,065[1]
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

Teams

F.C. Ashdod

Bnei Sakhnin

Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Hapoel Ra'anana

Hapoel Ramat HaSharon

Beitar Jerusalem

Hapoel Acre

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Bnei Yehuda

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Locations of the 2013–14 Israeli Premier League teams

A total of fourteen teams are competing in the league, including twelve sides from the 2012–13 season and two promoted team from the 2012–13 Liga Leumit.

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Ramat Gan were relegated to the 2013–14 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2012–13 season in the bottom two places.

Maccabi Petah Tikva and Hapoel Ra'anana were promoted after finishing the 2012–13 Liga Leumit in the top two places.

Club	Home City	Stadium	Capacity
Beitar Jerusalem	Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	31,733
Bnei Sakhnin	Sakhnin	Doha Stadium	8,500
Bnei Yehuda	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium[A]	14,413
F.C. Ashdod	Ashdod	Yud-Alef Stadium	7,800
Hapoel Ironi Acre	Acre	Acre Municipal Stadium	5,000
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Be'er Sheva	Vasermil Stadium	13,000
Hapoel Haifa	Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	14,002
Hapoel Ra'anana	Ra'anana	Netanya Stadium[A]	13,610
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Ramat HaSharon	Grundman Stadium	4,300
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona	Ironi Stadium	5,300
Maccabi Haifa	Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	14,002
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413

^ A: The club will play their home games at a neutral venue because their own ground does not meet Premier League requirements.

Beitar Jerusalem	Bnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Hapoel Acre
Teddy Stadium	Bloomfield Stadium	Kiryat Shmona Stadium	Acre Stadium
Hapoel Ra'anana	Hapoel Haifa Maccabi Haifa	Maccabi Petah Tikva	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon
Netanya Stadium	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	HaMoshava Stadium	Grundman Stadium
F.C. Ashdod	Bnei Sakhnin	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Yud-Alef Stadium	Doha Stadium	Vasermil Stadium

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Beitar Jerusalem	Eli Tabib	Ronny Levy	Ariel Harush	Diadora	Eldad Perry Group
Bnei Sakhnin	Mohammed Abu Yunes	Marco Balbul	Khaled Khalaila	Lotto	Toyga
Bnei Yehuda	Moshe Damaio	Yossi Abukasis	Kfir Edri	Macron	Super Ceramic
F.C. Ashdod	Jacky Ben-Zaken	Nir Klinger	Guy Tzarfati	Legea	Radio Jerusalem
Hapoel Ironi Acre	Yehuda Barshishat	Yuval Naim	David Goresh	Nike	Azrieli Group
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Alona Barkat	Elisha Levy	Elyaniv Barda	Kappa	Mobli
Hapoel Haifa	Yoav Katz	Shlomi Dora	Yossi Dora	Diadora	Hatama
Hapoel Ra'anana	Ilan Katz	Meni Koretski	Tamir Cohen	Joma	ME Tel Aviv
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Boaz Moldavsky	Haim Shabo	Kobi Musa	Lotto	Trade Mobile
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Haim Ramon	Ran Ben Shimon	Shay Abutbul	Kappa	Fujicom
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Izzy Sheratzky	Barak Bakhar	Shir Tzedek	Puma	Ituran
Maccabi Haifa	Ya'akov Shahar	Arik Benado	Yaniv Katan	Nike	Honda
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Amos Luzon	Yitav Luzon Kobi Refua	Omer Golan	Lotto	Panorama North
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Mitchell Goldhar	Paulo Sousa	Sheran Yeini	Macron

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Final position
Beitar Jerusalem	Eli Cohen (b. 1951)	End of contract	4 May 2013	10th (12–13)	Eli Cohen (b. 1961)	23 June 2013[2]	10th
Hapoel Haifa	Nir Klinger	End of contract	4 May 2013	9th (12–13)	Shlomi Dora	23 May 2013[3]
F.C. Ashdod	Yossi Mizrahi	End of contract	4 May 2013	7th (12–13)	Nir Klinger	19 May 2013[4]
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Freddy David	End of contract	18 May 2013[5]	3rd (12–13)	Ran Ben Shimon	20 May 2013[6]
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Benny Tabak	Sacked	21 May 2013[7]	6th (12–13)	Rafi Cohen	21 May 2013[7]	14th
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Óscar García	Resigned	22 May 2013[8]	1st (12–13)	Paulo Sousa	12 June 2013[9]
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Rafi Cohen	Sacked	22 September 2013[10]	14th	Haim Shabo (caretaker)	22 September 2013[10]
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Moshe Sinai	Resigned	24 November 2013[11]	12th	Yitav Luzon[C]	24 November 2013[11]
				13th	Kobi Refua	19 December 2013[12]
Bnei Yehuda	Dror Kashtan	Resigned	1 December 2013[13]	14th	Yaakov Asayag (caretaker)	1 December 2013[13]	14th
Beitar Jerusalem	Eli Cohen (b. 1961)	Sacked	3 December 2013[14]	10th	David Amsalem (caretaker)	3 December 2013[14]	11th
Beitar Jerusalem	David Amsalem (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	9 December 2013[15]	11th	Ronny Levy	9 December 2013[15]
Bnei Yehuda	Yaakov Asayag (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	22 December 2013[16]	14th	Yossi Abukasis	22 December 2013[16]

^C Yitav Luzon was Maccabi Petah Tikva sole manager until 19 December 2013, when Kobi Refua was appointed as joint-manager alongside him.

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Non-visa Foreign	Former Players
Beitar Jerusalem	Pablo Brandán	Bryan	Dušan Matović	Jonathan Vila	Andrés Túñez		Landry Mulemo Osa Guobadia Teteh Bangura
Bnei Sahknin	Albert Crusat	Abraham Paz	Cristian	Jorge Alonso	Marc Fernández		Marko Markovski
Bnei Yehuda	Emiliano Fusco	James Keene	Liam Walker	Dele Aiyenugba	Kęstutis Ivaškevičius		Ádám Hrepka Yoro Lamine Ly
F.C. Ashdod	Paty Yeye Lenkebe	Gaëtan Varenne	Juwon Oshaniwa	Yero Bello	Aleksandar Davidov		David Solari
Hapoel Ironi Acre	Hamdi Salihi	Juliano Spadacio	Mirko Oremuš	Branislav Jovanović	Nenad Marinković	Steven Cohen2	Leandrão Leo Costa Srđa Knežević
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	David Hubert	William Soares	Glynor Plet	Austin Ejide	Tomislav Pajović	Nicolás Falczuk2	Bojan Marković
Hapoel Haifa	Darío Fernández	Tadas Kijanskas	Žarko Korać	Danilo Nikolić		Tvrtko Kale2	Nebojša Marinković
Hapoel Ra'anana	Liliu	Anthony Nwakaeme	Mamadou Thiam	Emmanuel Mbola	Francis Kasonde		Eudis
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Emir Hadžić	Aleksandar Đoković				Fadi Zidan2 Kenny Saief2	Jadranko Bogičević Asrat Megersa
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Lucas Sasha	Petar Orlandić	Jürgen Colin	Besart Abdurahimi	Branko Ilić	Bryan Gerzicich1
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kassio	David Manga	Mindaugas Panka	Rodgers Kola			Darko Tasevski Dušan Matović
Maccabi Haifa	Edin Cocalić	Tamás Priskin	Bojan Šaranov	Rubén Rayos	Andriy Pylyavskyi	Gustavo Boccoli1	Dino Ndlovu
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Pedro Galván	Ivan Herceg	Erfan Zeneli	Zito	Luka Rotković		Bojan Đukić Emmanuel Ogude
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Rémi Maréval	Nikola Mitrović	Carlos García	Juan Pablo	Rade Prica	Marcell Illés2	Mané

In bold: Players that join the club mid-season

In Italic: Players that left the club mid-season

The following do not fill a Visa position:
¹Players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained an Israeli passport or permanent residency, allowing them to play with Israeli status;
²Players who were born and started their professional career abroad but are eligible for Israeli citizenship due to Jewish ancestry;

³Israeli citizens who have chosen to represent another national team;

Regular season

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Maccabi Tel Aviv	26	21	3	2	58	18	+40	66	Qualification for the championship round
2	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	26	18	5	3	48	19	+29	59
3	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	26	12	8	6	38	26	+12	44
4	Maccabi Haifa	26	13	5	8	39	30	+9	44
5	Bnei Sakhnin	26	11	7	8	30	25	+5	40
6	Hapoel Tel Aviv	26	11	6	9	51	38	+13	39
7	F.C. Ironi Ashdod	26	8	7	11	28	35	−7	31	Qualification for the relegation round
8	Hapoel Haifa	26	8	7	11	27	34	−7	31
9	Beitar Jerusalem	26	8	6	12	21	28	−7	30
10	Hapoel Acre	26	6	9	11	24	37	−13	27
11	Hapoel Ra'anana	26	6	8	12	20	33	−13	26
12	Maccabi Petah Tikva	26	5	8	13	28	45	−17	23
13	Bnei Yehuda	26	4	8	14	26	39	−13	20
14	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	26	5	5	16	21	52	−31	20

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. Winners of 2013–14 Israel State Cup qualify for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Results

Home \ Away	BEI	BnY	BnS	ASH	HAC	HBS	HHA	HRA	HRH	HTA	IKS	MHA	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	2–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–0	1–2
Bnei Yehuda	0–0	—	2–4	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	2–4	0–2
Bnei Sakhnin	0–0	0–1	—	2–1	1–0	0–4	2–0	2–0	1–1	4–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	0–2
F.C. Ironi Ashdod	1–0	1–0	0–0	—	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	3–0	4–5	2–1	3–2	2–0	0–0
Hapoel Acre	0–0	3–2	0–2	1–1	—	1–2	2–1	0–0	4–3	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–3	0–2
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–2	3–1	3–0	3–2
Hapoel Haifa	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–3	—	1–1	3–0	0–4	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–3
Hapoel Ra'anana	2–2	0–2	0–1	3–0	1–3	1–0	0–2	—	1–2	1–4	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–2
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–3	1–1	0–4	0–2	1–3	—	0–5	0–2	1–2	2–0	0–3
Hapoel Tel Aviv	3–1	2–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–3	4–0	0–0	3–0	—	1–1	2–4	3–1	2–3
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	2–2	—	2–1	0–0	3–1
Maccabi Haifa	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	3–1	—	1–0	0–3
Maccabi Petah Tikva	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–1	1–0	3–3	0–2	3–3	0–3	—	0–2
Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–0	5–0	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	2–2	—

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

Playoffs

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games):^[17]

Rounds
27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th
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	6 – 1 5 – 2 4 – 3	2 – 1 3 – 5 4 – 6	6 – 2 1 – 3 5 – 4	3 – 2 4 – 1 5 – 6	6 – 3 2 – 4 1 – 5
7 – 14 8 – 13 9 – 12 10 – 11	7 – 8 13 – 9 12 – 10 14 – 11	8 – 14 9 – 7 10 – 13 11 – 12	8 – 9 7 – 10 13 – 11 14 – 12	9 – 14 10 – 8 11 – 7 12 – 13	9 – 10 8 – 11 7 – 12 14 – 13	10 – 14 11 – 9 12 – 8 13 – 7

Top playoff

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Maccabi Tel Aviv (C)	36	26	6	4	76	30	+46	84	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	36	20	8	8	56	33	+23	68	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
3	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	36	18	10	8	59	38	+21	64	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[a]
4	Hapoel Tel Aviv	36	16	10	10	72	47	+25	58	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
5	Maccabi Haifa	36	15	8	13	49	46	+3	53
6	Bnei Sakhnin	36	13	8	15	37	47	−10	47

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
Notes:

1. Since Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the 2013–14 Israel State Cup, then the 4th-positioned team will be awarded with entry to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Results

Home \ Away	BnS	HBS	HTA	IKS	MHA	MTA
Bnei Sakhnin	—	0–0	1–3	1–4	0–2	2–1
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–0	—	1–2	0–2	1–1	1–2
Hapoel Tel Aviv	3–0	1–2	—	4–2	4–0	3–1
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	2–0	3–0	1–1	—	1–0	2–2
Maccabi Haifa	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	—	2–2
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	—

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

Bottom playoff

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
7	Beitar Jerusalem	33	12	6	15	31	32	−1	42
8	F.C. Ironi Ashdod	33	10	9	14	35	45	−10	39
9	Hapoel Ra'anana	33	9	11	13	31	40	−9	38
10	Hapoel Acre	33	8	12	13	30	42	−12	36
11	Hapoel Haifa	33	9	7	17	30	45	−15	34
12	Maccabi Petah Tikva	33	8	9	16	39	57	−18	33
13	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon (R)	33	9	6	18	29	59	−30	33	Relegation to Liga Leumit
14	Bnei Yehuda (R)	33	7	10	16	32	45	−13	31

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
(R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BEI	BnY	ASH	HAC	HHA	HRA	HRH	MPT
Beitar Jerusalem	—	—	1–0	0–2	—	—	4–0	3–0
Bnei Yehuda	1–0	—	1–1	—	—	1–3	—	—
F.C. Ironi Ashdod	—	—	—	1–0	4–1	—	0–1	0–5
Hapoel Acre	—	1–1	—	—	1–0	1–1	1–2	—
Hapoel Haifa	1–0	0–1	—	—	—	0–2	0–1	—
Hapoel Ra'anana	0–2	—	1–1	—	—	—	—	4–2
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	—	0–1	—	—	—	0–0	—	4–1
Maccabi Petah Tikva	—	1–0	—	0–0	2–1	—	—	—

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Eran Zahavi	Maccabi Tel Aviv	29
2	Omer Damari	Hapoel Tel Aviv	26
3	Alon Turgeman	Maccabi Haifa	15
4	Rade Prica	Maccabi Tel Aviv	12
5	David Manga	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	11
	Žarko Korać	Hapoel Haifa
	Mohammed Kalibat	Bnei Sakhnin
	Rubén Rayos	Maccabi Haifa
	Glynor Plet	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
10	Maor Buzaglo	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	10
Total			606
Average per game			2.53

Updated: 17 May 2014
Source: Israel Football Association

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Barak Yitzhaki for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Ironi Acre, 1st minute (24 August 2013)^[18]
• Biggest winning margin: 5 goals –
  • Hapoel Ramat HaSharon 0–5 Hapoel Tel Aviv (26 October 2013)^[19]
  • Maccabi Tel Aviv 5–0 Hapoel Ironi Acre (21 December 2013)^[20]
• Most goals scored by a losing team: 4 goals – F.C. Ashdod 4–5 Hapoel Tel Aviv (8 March 2014)^[21]
• Most goals in a match by one player: 3 goals -
  • Itay Shechter for Hapoel Tel Aviv against Hapoel Ramat HaSharon (26 October 2013)^[19]
  • Žarko Korać for Hapoel Haifa against Hapoel Ramat HaSharon (21 December 2013)^[22]
  • Dovev Gabay for Hapoel Be'er Sheva against Hapoel Tel Aviv (30 December 2013)^[23]
  • Eran Zahavi for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Tel Aviv (17 March 2014)^[24]
  • Eran Zahavi for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Bnei Sakhnin (17 May 2014) ^[25]

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Amiya Taga for Hapoel Ironi Acre against Maccabi Tel Aviv, 7th minute (24 August 2013)^[18]
• Most yellow cards by a player: 10^[26]
  • Ali Ottman (Bnei Sakhnin)
• First red card of the season: Asrat Megersa for Hapoel Ramat HaSharon against Hapoel Haifa, 41st minute (24 August 2013)^[27]
• Most red cards by a player: 2^[28]
  • Ahad Azam (Hapoel Haifa)
  • Yossi Dora (Hapoel Haifa)
  • Ben Reichert (Hapoel Ramat HaSharon)
  • Khaled Khalaila (Bnei Sakhnin)
  • Zito (Maccabi Petah Tikva)

Clean sheets

• Most clean sheets: 18
  • Maccabi Tel Aviv
• Fewest clean sheets: 1
  • Maccabi Petah Tikva

Attendance

• Highest Attendance: 30,000
  • Round 6 - Beitar Jerusalem vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv (22 October 2013) at Teddy Stadium. This is the highest attendance of an Israeli Premier League regular season game since 1993. This game is also the highest attendance of a regular Premier League game outside of Ramat Gan Stadium.^[29]

See also

• 2013–14 Israel State Cup