2014–15 Israeli Premier League

The 2014–15 Israeli Premier League is the sixteenth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 73nd season of top-tier football in Israel. It began in the end of August 2014 and ended in May 2015. Maccabi Tel Aviv are the defending champions, having won their third Premier League title, and 20th championship last season.

Israeli Premier League

Season	2014–15
Dates	13 September 2014 – 1 June 2015
Champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv (21st title)
Relegated	F.C. Ashdod Hapoel Petah Tikva
Champions League	Maccabi Tel Aviv (2nd qualifying round)
Europa League	Ironi Kiryat Shmona (3rd qualifying round) Hapoel Be'er Sheva (2nd qualifying round) Beitar Jerusalem (1st qualifying round)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	604 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Eran Zahavi (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Maccabi Haifa 5–0 Ashdod (14 February 2015)
Biggest away win	Maccabi Petah Tikva 0–4 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (25 October 2014) Maccabi Netanya 0–4 Maccabi Haifa (3 December 2014) Hapoel Haifa 0–4 Maccabi Haifa (14 December 2014)
Highest scoring	Maccabi Netanya 4–4 Maccabi Petah Tikva (20 September 2014)
Longest winning run	5 games Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Longest unbeaten run	16 games Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Longest winless run	15 games F.C. Ashdod
Longest losing run	4 games F.C. Ashdod Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Haifa Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Highest attendance	29,300 - Maccabi Haifa 1–3 Beitar Jerusalem (27 December 2014)[1]
Average attendance	6,451[1]
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

Maccabi Tel Aviv became champions for the 21st time and 3rd consecutive time, and completed the first-ever treble in Israeli football, after winning the Cup and Toto Cup as well.

Teams

Hapoel Acre

F.C. Ashdod

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa

Beitar Jerusalem

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Maccabi Netanya

Hapoel Petah Tikva

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Hapoel Ra'anana

Bnei Sakhnin

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Locations of the 2014–15 Israeli Premier League teams

A total of fourteen teams are competing in the league, including twelve sides from the 2013–14 season and two promoted team from the 2013–14 Liga Leumit.

Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon and Bnei Yehuda were relegated to the 2014–15 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2013–14 season in the bottom two places.

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Petah Tikva were promoted after finishing the 2013–14 Liga Leumit in the top two places.

Stadia and locations

Club	Home City	Stadium	Capacity
Beitar Jerusalem	Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	31,733
Bnei Sakhnin	Sakhnin	Doha Stadium	8,500
F.C. Ashdod	Ashdod	Yud-Alef Stadium	7,800
Hapoel Acre	Acre	Acre Stadium	5,000
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Be'er Sheva	Vasermil Stadium	13,000
Hapoel Haifa	Haifa	Sammy Ofer Stadium	30,950
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Hapoel Ra'anana	Ra'anana	Netanya Stadium[2]	13,610
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona Stadium	5,300
Maccabi Haifa	Haifa	Sammy Ofer Stadium	30,950
Maccabi Netanya	Netanya	Netanya Stadium	13,610
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413

Beitar Jerusalem	Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Teddy Stadium	Bloomfield Stadium	Kiryat Shmona Stadium
Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Haifa Maccabi Haifa	Maccabi Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva
Netanya Stadium	Sammy Ofer Stadium	HaMoshava Stadium
F.C. Ashdod	Bnei Sakhnin	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Hapoel Acre
Yud-Alef Stadium	Doha Stadium	Vasermil Stadium	Acre Stadium

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Beitar Jerusalem	Eli Tabib	Guy Levy	Ofir Kriaf	Puma	itrader
Bnei Sakhnin	Mohammed Abu Yunes	Eli Cohen	Khaled Khalaila	Umbro	Toyga
F.C. Ashdod	Jacky Ben-Zaken	Nir Klinger	Ofir Martziano	Nike
Hapoel Acre	Yehuda Barshishat	Shlomi Dora	David Goresh	Macron	Azrieli Group
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Alona Barkat	Elisha Levy	Elyaniv Barda	Kappa	Mobli
Hapoel Haifa	Yoav Katz	Tal Banin	Oshri Roash	Diadora	Hatama
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Doron Ben Dakon	Meni Koretski	Kobi Musa	Lotto
Hapoel Ra'anana	Asher Alon	Haim Silvas	Snir Shuker	Umbro	ME Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv	The Red Fans	Eli Cohen	Shay Abutbul	Umbro	Fujicom
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Izzy Sheratzky	Barak Bakhar	Shir Tzedek	Puma	Ituran
Maccabi Haifa	Ya'akov Shahar	Marco Balbul	Yossi Benayoun	Nike	Honda
Maccabi Netanya	Eli Segev	Ronny Levy	Eran Levy	Joma	Burgus Burger Bar
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Amos Luzon	Ran Ben Shimon	Naor Peser	Macron	Panorama North
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Mitchell Goldhar	Pako Ayestarán	Sheran Yeini	Adidas

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Maccabi Haifa	Arik Benado	Sacked	14 April 2014	Pre-season	Aleksandar Stanojević	1 May 2014
Beitar Jerusalem	Ronny Levy	Sacked	10 May 2014		Meni Koretski	10 May 2014
Hapoel Haifa	Shlomi Dora	End of contract	14 May 2014		Reuven Atar	14 May 2014
Hapoel Acre	Yuval Naim	Sacked			Alon Harazi
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Ran Ben Shimon	Sacked	26 May 2014		Asi Domb	27 May 2014
Hapoel Ra'anana	Meni Koretski	Resigned			Haim Silvas
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Paulo Sousa	Signed by Basel	28 May 2014		Óscar García	2 June 2014
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Yetav Luzon	Resigned	11 June 2014		Ran Ben Shimon	12 June 2014
Bnei Sakhnin	Marco Balbul	End of contract	19 June 2014		Guy Levy	19 June 2014
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Óscar García	Resigned	26 August 2014		Pako Ayestarán	26 August 2014
Bnei Sakhnin	Guy Levy	Sacked	5 December 2014	13th	Eli Cohen	5 December 2014
Maccabi Haifa	Aleksandar Stanojević	Resigned	28 December 2014	4th	Marco Balbul	28 December 2014
Hapoel Acre	Alon Harazi	Resigned	5 January 2015	14th	Shlomi Dora	8 January 2015
Maccabi Netanya	Yossi Mizrahi	Resigned	14 January 2015	12th	Ronny Levy	14 January 2015
Beitar Jerusalem	Meni Koretski	Sacked	30 January 2015	10th	Guy Levy	30 January 2015
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Asi Domb	Sacked	30 January 2015	8th	Eli Cohen	30 January 2015
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Ido Bar-On	Sacked	7 February 2015	13th	Meni Koretski	7 February 2015
Hapoel Haifa	Reuven Atar	Sacked	16 February 2015	12th	Tal Banin	16 February 2015

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to five per team.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Non-visa Foreign	Former Players
Beitar Jerusalem	Claudemir	Liviu Antal	Dušan Matović	César Arzo			Žarko Korać
Bnie Sakhnin	Diogo Kachuba	Igor Jovanović	Miha Mevlja			Ahmad Abu Nahyeh3	Giannis Papadopoulos Milan Bojović Abraham Paz
F.C. Ashdod	Paty Yeye Lenkebe	Aliyu Abubakar	Juwon Oshaniwa	Yero Bello	Aleksandar Davidov	Nicolás Falczuk2	David Solari
Hapoel Acre	Emir Hadžić	Juliano Spadacio	Giannis Papadopoulos	Branislav Jovanović			Hamdi Salihi
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	William Soares	Austin Ejide	John Ogu	Ovidiu Hoban	Tomislav Pajović	Joakim Askling2
Hapoel Haifa	Hamdi Salihi	Tosaint Ricketts	Přemysl Kovář	Tadas Kijanskas	Žarko Korać	Steven Cohen2	Darío Fernández Osei Mawuli2 Mindaugas Kalonas
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Gaël Etock	Mirko Oremuš	Sékou Condé	Chimezie Mbah	Michael Tukura	Tvrtko Kale2	Akaki Khubutia
Hapoel Ra'anana	Anthony Nwakaeme	Mamadou Thiam	Emmanuel Mbola	Evans Kangwa			Pedro Sass
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Apoula Edel	Lucas Sasha	Amido Baldé	Jürgen Colin	Abonime Izogbu		Gaël Etock Francis Benjamin Harmony Ikande
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kassio	David Manga	Mindaugas Panka	Touvarno Pinas	Rodgers Kola
Maccabi Haifa	Vladimir Stojković	Medo	Abraham Paz	Míchel	Rubén Rayos		Edin Cocalić Mohamadou Idrissou
Maccabi Netanya	Romário Pires	Olarenwaju Kayode	Cristian Sîrghi	Gabriel Giurgiu			Dudu Cearense
Maccabi Petah Tikva	David Solari	Daniel Dimov	Kostadin Hazurov	Ivan Herceg	Joachim Mununga	Bryan Gerzicich1	Nicolás Falczuk2 Alan Gatagov
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Nosa Igiebor	Nikola Mitrović	Carlos García	Juan Pablo	Rade Prica

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[a]	26	17	5	4	53	20	+33	54	Qualification for the championship round
2	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	26	14	7	5	47	24	+23	49
3	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	26	13	8	5	40	27	+13	47
4	Beitar Jerusalem	26	10	10	6	38	29	+9	40
5	Maccabi Petah Tikva	26	10	9	7	28	30	−2	39
6	Maccabi Haifa	26	11	4	11	38	29	+9	37
7	Hapoel Ra'anana	26	9	7	10	24	23	+1	34	Qualification for the relegation round
8	Maccabi Netanya	26	9	6	11	37	45	−8	33
9	Bnei Sakhnin	26	7	9	10	32	37	−5	30
10	Hapoel Tel Aviv[a]	26	8	7	11	27	33	−6	29
11	F.C. Ashdod	26	6	9	11	29	41	−12	27
12	Hapoel Haifa	26	7	5	14	20	41	−21	26
13	Hapoel Petah Tikva	26	5	8	13	28	43	−15	23
14	Hapoel Acre	26	4	10	12	20	39	−19	22

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.
Notes:

1. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv each deducted one point.^[3]

Results

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

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

1. The match originally was abandoned after supporter violence while the score was 1–1.^[4] The Israel Football Association declared the match a 0–0 draw, with neither team receiving any points and closing the stands for four matches.^[3]

Playoffs

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games):^[5]

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 – 11 8 – 13 9 – 12 10 – 14	7 – 8 13 – 9 12 – 10 11 – 14	8 – 11 9 – 7 10 – 13 14 – 12	8 – 9 7 – 10 13 – 14 11 – 12	9 – 11 10 – 8 14 – 7 12 – 13	9 – 10 8 – 14 7 – 12 11 – 13	10 – 11 14 – 9 12 – 8 13 – 7

Top playoff

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Maccabi Tel Aviv[a] (C)	36	21	9	6	67	32	+35	70	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	36	18	10	8	53	38	+15	64	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[b]
3	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	36	17	11	8	63	40	+23	62	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[b]
4	Beitar Jerusalem[a]	36	13	13	10	48	43	+5	51	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[b]
5	Maccabi Haifa	36	14	8	14	51	37	+14	50
6	Maccabi Petah Tikva	36	12	12	12	34	41	−7	48

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem each deducted one point.^[6]
2. Since Maccabi Tel Aviv won the 2014–15 Israel State Cup, then the 2nd-positioned team will be awarded with entry to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Results

Home \ Away	BEI	HBS	IKS	MHA	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	3–0
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	4–0	—	2–2	1–1	3–0	1–1
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1–2	3–1	—	1–0	2–0	0–0
Maccabi Haifa	1–0	4–0	4–1	—	0–0	1–1
Maccabi Petah Tikva	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	—	1–1
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–1	3–1	2–1	2–1	0–2	—

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	Bnei Sakhnin	33	11	11	11	43	44	−1	44
8	Hapoel Tel Aviv[a]	33	12	8	13	36	40	−4	42
9	Maccabi Netanya	33	11	8	14	46	54	−8	41
10	Hapoel Ra'anana	33	10	9	14	35	36	−1	39
11	Hapoel Acre	33	9	11	13	28	42	−14	38
12	Hapoel Haifa	33	9	7	17	25	47	−22	34
13	Hapoel Petah Tikva (R)	33	8	8	17	43	59	−16	32	Relegation to Liga Leumit
14	F.C. Ashdod (R)	33	6	13	14	32	51	−19	31

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Hapoel Tel Aviv deducted one point.^[3]

Results

Home \ Away	ASH	BnS	HAC	HHA	HPT	HRA	HTA	MNE
F.C. Ashdod	—	—	0–0	0–0	2–4	—	—	—
Bnei Sakhnin	1–1	—	—	1–0	—	1–1	2–0	—
Hapoel Acre	—	1–0	—	1–0	—	2–0	—	—
Hapoel Haifa	—	—	—	—	3–2	—	0–1	0–0
Hapoel Petah Tikva	—	2–3	0–2	—	—	4–2	—	—
Hapoel Ra'anana	4–0	—	—	1–2	—	—	2–2	1–2
Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–0	—	2–0	—	1–2	—	—	2–1
Maccabi Netanya	0–0	2–3	1–2	—	3–1	—	—	—

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 1 June 2015.

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Eran Zahavi	Maccabi Tel Aviv	27
2	Mohammad Ghadir	Bnei Sakhnin	16
3	Maor Buzaglo	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	13
	Olarenwaju Kayode	Maccabi Netanya
5	Roi Kahat	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	12
6	Shlomi Arbeitman	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	11
	Hamdi Salihi	Hapoel Haifa
	Rodgers Kola	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
	Eran Levy	Maccabi Netanya

Source: Israel Football Association

See also

• 2014–15 Israel State Cup
• 2014–15 Israel Super Cup
• 2014–15 Israel Toto Cup