2017–18 Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit
Season	2017–18
Champions	Hapoel Tel Aviv
Promoted	Hapoel Tel Aviv; Hapoel Hadera
Relegated	Maccabi Herzliya; Ironi Nesher
Matches played	221
Goals scored	685 (3.1 per match)
Top goalscorer	Guy Dayan and Roy Zikri (13)
Biggest home win	4-0 (6 times); 5-1 (twice); See Below
Biggest away win	5-0 (3 times); See Below
Highest scoring	7 goals (4 times)
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Liga Leumit was the 19th season as second tier since its re-alignment in 1999 and the 76th season of second-tier football in Israel.

A total of sixteen teams were contesting in the league, including twelve sides from the 2016–17 season, the two promoted teams from 2016–17 Liga Alef and the two relegated teams from 2016–17 Israeli Premier League.

Changes from 2016–17 season

Team changes

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Acre, were promoted to the 2017–18 Israeli Premier League.

Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Kfar Saba were relegated after finishing as the two bottom-placed clubs in the 2016–17 Israeli Premier League.

Maccabi Sha'arayim, and Hapoel Jerusalem were directly relegated to Liga Alef after finishing in the previous season in last two league places. They were replaced the top placed teams from each division of 2016–17 Liga Alef, Hapoel Marmorek (from South Division) and Hapoel Hadera (from North Division).

Overview

Stadia and locations

Club	Home City	Stadium	Capacity
Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	Tel Aviv and Ramla	Ramla Municipal Stadium	2,000
Hapoel Afula	Afula	Afula Illit Stadium	3,000
Hapoel Bnei Lod	Lod	Lod Municipal Stadium	3,000
Hapoel Hadera	Hadera	Afula Illit Stadium^[A]	3,000
Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	31,733
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Kfar Saba	Levita Stadium	5,800
Hapoel Marmorek	Rehovot	Ramla Municipal Stadium^[A]	2,000
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	Nazareth Illit	Green Stadium	4,000
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Ramat Gan	Ramat Gan Stadium	13,370
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	Ramat HaSharon	Grundman Stadium	4,300
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	Rishon LeZion	Haberfeld Stadium	6,000
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Ironi Nesher	Nesher	Nesher Stadium	2,500
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	Nazareth	Ilut Stadium	4,932
Maccabi Herzliya	Herzliya	Herzliya Municipal Stadium	8,100

^A The club is playing their home games at a neutral venue because their own ground does not meet league requirements.

Regular season

Regular season table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hapoel Tel Aviv	30	20	5	5	46	17	+29	65	Qualification for the Promotion playoffs
2	Hapoel Hadera	30	15	8	7	45	36	+9	53
3	Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	30	13	9	8	35	27	+8	48
4	Hapoel Rishon LeZion	30	13	9	8	30	30	0	48
5	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	30	13	7	10	30	26	+4	46
6	Hapoel Nazareth Illit	30	13	6	11	41	32	+9	45
7	Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	30	12	8	10	40	38	+2	44
8	Hapoel Afula	30	10	12	8	33	28	+5	42
9	Hapoel Bnei Lod	30	11	9	10	32	28	+4	42	Qualification for the Relegation playoffs
10	Hapoel Kfar Saba	30	12	5	13	41	39	+2	41
11	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	30	12	4	14	30	30	0	40
12	Hapoel Marmorek	30	11	5	14	33	37	−4	38
13	Hapoel Petah Tikva	30	9	10	11	31	34	−3	37
14	Hapoel Ramat Gan	30	8	11	11	29	28	+1	35
15	Maccabi Herzliya	30	6	7	17	28	55	−27	25
16	Ironi Nesher	30	2	5	23	16	55	−39	11

Source: Liga Leumit IFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of wins; 4) goals scored; 5) head to head; 6) deciding match.

Results

Home \ Away	TAR	HAF	HBL	HHD	HKJ	HKS	HMR	HNI	HPT	HRG	HRS	HRL	HTA	INE	MAN	MHZ
Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	—	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	3–4	3–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–1	1–2	0–2	3–0	2–0	1–3
Hapoel Afula	1–1	—	1–2	0–2	3–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–3	2–0	0–2	1–1
Hapoel Bnei Lod	0–1	1–1	—	0–2	1–1	2–2	0–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	3–1
Hapoel Hadera	1–0	1–1	0–1	—	0–3	1–0	0–3^[a]	2–4	3–1	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	4–3	0–3^[b]	3–0
Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	—	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–1	1–3
Hapoel Kfar Saba	2–3	0–3	2–0	0–2	1–4	—	1–0	3–0	4–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	4–0	4–0
Hapoel Marmorek	2–3	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–3	2–0	—	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	0–3	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–1
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	0–1	2–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	—	1–0	3–2	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	3–0	5–1
Hapoel Petah Tikva	1–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	3–0	0–0	—	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–1
Hapoel Ramat Gan	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	—	1–1	0–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	3–0
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–4	0–0	4–1	4–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	—	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–1
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–4	0–0	1–1	0–5	0–1	3–1	3–2	1–0	—	0–3	2–1	0–0	0–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	4–0	1–0	4–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	0–1	—	3–0	0–2	2–0
Ironi Nesher	2–2	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–2	0–1	2–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–1	0–1
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	2–0	—	2–0
Maccabi Herzliya	2–1	0–2	2–4	1–2	0–2	1–1	2–2	2–3	1–3	0–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	—

Source: Liga Leumit IFA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ Hapoel Hadera fielded an ineligible player and the match was given to Hapoel Marmorek. The original score was 2–3 to Marmorek.^[1]
^ Hapoel Hadera fielded an ineligible player and the match was given to Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. The original score was 1–1.^[2]

Playoffs

Top Playoff

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

Rounds
31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th	37th
1 – 5 2 – 7 3 – 6 4 – 8	1 – 2 7 – 3 6 – 4 5 – 8	3 – 1 2 – 5 4 – 7 8 – 6	1 – 4 2 – 3 5 – 6 7 – 8	8 – 1 4 – 2 3 – 5 6 – 7	1 – 6 2 – 8 3 – 4 5 – 7	7 – 1 6 – 2 8 – 3 4 – 5

Top Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Hapoel Tel Aviv (P)	37	23	7	7	59	26	+33	76	Promoted to Israeli Premier League
2	Hapoel Hadera (P)	37	18	11	8	50	39	+11	65	Promoted to Israeli Premier League
3	Hapoel Rishon LeZion	37	18	10	9	38	34	+4	64
4	Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	37	17	9	11	56	43	+13	60
5	Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	37	15	10	12	42	37	+5	55
6	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	37	15	8	14	35	39	−4	53
7	Hapoel Nazareth Illit	37	14	7	16	48	43	+5	49
8	Hapoel Afula	37	12	12	13	39	40	−1	48

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of wins; 4) goals scored; 5) head to head; 6)deciding match.
(P) Promoted

Top Playoff results

Home \ Away	TAR	HAF	HHD	HKJ	HNI	HRL	HTA	MAN
Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	—	5–1	—	3–0	—	—	2–0	—
Hapoel Afula	—	—	—	0–2	0–1	—	0–3	—
Hapoel Hadera	1–1	1–0	—	1–0	—	—	—	0–0
Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	—	—	—	—	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–2
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	1–2	—	0–1	—	—	1–2	—	—
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	1–0	0–2	1–0	—	—	—	—	3–1
Hapoel Tel Aviv	—	—	1–1	—	4–3	0–0	—	3–0
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	1–3	0–3	—	—	1–0	—	—	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom Playoff

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

Rounds
31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th	37th
9 – 13 10 – 15 11 – 14 12 – 16	9 – 10 15 – 11 14 – 12 13 – 16	11 – 9 10 – 13 12 – 15 16 – 14	9 – 12 10 – 11 13 – 14 15 – 16	16 – 9 12 – 10 11 – 13 14 – 15	9 – 14 10 – 16 11 – 12 13 – 15	15 – 9 14 – 10 16 – 11 12 – 13

Bottom Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
9	Hapoel Petah Tikva	37	15	10	12	45	39	+6	55
10	Hapoel Bnei Lod	37	15	9	13	44	40	+4	54
11	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	37	15	5	17	39	39	0	50
12	Hapoel Marmorek	37	14	6	17	39	41	−2	48
13	Hapoel Ramat Gan	37	12	11	14	40	36	+4	47
14	Hapoel Kfar Saba (O)	37	14	5	18	50	49	+1	47	Qualification for the Relegation Playoffs
15	Maccabi Herzliya (R)	37	10	7	20	41	63	−22	37	Relegated to Liga Alef
16	Ironi Nesher (R)	37	3	5	29	20	77	−57	14	Relegated to Liga Alef

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of wins; 4) goals scored; 5) head to head; 6)deciding match.
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Bottom Playoff results

Home \ Away	HBL	HKS	HMR	HPT	HRG	HRS	INE	MHZ
Hapoel Bnei Lod	—	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	—	—	—
Hapoel Kfar Saba	—	—	—	0–2	—	0–1	3–0	0–1
Hapoel Marmorek	—	4–0	—	0–1	—	—	0–1	1–0
Hapoel Petah Tikva	—	—	—	—	2–1	—	3–0	4–2
Hapoel Ramat Gan	—	0–5	0–1	—	—	—	—	2–0
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	3–1	—	0–0	0–2	0–4	—	—	—
Ironi Nesher	3–4	—	—	—	0–2	0–5	—	—
Maccabi Herzliya	3–1	—	—	—	—	2–0	5–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 17.

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37
Team \ Round
Hapoel Tel Aviv	1	2	3	1	1	3	3	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Hapoel Hadera	11	6	11	13	14	11	10	9	9	10	10	8	8	10	9	6	7	8	5	5	7	6	7	6	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	16	15	15	10	8	6	4	4	5	4	3	4	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	5	4	2	3	2	2	3	3	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla	3	4	6	8	11	8	6	5	4	5	7	6	6	7	7	8	6	6	9	8	6	5	3	4	6	7	8	9	10	7	8	6	7	5	4	4	4
Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem	9	9	8	9	5	7	8	6	6	6	5	5	3	3	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	7	6	7	8	6	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	6	6	5
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	12	7	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	4	3	4	4	3	3	4	5	6	6	8	8	8	9	7	9	9	7	4	5	6	8	8	6	5	5	6
Hapoel Nazareth Illit	9	14	10	6	6	9	9	10	10	9	9	9	11	11	12	11	11	11	13	10	9	9	9	8	9	8	5	5	6	6	5	7	5	7	7	7	7
Hapoel Afula	3	7	12	7	9	10	11	11	12	13	11	11	9	9	10	10	10	9	7	7	4	3	5	5	5	5	7	6	7	8	7	5	6	8	8	8	8
Hapoel Petah Tikva	7	12	5	4	4	4	5	7	8	8	8	10	10	8	6	7	9	10	8	9	10	10	10	13	14	12	12	12	12	13	14	12	11	10	10	10	9
Hapoel Bnei Lod	3	5	7	11	13	14	14	14	11	14	14	14	13	14	14	13	14	14	14	14	13	14	12	11	11	11	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon	2	3	2	5	6	5	7	8	7	7	6	7	7	6	8	9	8	7	10	11	11	12	13	12	13	13	13	14	13	11	11	13	12	11	12	13	11
Hapoel Marmorek	7	9	13	14	10	13	12	12	13	11	12	12	14	13	13	14	13	12	11	12	14	11	11	10	10	10	11	11	11	12	13	11	10	12	11	11	12
Hapoel Ramat Gan	12	11	9	12	12	12	13	13	14	12	13	13	12	12	11	12	12	13	12	13	12	13	14	14	12	14	14	13	14	14	12	14	13	13	13	12	13
Hapoel Kfar Saba	3	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	3	3	6	8	8	10	10	10	14	14	14	14	14
Maccabi Herzliya	12	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Ironi Nesher	12	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Source: IFA Source: [1]^{[permanent dead link]}

	Leader and promotion to 2018–19 Israeli Premier League
	Promotion to 2018–19 Israeli Premier League
	Qualification to relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2018–19 Liga Alef

Promotion/relegation playoff

The 14th-placed team, Hapoel Kfar Saba, faced 2017–18 Liga Alef promotion play-offs winner Ironi Tiberias in a two-legged tie. The matches took place on 25 and 29 May 2018.

25 May 2018

16:30 UTC+3

Hapoel Kfar Saba	4–2	Ironi Tiberias
Fadida 56' Nesikovsky 60', 72' David 90+1'	Report	26' Rothstein 61' Tza'adon

Levita Stadium

Referee: Or'el Grinfeld

29 May 2018

16:15 UTC+3

Ironi Tiberias	1–1	Hapoel Kfar Saba
Gabai 40'	Report	90' Peretz

Tiberias Municipal Stadium

Referee: Erez Papir

Hapoel Kfar Saba won 5–3 on aggregate and remained in Liga Leumit. Ironi Tiberias remained in Liga Alef.

References

^ Due to Fielding Amasha: A Technical Loss Was Given to Hapoel Hadera Sport1, 28 December 2017 (in Hebrew)
^ Hapoel Hadera Punished with Technical Loss for Illegally Fielding Moshe Ben Lulu Shlomi Gabay, 13 September 2017, Walla!

[table_note_1_HHD_HMR0.37244801007791-2] Hapoel Hadera fielded an ineligible player and the match was given to Hapoel Marmorek. The original score was 2–3 to Marmorek.^[1]

[table_note_1_HHD_MAN0.37244801007791-4] Hapoel Hadera fielded an ineligible player and the match was given to Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. The original score was 1–1.^[2]

[1] Due to Fielding Amasha: A Technical Loss Was Given to Hapoel Hadera Sport1, 28 December 2017 (in Hebrew)

[3] Hapoel Hadera Punished with Technical Loss for Illegally Fielding Moshe Ben Lulu Shlomi Gabay, 13 September 2017, Walla!

[a]

[b]

[1]

[2]