The 2009–10 Israeli Premier League was the 11th season since its introduction in 1999 and the 68th season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 22 August 2009 and ended on 15 May 2010 with the last matches of the playoff round.
On 15 May 2010, Hapoel Tel Aviv won the title in the last play-off round after Maccabi Haifa failed to win against Bnei Yehuda and they won their game against Beitar Jerusalem in a late goal at the 90+2' minute of extra time.
Changes from 2008–09 season Structural changes The league size has been increased from twelve to sixteen teams. Further, the competition has been split into two stages, a conventional season and playoffs.
The participating clubs were first play a conventional round-robin schedule for a total of 30 matches.
The top six teams were first had to play in the Top playoff. Points earned during the regular season were halved with an odd number of points being rounded up. The round was played on a round-robin schedule. The winner after this round would win the Israeli championship and would participate in the second qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. The runners-up would play in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, and the third-placed team would play in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
If the Israel State Cup winner finishes in the top three places than the fourth-placed would play in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
In addition, clubs ranked seventh through tenth in the regular season would engage in a placement round, while the bottom six teams played out two relegation spots and one relegation play-off.
Team changes
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona were directly relegated to the 2009–10 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2008–09 season in last place.
Due to the increase in the number of teams, five teams were directly promoted from the 2008–09 Liga Leumit. These were champions Hapoel Haifa, runners-up Hapoel Acre, third-placed Hapoel Be'er Sheva, fourth-placed Hapoel Ramat Gan and fifth-placed Hapoel Ra'anana.
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan as 11th-placed team of the Premier League and Maccabi Ahi Nazareth as sixth-placed team of Liga Leumit competed in a two-legged playoff for another spot. Maccabi Ahi Nazareth won both matches by an aggregated score of 4–2 and were promoted to the Premier League. In turn, Hakoah Ramat Gan were relegated to Liga Leumit.
Overview Stadia and locations Club Stadium Capacity Beitar Jerusalem Teddy Stadium 21,600 Bnei Sakhnin Doha Stadium 8,500 Bnei Yehuda Bloomfield Stadium 15,700 F.C. Ashdod Yud-Alef Stadium 7,800 Hapoel Acre Green Stadium 4,000 Hapoel Be'er Sheva Vasermil Stadium 13,000 Hapoel Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 14,002 Hapoel Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium 6,800 Hapoel Ra'anana Levita Stadium 5,800 Hapoel Ramat Gan Winter Stadium 8,000 Hapoel Tel Aviv Bloomfield Stadium 15,700 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Ilut Stadium 4,932 Maccabi Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 14,002 Maccabi Netanya Sar-Tov Stadium 7,500 Maccabi Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium 6,800 Maccabi Tel Aviv Bloomfield Stadium 15,700
The club played their home games at a neutral venue because their own ground did not meet Premier League requirements.
Beitar Jerusalem Bnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Acre Teddy Stadium Bloomfield Stadium Winter Stadium Green Stadium Maccabi Netanya Hapoel Haifa Maccabi Haifa Hapoel Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva Hapoel Ra'anana Sar-Tov Stadium Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium Levita Stadium F.C. Ashdod Bnei Sakhnin Hapoel Be'er Sheva Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Yud-Alef Stadium Doha Stadium Vasermil Stadium Ilut Stadium
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Table Incoming manager Date of appointment Table Beitar Jerusalem Reuven Atar Sacked 21 July 2009 3rd (08–09) Itzhak Shum 21 July 2009 Pre-Season Maccabi Netanya Nati Azaria Stepped down toassistant position 29 September 2009 16th Reuven Atar 29 September 2009 16th Bnei Sakhnin Eran Kulik Sacked 19 October 2009 14th Marco Balbul 21 October 2009 14th Maccabi Tel Aviv Marco Balbul Resigned 21 October 2009 3rd Nir Levine 21 October 2009 3rd Maccabi Petah Tikva Ronny Levy Resigned 21 November 2009 9th Freddy David 22 November 2009 9th Hapoel Petah Tikva Danny Nir'on Resigned 21 November 2009 14th Shavit Elimelech 22 November 2009 15th Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Eli Mahpud Sacked 8 December 2009 16th John Gregory 8 December 2009 16th Hapoel Petah Tikva Shavit Elimelech Stepped down toassistant position 16 December 2009 15th Eli Mahpud 16 December 2009 15th Beitar Jerusalem Itzhak Shum Sacked 20 February 2010 7th David Amsalem 20 February 2010 7th Hapoel Ra'anana Eli Cohen Sacked 28 February 2010 16th Ami Vazana 28 February 2010 16th Hapoel Be'er Sheva Guy Azouri Resigned 28 February 2010 8th Vico Haddad 3 March 2010 8th Beitar Jerusalem David Amsalem Stepped down toassistant position 18 March 2010 5th Shimon Edri 18 March 2010 5th Hapoel Ra'anana Ami Vazana End of contract 28 March 2010 16th Tzvika Tzemah 31 March 2010 16th Maccabi Ahi Nazareth John Gregory End of contract 20 May 2010 16th Shimon Edri 30 June 2010 Post-Season F.C. Ashdod Yossi Mizrahi Resigned 20 May 2010 6th John Gregory 20 May 2010 Post-Season
Foreign players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Non-visa foreign Former players Beitar Jerusalem Junior Viza Paolo de la Haza Sebastián Vázquez David Gomez Joslain Mayebi Bnei Sakhnin Cadu Paty Yeye Lenkebe Đorđije Ćetković Nastja Čeh Arafat Djako Jair Céspedes Scott Sealy Bnei Yehuda Pedro Galván Iván Garrido Siniša Linić Dele Aiyenugba F.C. Ashdod Dragan Stojkić Dimitar Makriev Stéphane Kingué Mpondo Marko Popović Cristian González Nenad Begović Hapoel Acre Aka Adek Mba Emmanuel Emangoa Awudu Okocha Ibrahim Abdul Razak Ben Martin Jony Tenenboim1 Kevin Rainstein1 Abedi Sarfo Ismail Abdul Razak Ardian Nuhiu Hapoel Be'er Sheva Danilo William Soares Adamu Mohammed James Bissue Tvrtko Kale2 Dandi Okogo1 Ryan Adeleye2 Marcos Galarza Pavel Pergl Joseph Tachie-Mensah Hapoel Haifa Levan Khmaladze Yero Bello Rui Lima Savity Lipenia Bryan Gerzicich Emmanuel Pappoe Hapoel Petah Tikva Daniel Addo Ibrahim Basit Osman Bashiru Austin Ejide Emmanuel Mathias Jonathan Assous2 Tomo Barlecaj Revaz Gotsiridze Mark Gurman2 George Gebro James Koko Lomell Hapoel Ra'anana Cristiano Pinto Davit Dighmelashvili Irmantas Zelmikas Ričardas Beniušis Steven Cohen2 Armando Lezcano Lira Erik Hort2 Hapoel Ramat Gan André Caldeira Pavel Pergl Serge Ayeli George Datoru Carlos Chacana12 William Soares Hrvoje Kovačević Hapoel Tel Aviv Douglas da Silva Bojan Vručina Zurab Menteshashvili Vincent Enyeama Nemanja Vučićević Daniël de Ridder2 Samuel Yeboah Maccabi Akhi Nazareth Joslain Mayebi Yves Djidda Tcham N'Toya Anderson West Mark Gurman2 Michael Tukura Jair Céspedes Ruslan Nigmatullin Eric Akoto Maccabi Haifa Jhon Culma Vladimir Dvalishvili Sadat Bukari Jorge Teixeira Tsepo Masilela Gustavo Boccoli1 Eial Strahman2 Tiago Dutra Maccabi Netanya David Gomez Fabrício Aristide Zogbo Bevan Fransman Leonid Krupnik2 Awudu Okocha Stephen Offei Maccabi Petah Tikva Tomislav Bušić Sébastien Sansoni Vančo Trajanov Dragoslav Jevrić Nebojša Marinković Murad Magomedov1 Reinaldo Alderete Maccabi Tel Aviv Ronald Raldes Igor Tomašić Ivica Iliev Andrej Komac Emmanuel Mayuka Guillermo Israilevich2 Yeghia Yavruyan1
Regular season Table
Results
Playoffs
Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 30 games):
Rounds 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 1 – 62 – 53 – 4 1 – 25 – 36 – 4 2 – 63 – 14 – 5 1 – 42 – 36 – 5 3 – 64 – 25 – 1 7 – 108 – 9 7 – 810 – 9 8 – 109 – 7 11 – 1612 – 1513 – 14 11 – 1215 – 1316 – 14 12 – 1613 – 1114 – 15 11 – 1412 – 1316 – 15 13 – 1614 – 1215 – 11
Top Playoff The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Maccabi Haifa started with 39 points, Hapoel Tel Aviv with 36, Maccabi Tel Aviv with 26, Beitar Jerusalem with 23, Bnei Yehuda with 23 and F.C. Ashdod started with 22.
Table
Results
Middle Playoff The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Bnei Sakhnin started with 21 points, Hapoel Be'er Sheva with 20, Maccabi Netanya with 18 and Maccabi Petah Tikva started with 18.
Table
Results
Bottom Playoff The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Hapoel Ramat Gan started with 17 points, Hapoel Haifa with 16, Hapoel Petah Tikva with 16, Hapoel Acre with 13, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth with 12 and Hapoel Ra'anana started with 10.
Table
Results
Relegation playoff The 14th-placed team Hapoel Ramat Gan faced the 3rd-placed Liga Leumit team Hapoel Kfar Saba. The winner Hapoel Ramat Gan earned a spot in the 2010–11 Israeli Premier League. The match took place on 22 May 2010.
Season statistics Scoring First goal of the season: Shahar Balilti for Hapoel Petah Tikva against Maccabi Ahi Nazareth, 61st minute (22 August 2009) Fastest goal in a match: 17 seconds – Maor Buzaglo for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Beitar Jerusalem (17 April 2010) Widest winning margin: 7 goals – Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 0–7 Hapoel Ramat Gan (15 May 2010) Most goals in a match: 8 goals – Hapoel Tel Aviv 7–1 Hapoel Petah Tikva (21 November 2009) Hapoel Tel Aviv 5–3 Hapoel Acre (27 March 2010)
Discipline First yellow card of the season: Gal Cohen for Hapoel Petah Tikva against Maccabi Ahi Nazareth, 40th minute (22 August 2009) First red card of the season: Ismail Abdul Razak for Hapoel Acre against Maccabi Haifa, 72nd minute (22 August 2009)
Top scorers Rank Scorer Club Goals 1 Shlomi Arbeitman Maccabi Haifa 28 2 Itay Shechter Hapoel Tel Aviv 22 3 Vladimir Dvalishvili Maccabi Haifa 16 Barak Yitzhaki Beitar Jerusalem 16 5 Dimitar Makriev F.C. Ashdod 13 6 Pedro Galván Bnei Yehuda 12 Toto Tamuz Beitar Jerusalem 12 8 Idan Shriki F.C. Ashdod 11 Dedi Ben Dayan Hapoel Tel Aviv 11 Eran Levy Hapoel Haifa 11 Eran Zahavi Hapoel Tel Aviv 11 Total 718 Average per game 2.6 The IFA also recognize Dimitar Makrievs goal in favour of F.C. Ashdod against Bnei Yehuda game which was later annulled because F.C. Ashdod fielded an ineligible player, for that F.C. Ashdod received a technical loss of 3–0. The original game finished in a 1–1 draw.
See also 2009–10 Israel State Cup 2009–10 Toto Cup Al List of 2009–10 Israeli football summer transfers List of 2009–10 Israeli football winter transfers
References