Global InformationList of Israeli football champions information
The association football champions of Israel are the winners of the highest league in Israeli football, which is currently the Israeli Premier League. The league is contested on a round robin basis and the championship awarded to the team that is top of the league at the end of the season. Having won the 2020–21 competition, Maccabi Haifa are the current champions.[1]
Following the creation of the Eretz Israel Football Association in August 1928,[2] the first nationwide football championship in Mandatory Palestine, the Palestine League, began in November 1931. The Palestine League's last edition was played during the 1946–47 season, and since then the national championship has been played under four names: the Israeli League, from 1949 to 1950; Liga Alef, between 1951 and 1955; Liga Leumit, from 1955 to 1999; and finally, since 1999, the Israeli Premier League.
In all, Maccabi Tel Aviv hold the record for most championships, with 23 titles; they are also the only Israeli club to have never been relegated from the top division.[3][4] The next most successful teams are Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem, with 15, 12 and six titles respectively.[nb 1] These four sides won every Israeli Premier League title from its inception in 1999 to 2012;[1][5] due in part to this, they are sometimes described as Israel's "Big Four".[6] While Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv have always been major players in the league championship, the consistent success of Maccabi Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem has been a relatively recent phenomenon, both clubs having won their first title during the 1980s. The longest run of successive titles is five, won by Hapoel Petah Tikva between the 1958–59 and 1962–63 seasons.[5]
- ^ a b "History: Ironi Kiryat Shmona is the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League champions". One. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
- ^ Kaufman, Haim; Galily, Yair (January 2008). "The early development of Hebrew football in Eretz Israel, 1910–1928" (PDF). Soccer & Society. 9 (1). Israel Football Association: 11. doi:10.1080/14660970701616779. S2CID 145680671. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ^ "About the Club". Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ Stokkermans, Karel (21 April 2011). "Coventric!". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
bleicherMay2011was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Sinai, Allon (20 July 2011). "Local Soccer: Season schedule released". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
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