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 meetingJune 24th IFA meeting summary 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 15,700Hapoel Tel AvivMaccabi 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 6,800Maccabi Petah Tikva Ironi Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona Municipal Stadium 5,300 Bnei Sakhnin Doha Stadium 5,000

Beitar JerusalemBnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel AvivHakoah Ramat GanTeddy Stadium Bloomfield StadiumWinter StadiumMaccabi NetanyaMaccabi HaifaHapoel Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah TikvaSar-Tov Stadium Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Petah Tikva Municipal StadiumF.C. AshdodBnei SakhninIroni Kiryat ShmonaYud-Alef StadiumDoha StadiumKiryat Shmona Stadium Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentHapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Ran Ben ShimonEnd of contract1 June 2008Pre-season Michele Dayan1 June 2008Maccabi Haifa Ronny Levy Elisha Levi1 June 2008Maccabi Netanya Reuven Atar Lothar Matthäus1 June 2008Bnei Sakhnin Elisha Levy Freddy David1 June 2008Maccabi Tel Aviv Nir Levin Ran Ben Shimon1 June 2008Bnei Yehuda Hezi Shirazi Freddy David12 June 2008Maccabi Petah Tikva Nitzan ShiraziResign21 August 2008 Guy Azouri21 August 2008Beitar Jerusalem Itzhak ShumSacked3 September 200812th Reuven Atar3 September 2008Maccabi Tel Aviv Ran Ben ShimonSacked2 November 20087th Avi Nimni2 November 2008Bnei Sakhnin Freddy DavidResign9 November 200812th Eyal Lahman9 November 2008Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Michele DayanSacked30 November 200810th Eli Cohen11 December 2008Maccabi Petah Tikva Guy AzouriResign22 December 20086th Ronny Levy22 December 2008Bnei Sakhnin Eyal LahmanSacked8 March 200912th Eran Kulik8 March 2009Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona Eli CohenSacked11 April 200912th Ran Ben Shimon14 April 2009

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

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 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd3 – 124 – 25 – 16 – 117 – 108 – 912 – 910 – 811 – 71 – 62 – 53 – 44 – 125 – 36 – 27 – 18 – 119 – 1012 – 1011 – 91 – 82 – 73 – 64 – 55 – 126 – 47 – 38 – 29 – 110 – 1112 – 111 – 102 – 93 – 84 – 75 – 66 – 127 – 58 – 49 – 310 – 211 – 11 – 122 – 113 – 104 – 95 – 86 – 712 – 78 – 69 – 510 – 411 – 31 – 22 – 123 – 14 – 115 – 106 – 97 – 812 – 89 – 710 – 611 – 51 – 42 – 3

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.

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 RankPlayerClubGoals1 Barak YitzhakiBeitar Jerusalem14 Shimon AbuhatziraHapoel Petah Tikva14 Eliran AtarBnei Yehuda144 Samuel YeboahHapoel Tel Aviv135 Dimitar MakrievF.C. Ashdod11 Thembinkosi FanteniMaccabi Haifa117 David RevivoF.C. Ashdod10 Pedro GalvánBnei Yehuda109 Maor BuzagloMaccabi Tel Aviv9 Lior RafaelovMaccabi Haifa9Total432Average per game2.18

See also 2008–09 Israel State Cup 2008–09 Toto Cup Al List of 2008–09 Israeli football transfers

Notes A. Biggest away win

References