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2008–09 Israeli Premier League

Field	Value
competition	Israeli Premier League
season	2008–09
dates	30 August 2008 – 1 June 2009
winners	Maccabi Haifa
6th Premier League title
11th top-flight title
runners-up	Hapoel Tel Aviv
relegated	Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan
Ironi Kiryat Shmona
continentalcup1	Champions League
continentalcup1 qualifiers	Maccabi Haifa (second qualifying round)
continentalcup2	Europa League
continentalcup2 qualifiers	Hapoel Tel Aviv (third qualifying round)
Maccabi Netanya (second qualifying round)
Bnei Yehuda (first qualifying round)
league topscorer	Barak Yitzhaki / Shimon Abuhatzira / Eliran Atar (14 goals)
biggest home win	Hapoel Tel Aviv 4–0 Beitar Jerusalem (9 February 2009)
Beitar Jerusalem 4–0 Hakoah Ramat Gan (4 April 2009)
biggest away win	8 games with a win by 3 goals
highest scoring	Hakoah Ramat Gan 2–4 Beitar Jerusalem (20 September 2008)
F.C. Ashdod 4–2 Bnei Sakhnin (8 November 2008)
F.C. Ashdod 3–3 Maccabi Netanya (20 December 2008)
(6 goals)
total goals	432
average goals	2.18
prevseason	2007–08
nextseason	2009–10

6th Premier League title 11th top-flight title | runners-up = Hapoel Tel Aviv Ironi Kiryat Shmona Maccabi Netanya (second qualifying round) Bnei Yehuda (first qualifying round) Beitar Jerusalem 4–0 Hakoah Ramat Gan (4 April 2009) F.C. Ashdod 4–2 Bnei Sakhnin (8 November 2008) F.C. Ashdod 3–3 Maccabi Netanya (20 December 2008) (6 goals) The 2008–09 Israeli Premier League season began on 30 August 2008, and ended on 1 June 2009. Beitar Jerusalem were the defending champions, having won their 6th league title the previous year.

Two teams from Liga Leumit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan and Hapoel Petah Tikva. The two teams relegated were Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Herzliya.

At a 24 June 2008 IFA administration meeting it was decided that the league would be expanded to 16 clubs for the following season. Due to the expansion, only one team was relegated directly to Liga Leumit, while five clubs were promoted. The eleventh-ranked team played in a play-off match against the sixth-ranked team from Liga Leumit.

Maccabi Haifa clinched their 11th title after a 0–2 win against Maccabi Netanya on 23 May 2009.

Teams

Twelve teams took part in the 2008-09 Israeli Premier League season, including ten teams from the 2007-08 season, as well as two teams which were promoted from the 2007-08 Liga Leumit.

Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan were promoted as champions of the 2007-08 Liga Leumit. Hapoel Petah Tikva were promoted as runners up. They both returned to the top flight after an absence of one season.

Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Herzliya were relegated after finishing in the bottom two places in the 2007-08 season.

Stadiums and Locations

Club	Stadium	Capacity
Beitar Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	21,600
Bnei Yehuda	Bloomfield Stadium	15,700
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	14,002
Hakoah Ramat Gan	Winter Stadium	8,000
Maccabi Netanya	Sar-Tov Stadium	7,500
F.C. Ashdod	Yud-Alef Stadium	7,800
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium	6,800
Maccabi Petah Tikva
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona Municipal Stadium	5,300
Bnei Sakhnin	Doha Stadium	5,000

Beitar Jerusalem	Bnei Yehuda
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Hakoah Ramat Gan	Maccabi Netanya	Maccabi Haifa	Hapoel Petah Tikva
Maccabi Petah Tikva	F.C. Ashdod	Bnei Sakhnin	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Teddy Stadium
Bloomfield Stadium
Winter Stadium
[[File:Teddy stadium, Jerusalem.JPG	200px]]	[[File:Bloomfield_stadium.jpg	200px]]	[[File:Winter Stadium, May 2011 04.jpg	200px]]
Sar-Tov Stadium
Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium
[[File:Sar-Tov Stadium (21).jpg	200px]]	[[File:Haifa-WM01 - Kiryat Eliezer Stadium during a local derby.jpg	200px]]	[[File:Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium04.jpg	200px]]
Yud-Alef Stadium	Doha Stadium	Kiryat Shmona Stadium
[[File:Yod alef1.JPG	200px]]	[[File:Doha Stadium01.jpg	200px	center]]	[[File:Kiryat Shmona Municipal Stadium1.jpg	200px]]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona	ISR Ran Ben Shimon	End of contract	1 June 2008	Pre-season	ISR Michele Dayan	1 June 2008
Maccabi Haifa	ISR Ronny Levy	ISR Elisha Levi	1 June 2008
Maccabi Netanya	ISR Reuven Atar	GER Lothar Matthäus	1 June 2008
Bnei Sakhnin	ISR Elisha Levy	ISR Freddy David	1 June 2008
Maccabi Tel Aviv	ISR Nir Levin	ISR Ran Ben Shimon	1 June 2008
Bnei Yehuda	ISR Hezi Shirazi	ISR Freddy David	12 June 2008
Maccabi Petah Tikva	ISR Nitzan Shirazi	Resign	21 August 2008	ISR Guy Azouri	21 August 2008
Beitar Jerusalem	ISR Itzhak Shum	Sacked	3 September 2008	12th	ISR Reuven Atar	3 September 2008
Maccabi Tel Aviv	ISR Ran Ben Shimon	Sacked	2 November 2008	7th	ISR Avi Nimni	2 November 2008
Bnei Sakhnin	ISR Freddy David	Resign	9 November 2008	12th	ISR Eyal Lahman	9 November 2008
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona	ISR Michele Dayan	Sacked	30 November 2008	10th	ISR Eli Cohen	11 December 2008
Maccabi Petah Tikva	ISR Guy Azouri	Resign	22 December 2008	6th	ISR Ronny Levy	22 December 2008
Bnei Sakhnin	ISR Eyal Lahman	Sacked	8 March 2009	12th	ISR Eran Kulik	8 March 2009
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona	ISR Eli Cohen	Sacked	11 April 2009	12th	ISR Ran Ben Shimon	14 April 2009

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Non-visa foreign	Former players
Beitar Jerusalem	ARG Darío Fernández	CHI Cristián Álvarez				CRO Tvrtko Kale2	GHA Derek Boateng
URY Sebastián Abreu
Bnei Sakhnin	COL Sergio Novoa	COD Paty Yeye Lenkebe	GHA Awudu Okocha	GHA Ibrahim Basit	GNB Niche		BRA Maicon Santos
COD Nsumbu Mazuwa
GHA Kweku Essien
LIT Robertas Poškus
Bnei Yehuda	ARG Pedro Galván	CRO Hrvoje Kovačević	NGA Dele Aiyenugba	SER Milan Martinović	ESP Iván Garrido
F.C. Ironi Ashdod	BIH Dragan Stojkić	BUL Dimitar Makriev	CZE Lubomír Kubica	PAR Silvio Borjas	URY Cristian González		BRA Rogélio
COL Carlos Ceballos
POL Grzegorz Szamotulski
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan	CMR Joslain Mayebi	NGA Abdulkarim Lukman	NGA Joseph Nwafor	NGA Michael Tukura			ARG Alan Bender2
CMR Yves Djidda
COL Carlos Ceballos
GMB Ken Jammeh
GMB Robert Badjie
Hapoel Petah Tikva	BFA Djakaridja Koné	COD M'peti Nimba	GHA Stephen Offei	PER Jair Céspedes	PER Junior Viza	KAZ Mark Gurman2	GHA Emmanuel Banahene
Hapoel Tel Aviv	BRA Douglas da Silva	BUL Dimitar Telkiyski	BUL Elin Topuzakov	GHA Samuel Yeboah	NGA Vincent Enyeama
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	BOL Luis Gutiérrez	BUL Todor Kolev	GAB Paul Kessany	NGA Yero Bello	PER Miguel Cevasco		BRA Maicon Santos
GHA Abubakari Yahuza
GHA Kwabena Agouda
PER Jair Céspedes
Maccabi Haifa	COL Jhon Culma	GHA Ransford Osei	NGA Anderson West	RSA Thembinkosi Fanteni	RSA Tsepo Masilela	BRA Gustavo Boccoli1
USA Leonid Krupnik2
Maccabi Netanya	CRI Luis Marín	PAN Alberto Blanco	PAN Alberto Zapata	RSA Bevan Fransman	RSA Siyabonga Nkosi		BRA Humberto Foguinho
CMR Francis Kioyo
GNQ Thierry Fidjeu
GHA Awudu Okocha
CIV Georges Ba
Maccabi Petah Tikva	ARG Pablo Bastianini	FRA Siramana Dembélé	GEO Irakli Geperidze	MKD Boban Grnčarov		RUS Murad Magomedov1	SLO Dalibor Stevanović
Maccabi Tel Aviv	BUL Igor Tomašić	LBR Dulee Johnson	SER Dragoslav Jevrić	TTO Scott Sealy	ZIM Emmanuel Mayuka	ARG Guillermo Israilevich2
ARM Yeghia Yavruyan1
FRA Jonathan Assous2
USA Erik Hort2	FRA Rudy Haddad2
FRA Yannick Kamanan

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;

League table

Positions by round

Results

The schedule consisted of three rounds. During first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

First and second round

Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):

Rounds
23rd
3 – 12
4 – 2
5 – 1
6 – 11
7 – 10
8 – 9

Relegation playoff

Hakoah Ramat Gan, as the 11th-placed team, faced the 6th-placed Liga Leumit team Maccabi Ahi Nazareth in a two-legged playoff. Hakoah Ramat Gan lost both games and were relegated to Liga Leumit.

Silvas

Ayeli

Season statistics

Scoring

First goal of the season: Yossi Shivhon for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Bnei Yehuda, 5th minute (30 August 2008)
Last goal of the season: Lior Rafaelov for Maccabi Haifa against Beitar Jerusalem, 58th minute (1 June 2009)
First own goal of the season: Nir Davidovich (Maccabi Haifa) for F.C. Ashdod, 57th minute (30 August 2008)
Fastest goal in a match: 39 seconds – Thembinkosi Fanteni for Maccabi Haifa against Maccabi Tel Aviv (27 October 2008)
Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+5 minutes – Barak Badash for Hakoah Ramat Gan against Bnei Yehuda (13 September 2008)
Widest winning margin: 4 goals:
- Hapoel Tel Aviv 4–0 Beitar Jerusalem (9 February 2009)
- Beitar Jerusalem 4–0 Hakoah Ramat Gan (4 April 2009)
Most goals in a match: 6 goals:
- Hakoah Ramat Gan 2–4 Beitar Jerusalem (20 September 2008)
- F.C. Ashdod 4–2 Bnei Sakhnin (8 November 2008)
- F.C. Ashdod 3–3 Maccabi Netanya (20 December 2008)

Discipline

First yellow card of the season: Tamir Kahlon for Bnei Yehuda against Maccabi Tel Aviv, 6th minute (30 August 2008)
First red card of the season: Ronnie Gafney for Maccabi Haifa against F.C. Ashdod, 59th minute (30 August 2008)
Most yellow cards in a match: 12 yellow cards – Beitar Jerusalem against Maccabi Haifa (28 September 2008)
Most red cards in a match: 4 red cards – F.C. Ashdod against Ironi Kiryat Shmona (13 September 2008)
Most cards in a match: 15 cards (12 yellow and 3 red) – Beitar Jerusalem against Maccabi Haifa (28 September 2008)

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	ISR Barak Yitzhaki	Beitar Jerusalem	14
ISR Shimon Abuhatzira	Hapoel Petah Tikva	14
ISR Eliran Atar	Bnei Yehuda	14
4	GHA Samuel Yeboah	Hapoel Tel Aviv	13
5	BUL Dimitar Makriev	F.C. Ashdod	11
RSA Thembinkosi Fanteni	Maccabi Haifa	11
7	ISR David Revivo	F.C. Ashdod	10
ARG Pedro Galván	Bnei Yehuda	10
9	ISR Maor Buzaglo	Maccabi Tel Aviv	9
ISR Lior Rafaelov	Maccabi Haifa	9
Total	432
Average per game	2.18

Notes

:A. Biggest away win

::Hakoah Ramat Gan 0–3 Maccabi Haifa (1 November 2008) ::Bnei Yehuda 0–3 Beitar Jerusalem (8 November 2008) ::Hapoel Petah Tikva 1–4 Maccabi Haifa (22 November 2008) ::Ironi Kiryat Shmona 0–3 Maccabi Netanya (22 November 2008) ::F.C. Ashdod 0–3 Maccabi Haifa (6 April 2009) ::Bnei Sakhnin 0–3 Maccabi Tel Aviv (11 April 2009) ::F.C. Ashdod 0–3 Bnei Yehuda (2 May 2009) ::Maccabi Petah Tikva 0–3 Maccabi Tel Aviv (23 May 2009) ## References ## References 1. [http://football.org.il/Archive/Articles/Pages/LeagueIFAJune24_2008.aspx June 24th IFA meeting summary] {{Webarchive. [link](https://web.archive.org/web/20080701113902/http://football.org.il/Archive/Articles/Pages/LeagueIFAJune24_2008.aspx). (2008-07-01 {{in lang). he 2. (18 April 2008). ["Beitar punished for pitch invasion"](https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=745340.html). *FIFA*. 3. (1 May 2009). ["Beitar punished for racist abuse"](https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1053674.html). *FIFA*. 4. (7 May 2009). ["Betar Jerusalem will not be eligible to play in European competition next season"](https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1083363.html). *Haaretz*. 5. (30 August 2008). ["Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv"](http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/LeagueGameDetails.aspx?GAME_ID=168871#GameEvents). *The Israel Football Association*. 6. (1 July 2009). ["Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Beitar Jerusalem"](http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/LeagueGameDetails.aspx?GAME_ID=169023#GameEvents). *The Israel Football Association*. 7. (30 August 2008). ["Maccabi Haifa 3:1 Ashdod"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match36757_Maccabi_Haifa-Ashdod_live/?tab=showmatch). *Live Result*. 8. (27 October 2008). ["Maccabi Haifa 3:2 Maccabi Tel Aviv"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match48564_Maccabi_Haifa-Maccabi_Tel_Aviv_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 9. (13 September 2008). ["Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv 2:2 Hakoach Amidar"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match39036_Bnei_Yehuda_Tel_Aviv-Hakoach_Amidar_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 10. (9 February 2009). ["Hapoel Tel Aviv 4:0 Beitar Jerusalem"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match63086_Hapoel_Tel_Aviv-Beitar_Jerusalem_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 11. (4 April 2009). ["Beitar Jerusalem 4:0 Hakoah Ramat Gan"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match80043_Beitar_Jerusalem-Hakoach_Amidar_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 12. (20 September 2008). ["Hakoach Amidar 2:4 Beitar Jerusalem"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match40620_Hakoach_Amidar-Beitar_Jerusalem_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 13. (8 November 2008). ["Ashdod 4:2 Bnei Sakhnin"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match50916_Ashdod-Bnei_Sakhnin_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 14. (20 December 2008). ["Ashdod 3:3 Maccabi Netanya"](http://www.liveresult.ru/en/football/matches/match57549_Ashdod-Maccabi_Netanya_live/?do=showmatch). *Live Result*. 15. (28 September 2008). ["Beitar Jerusalem 0:2 Maccabi Haifa"](http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/LeagueGameDetails.aspx?GAME_ID=168890#GameEvents). *The Israel Football Association*. 16. (13 September 2008). ["Ashdod 2:0 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona"](http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/LeagueGameDetails.aspx?GAME_ID=168876#GameEvents). *The Israel Football Association*. 17. (30 August 2008). ["Israeli Premier League Top Scorers"](http://eng.football.org.il/Leagues/Pages/PlayerTopGoals.aspx?LEAGUE_ID=10040). *The Israel Football Association*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008–09_Israeli_Premier_League) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008–09_Israeli_Premier_League?action=history). ::

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