The 2011–12 Israeli Premier League was the thirteenth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 70th season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 20 August 2011 and ended on 12 May 2012. Maccabi Haifa were the defending champions.
Ironi Kiryat Shmona secured the title with a 0–0 draw against Hapoel Tel Aviv on 2 April 2012. This was their first Israeli league title, This draw gave Ironi Kiryat Shmona a 16-point advantage over the second-place team Hapoel Tel Aviv with five more rounds to go.
Structural changes There was three structural changes: The middle playoff was cancelled, with only top and bottom playoff to be contested by eight teams each, according to their regular season placement. with each team plays 37 matches. The points were no longer halved after the regular season. There will be three relegated teams, and only one promoted team from Liga Leumit.
Teams
A total of sixteen teams are competing in the league, including fourteen sides from the 2010–11 season and two promoted teams from the 2010–11 Liga Leumit.
Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Ramat Gan were directly relegated to the 2011–12 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2010–11 season in the bottom two places.
Two teams were directly promoted from the 2010–11 Liga Leumit. These were champions Ironi Ramat HaSharon and the runners-up Hapoel Rishon LeZion.
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 Acre Municipal Stadium 5,000 Hapoel Be'er Sheva Vasermil Stadium 13,000 Hapoel Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 14,002 Hapoel Petah Tikva HaMoshava Stadium 11,500 Hapoel Rishon LeZion Haberfeld Stadium 6,000 Hapoel Tel Aviv Bloomfield Stadium 15,700 Ironi Kiryat Shmona Ironi Stadium 5,300 Ironi Ramat HaSharon Grundman Stadium 4,300 Maccabi Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium 14,002 Maccabi Netanya Sar-Tov Stadium 7,500 Maccabi Petah Tikva HaMoshava Stadium 11,500 Maccabi Tel Aviv Bloomfield Stadium 15,700
While Teddy Stadium was in renovation. Beitar Jerusalem hosted their home games in alternative stadia until the stadium was completed on 20 November 2011. Beitar chose to host its games in Ramat Gan Stadium. Hapoel Acre played their first home game at the Ilut Stadium while their stadium was under construction. The Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium was demolished. Hapoel and Maccabi Petah Tikva hosted their home games in alternative stadia until the new Petah Tikva Stadium was fully constructed in December 2011. Both Hapoel and Maccabi hosted its games in Ramat Gan Stadium. Ironi Ramat HaSharon played their home games at the Winter Stadium until March 2012 while their stadium was under construction.
Beitar JerusalemBnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel AvivIroni Kiryat ShmonaHapoel AcreTeddy Stadium Bloomfield StadiumKiryat Shmona StadiumAcre StadiumMaccabi NetanyaHapoel Haifa Maccabi HaifaHapoel Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah TikvaHapoel Ramat HaSharonSar-Tov Stadium Kiryat Eliezer Stadium HaMoshava StadiumGrundman StadiumF.C. AshdodBnei SakhninHapoel Be'er ShevaHapoel Rishon LeZionYud-Alef StadiumDoha StadiumVasermil StadiumHaberfeld Stadium
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTableMaccabi Petah Tikva Freddy DavidEnd of contract8 May 20117th (10–11) Marco Balbul28 May 2011Pre-SeasonHapoel Tel Aviv Eli GuttmanEnd of contract25 May 20112nd (10–11) Dror Kashtan4 June 2011Pre-SeasonBnei Yehuda Dror KashtanEnd of contract4 June 20114th (10–11) Yossi Abukasis14 June 2011Pre-SeasonBeitar Jerusalem Ronny LevyResigned10 June 201111th (10–11) David Amsalem10 June 2011Pre-SeasonBeitar Jerusalem David AmsalemResigned15 August 2011Pre-Season Yuval Naim17 August 2011Pre-SeasonHapoel Petah Tikva Gili LandauResigned16 August 201114th (10–11) Gili Landau17 August 2011Pre-SeasonHapoel Be'er Sheva Nir KlingerResigned1 October 201114th Guy Levy3 October 201114thMaccabi Petah Tikva Marco BalbulResigned15 October 20119th Eyal Lahman18 October 201111thIroni Ramat HaSharon Momi ZafranSacked13 November 20119th Meni Koretski (caretaker)13 November 20119thHapoel Haifa Nitzan ShiraziResigned26 November 201114th Tal Banin27 November 201114thIroni Ramat HaSharon Meni Koretski (caretaker)End of caretaker spell5 December 20114th Yehoshua Feigenbaum5 December 20114thMaccabi Tel Aviv Motti IvanirSacked5 December 20119th Nir Levine6 December 20119thHapoel Tel Aviv Dror KashtanSacked9 January 20123rd Ron Tziblin (caretaker)9 January 20123rdHapoel Tel Aviv Ron Tziblin (caretaker)End of caretaker spell11 January 20123rd Nitzan Shirazi11 January 20123rdMaccabi Petah Tikva Eyal LahmanResigned21 January 201212th Moshe Sinai22 January 201212thHapoel Rishon LeZion Nissan YehezkelSacked29 January 201215th Eyal Lahman30 January 201215thBeitar Jerusalem Yuval NaimResigned8 February 201212th Hanan Azulay (caretaker)9 February 201212thBeitar Jerusalem Hanan Azulay (caretaker)End of caretaker spell13 February 201212th Eli Cohen13 February 201212th
Gili Landau refused to reduce his salary and was resigned, he was appointed the following day after his salary was intact. Nir Levine was acted as caretaker manager for a month until his appointment as manager on 9 January 2012. Ron Tziblin acted as caretaker manager only once, in the club Toto Cup Al semi-finals against Maccabi Petah Tikva.
Foreign players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Non-visa Foreign Former Players Beitar Jerusalem Darío Fernández Leo Harmony Ikande Andriy Pylyavskyi Steven Cohen2 Miguel Portillo Bnei Sakhnin Kostadin Hazurov Pieter Mbemba Eric Gawu Joël Damahou Miguel Hamutenya Bnei Yehuda Pedro Galván Kęstutis Ivaškevičius Dele Aiyenugba Nenad Marinković Dino Ndlovu F.C. Ashdod Paty Yeye Lenkebe Efe Ambrose Rodgers Kola Georgi Hristov Samuel Yeboah Hapoel Acre Zome Louis Aleksandar Davidov Nebojša Marinković Nikola Trujić Stefan Šćepović Nicolás Falczuk2 Mamadou Thiam Nikola Simić Hapoel Be'er Sheva Nenad Kiso William Soares Iván Garrido Draško Božović Petar Grbić Ryan Adeleye2 Laryea Kingston Marcin Cabaj Luís Torres Hapoel Haifa Marko Kartelo Stefan Denković Vladimir Gluščević Dragan Ćeran Tvrtko Kale2 Ali El-Khatib3 Zambi Amos Kollie Dejan Kelhar Hapoel Petah Tikva André Caldeira Dominique Wassi Daniel Addo Austin Ejide Fabian Stoller Jonathan Assous2 Kevin Parienté2 Hapoel Rishon LeZion Imoro Lukman Sindou Dosso Gheorghe Ovseanicov Stefan Deak Justine Zulu Elvis Mešić Marcell Illés Hapoel Tel Aviv Apoula Edel Mirko Oremuš Nosa Igiebor Marko Šuler Bevan Fransman Mário Pečalka Ironi Kiryat Shmona David Solari Dušan Matović Bryan Gerzicich William Njobvu Ironi Ramat HaSharon Alain Masudi Savity Lipenia Ognjen Damnjanović Rômulo Óscar Guerrero Maccabi Haifa Edin Cocalić Danijel Cesarec Jurica Buljat Seidu Yahaya Bojan Šaranov Gustavo Boccoli1 Marlon de Jesús Vladimir Dvalishvili Maccabi Netanya Ivan Ćosić Serghei Alexeev Touvarno Pinas Leonid Krupnik2 Mariano Caporale Alexandre Martinović Serhiy Tretyak Maccabi Petah Tikva Justice Wamfor Mario Carević Sébastien Sansoni Nastja Čeh Ihor Malysh Murad Magomedov3 Maccabi Tel Aviv Haris Medunjanin Nivaldo Roberto Punčec Savo Pavićević Moussa Konaté
Regular season
Table
Results
Playoffs Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 30 games):
Rounds 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th1 – 82 – 73 – 64 – 51 – 26 – 47 – 38 – 52 – 83 – 14 – 75 – 61 – 42 – 37 – 58 – 63 – 84 – 25 – 16 – 71 – 62 – 53 – 48 – 74 – 85 – 36 – 27 – 19 – 1610 – 1511 – 1412 – 139 – 1014 – 1215 – 1116 – 1310 – 1611 – 912 – 1513 – 149 – 1210 – 1115 – 1316 – 1411 – 1612 – 1013 – 914 – 159 – 1410 – 1311 – 1216 – 1512 – 1613 – 1114 – 1015 – 9
Top playoff
Table
Results
Bottom playoff
Table
Results
Top goalscorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Achmad Saba'a Maccabi Netanya202 Omer Damari Hapoel Tel Aviv173 Pedro Galván Bnei Yehuda164 Kostadin Hazurov Bnei Sakhnin14 Wiyam Amashe Maccabi Haifa146 Yuval AvidorIroni Kiryat Shmona / Hapoel Haifa13 Shimon Abuhatzira Ironi Kiryat Shmona13 Toto Tamuz Hapoel Tel Aviv13 Maharan Radi Bnei Sakhnin13 Eliran Atar Maccabi Tel Aviv13Total749Average per game
Season statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: Firas Mugrabi for Maccabi Netanya against Maccabi Haifa, 21st minute (20 August 2011) Widest winning margin: 6 goals – Hapoel Tel Aviv 6–0 Hapoel Rishon LeZion (29 October 2011) Most goals in a match: 10 goals – Hapoel Tel Aviv 7–3 Maccabi Netanya (21 January 2012) Most goals in a half: 5 goals – Bnei Yehuda 4–1 Hapoel Acre, 0–0 at half-time (17 December 2011) Bnei Yehuda 5–1 Hapoel Petah Tikva, 1–0 at half-time (7 January 2012) Hapoel Tel Aviv 7–3 Maccabi Netanya (both halves), 3–2 at half-time (21 January 2012) Maccabi Tel Aviv 5–2 Bnei Sakhnin, 5–0 at half-time (31 March 2012) Most goals in a match by one player: 4 goals – Wiyam Amashe for Maccabi Haifa against Maccabi Netanya (20 August 2011) Most goals scored by a losing team: 3 goals Bnei Sakhnin 4–3 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (27 August 2011) Hapoel Tel Aviv 7–3 Maccabi Netanya (21 January 2012) Bnei Yehuda 4–3 Maccabi Tel Aviv (9 May 2012)
Discipline First yellow card of the season: Mohammad Ghadir for Maccabi Haifa against Maccabi Netanya, 40th minute (20 August 2011) First red card of the season: Eyal Tartazky for Hapoel Haifa against Ironi Kiryat Shmona, 68th minute (20 August 2011)
See also 2011–12 Israel State Cup 2011–12 Toto Cup Al
References