2010–11 Israeli Premier League

Israeli Premier League

Season	2010–11
Champions	Maccabi Haifa 7th Premier League title 12th Israel title overall
Relegated	Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Ramat Gan
Champions League	Maccabi Haifa
Europa League	Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv Bnei Yehuda
Matches played	276
Goals scored	737 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Toto Tamuz (21 goals)
Biggest home win	H. Tel Aviv 5–0 H. Haifa H. Be'er Sheva 5–0 Ashdod
Biggest away win	H. Petah Tikva 1–5 H. Tel Aviv H. Ashkelon 0–4 M. Netanya H. Ramat Gan 0–4 H. Ashkelon M. Netanya 0–4 Bnei Yehuda
Highest scoring	H. Ashkelon 3–4 H. Be'er Sheva
Average attendance	3,939
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 Israeli Premier League was the twelfth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 69th season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 21 August 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011. Hapoel Tel Aviv were the defending champions.

Maccabi Haifa secured the title with a 2–0 win against Ironi Kiryat Shmona on 16 May 2011. This was their twelfth Israeli league title, This win gave Maccabi Haifa a 6-point advantage over the second-place team Hapoel Tel Aviv with one more round to go.

Teams

F.C. Ashdod

Hapoel Ashkelon

Bnei Sakhnin

Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Maccabi Netanya

Beitar Jerusalem

Hapoel Acre

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Hapoel Ramat Gan

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Bnei Yehuda

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Hapoel Petah Tikva

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Location of teams in the 2010–11 Israeli Premier League

A total of sixteen teams compete in the league, including fourteen sides from the 2009–10 season and two promoted teams from the 2009–10 Liga Leumit.

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and Hapoel Ra'anana were directly relegated to the 2010–11 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2009–10 season in the two bottom places.

Two teams were directly promoted from the 2009–10 Liga Leumit. These were champions Ironi Kiryat Shmona and the runners-up Hapoel Ashkelon.

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	7,420
Hapoel Acre	Green Stadium	4,000
Hapoel Ashkelon	Sala Stadium	10,000
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Vasermil Stadium	13,000
Hapoel Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	14,002
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Ramat Gan Stadium	41,583
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Winter Stadium	8,000
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	15,700
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Ironi Stadium	5,300
Maccabi Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	14,002
Maccabi Netanya	Sar-Tov Stadium	7,500
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Ramat Gan Stadium	41,583
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	15,700

^A The club played their home games at a neutral venue because their own ground did not meet Premier League requirements.
^B The Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium was demolished. Hapoel and Maccabi Petah Tikva are hosting their home games in alternative stadia until the new Petah Tikva Stadium will be fully constructed. Both Hapoel and Maccabi chose to host its games in Ramat Gan Stadium.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
F.C. Ashdod	Yossi Mizrahi	Resigned	20 May 2010	6th (09–10)	John Gregory	20 May 2010	Pre-Season
Hapoel Haifa	Shlomi Dora	Resigned	25 May 2010	11th (09–10)	Nitzan Shirazi	5 June 2010	Pre-Season
Hapoel Acre	Yaron Hochenboim	End of contract	27 May 2010	12th (09–10)	Eli Cohen	28 May 2010	Pre-Season
Bnei Yehuda	Guy Luzon	End of contract	31 May 2010	4th (09–10)	Dror Kashtan	31 May 2010	Pre-Season
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Viko Hadad	End of contract	31 May 2010	9th (09–10)	Nir Klinger	31 May 2010	Pre-Season
Hapoel Ashkelon	Uri Malmilian	End of contract	31 May 2010	Liga Leumit 2nd (09–10)	Guy Azouri	14 June 2010	Pre-Season
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Nir Levine	End of contract	31 May 2010	3rd (09–10)	Yossi Mizrahi	10 June 2010	Pre-Season
Beitar Jerusalem	David Amsalem	Stepped down to assistant manager	11 June 2010	5th (09–10)	Uri Malmilian	11 June 2010	Pre-Season
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Yuval Naim	Resigned	29 June 2010	14th (09–10)	Shlomi Dora	1 July 2010	Pre-Season
Bnei Sakhnin	Marco Balbul	Resigned	29 June 2010	7th (09–10)	Yuval Naim	1 July 2010	Pre-Season
Bnei Sakhnin	Yuval Naim	Sacked	11 August 2010	Pre-Season	Haim Levy	14 August 2010	Pre-Season
Bnei Sakhnin	Haim Levy	Sacked	27 September 2010	16th	Slobodan Drapić	27 September 2010	16th
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Eli Mahpud	Sacked	16 October 2010	14th	Yuval Naim	16 October 2010	14th
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Shlomi Dora	Sacked	15 November 2010	16th	Tzvika Tzemah	15 November 2010	16th
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Yossi Mizrahi	Resigned	4 January 2011	3rd	Itzik Ovadia (caretaker)	4 January 2011	3rd
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Itzik Ovadia (caretaker)	Resigned	10 January 2011	3rd	Motti Ivanir	10 January 2011	3rd
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Tzvika Tzemah	Resigned	15 January 2011	16th	Itzik Baruch (caretaker)	15 January 2011	16th
Beitar Jerusalem	Uri Malmilian	Resigned	17 January 2011	12th	Ronny Levy	17 January 2011	12th
Hapoel Ramat Gan	Itzik Baruch (caretaker)	End of tenure as caretaker	3 February 2011	16th	Yaron Hochenboim	3 February 2011	16th
Hapoel Ashkelon	Guy Azouri	Sacked	15 March 2011	15th	Eli Mahpud	15 March 2011	15th
Bnei Sakhnin	Slobodan Drapić	Resigned	4 April 2011	15th	Shlomi Dora	4 April 2011	15th
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Yuval Naim	Sacked	13 April 2011	13th	Itzik Shaki (caretaker)	13 April 2011	13th
F.C. Ashdod	John Gregory	Resigned	18 April 2011	13th	Yossi Mizrahi	18 April 2011	13th
Hapoel Petah Tikva	Itzik Shaki (caretaker)	End of tenure as caretaker	1 May 2011	13th	Gili Landau	1 May 2011	13th

Regular season

Regular season table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Maccabi Haifa	30	21	7	2	55	25	+30	70	Top Playoff
2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	30	20	5	5	65	27	+38	65
3	Maccabi Tel Aviv	30	15	5	10	41	33	+8	50
4	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	30	13	9	8	50	34	+16	48
5	Bnei Yehuda	30	13	9	8	33	27	+6	48
6	Maccabi Netanya	30	11	11	8	39	33	+6	44
7	Hapoel Haifa	30	12	8	10	38	37	+1	44	Middle Playoff
8	Maccabi Petah Tikva	30	11	9	10	50	39	+11	42
9	Hapoel Acre	30	10	11	9	43	38	+5	41
10	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	30	10	8	12	36	38	−2	38
11	Beitar Jerusalem	30	10	8	12	30	32	−2	38	Bottom Playoff
12	Hapoel Petah Tikva	30	9	6	15	36	51	−15	33
13	F.C. Ashdod	30	8	9	13	36	52	−16	33
14	Hapoel Ashkelon	30	7	5	18	29	56	−27	26
15	Bnei Sakhnin	30	6	7	17	19	40	−21	25
16	Hapoel Ramat Gan	30	1	9	20	18	56	−38	081

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: ^1st points; ^2nd goal difference; ^3rd matches won; ^4th goals scored; ^5th head-to-head; ^6th decision match
¹Hapoel Ramat Gan were docked four points due to double contracts with players and staff in the previous year.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Regular season results

Home ╲ Away

BEI

BnY

BnS

FCA

HAC

HAS

HBS

HHA

HPT

HRG

HTA

IKS

MHA

MNE

MPT

MTA

Beitar Jerusalem

1–1

0–0

0–0

2–0

4–0

5–1

1–0

0–22

3–2

1–0

1–03

0–0

0–0

0–2

0–1

Bnei Yehuda

2–1

2–0

0–0

1–0

2–0

0–0

3–2

2–0

0–0

0–1

3–1

2–3

1–1

2–0

2–0

Bnei Sakhnin

1–0

0–1

0–2

0–1

2–0

1–1

1–3

1–1

0–0

1–3

1–0

1–2

1–1

2–3

1–3

F.C. Ashdod

3–04

1–2

0–0

3–1

3–2

0–35

0–0

1–2

2–2

3–3

2–2

1–2

1–0

1–3

1–2

Hapoel Acre

3–0

3–1

0–0

1–2

1–0

2–3

2–1

3–0

0–0

2–2

3–0

0–2

0–0

1–1

3–1

Hapoel Ashkelon

2–1

0–0

1–0

4–1

0–0

3–4

0–0

3–1

1–1

0–2

0–1

0–3

0–4

0–1

2–4

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

1–2

0–1

1–0

5–0

0–2

1–0

0–2

0–0

2–0

0–3

1–1

1–1

1–2

2–1

0–1

Hapoel Haifa

0–2

2–0

4–1

2–0

1–1

1–2

1–1

3–2

2–0

1–0

1–4

0–2

1–2

1–1

0–0

Hapoel Petah Tikva

1–0

2–1

0–1

3–1

2–2

0–2

3–1

2–0

2–0

1–5

1–3

0–1

1–1

1–4

0–1

Hapoel Ramat Gan

0–0

1–1

1–2

1–2

3–2

0–4

0–0

1–2

1–1

0–1

0–3

1–3

0–1

0–2

0–3

Hapoel Tel Aviv

0–0

0–1

1–0

0–2

4–1

5–16

3–2

5–0

2–0

4–0

2–4

4–1

2–1

2–0

1–0

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

0–1

2–2

2–0

3–0

2–2

2–2

1–0

1–3

3–1

1–0

1–1

0–1

3–0

2–2

4–0

Maccabi Haifa

3–3

1–0

1–0

1–1

3–1

3–0

2–2

0–0

2–0

3–2

0–2

3–2

3–0

1–0

3–0

Maccabi Netanya

4–1

0–0

1–0

2–0

1–3

3–0

1–0

1–1

3–3

2–0

1–3

1–1

1–1

2–2

0–2

Maccabi Petah Tikva

2–1

3–0

1–2

2–2

1–1

4–0

0–1

2–3

2–3

4–1

1–2

0–0

1–3

2–0

2–2

Maccabi Tel Aviv

1–0

2–0

4–0

4–1

2–2

2–0

0–2

0–1

2–17

2–0

1–1

0–1

0–1

0–3

1–1

Source: Israel Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²Beitar Jerusalem hosted the match against Hapoel Petah Tikva without a crowd of both sides due to Beitar fans hooliganism.
³Beitar Jerusalem hosted the match against Ironi Kiryat Shmona without a crowd of both sides due to Beitar fans racist calls.
⁴F.C. Ashdod hosted the match against Beitar Jerusalem without a crowd of both sides due to Ashdod fans hooliganism.
⁵The match between F.C. Ashdod and Hapoel Be'er Sheva was abandoned with a 3–3 draw in the 93rd minute after the linesman had been hit, allegedly by an iron sign thrown by Ashdod's crowd. Hapoel Be'er Sheva was awarded with a technical win.
⁶Hapoel Tel Aviv hosted the match against Hapoel Ashkelon without a crowd of both sides due to Hapoel fans hooliganism.
⁷Maccabi Tel Aviv hosted the match against Hapoel Petah Tikva without a crowd of both sides due to Maccabi fans racist calls against Abbas Suan in the match against Bnei Sakhnin.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

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

Rounds
31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th
1 – 6 2 – 5 3 – 4	1 – 2 5 – 3 6 – 4	2 – 6 3 – 1 4 – 5	1 – 4 2 – 3 6 – 5	3 – 6 4 – 2 5 – 1
07 – 10 8 – 9	7 – 8 10 – 90	08 – 10 9 – 7	0 0	0 0
11 – 16 12 – 15 13 – 14	11 – 12 15 – 13 16 – 14	12 – 16 13 – 11 14 – 15	11 – 14 12 – 13 16 – 15	13 – 16 14 – 12 15 – 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 35 points, Hapoel Tel Aviv with 33, Maccabi Tel Aviv with 25, Ironi Kiryat Shmona with 24, Bnei Yehuda with 24 and Maccabi Netanya started with 22.

Top Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Maccabi Haifa (C)	35	24	8	3	63	28	+35	45	2011–12 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	35	21	7	7	72	36	+36	38	2011–12 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round 1
3	Maccabi Tel Aviv	35	18	6	11	53	40	+13	35	2011–12 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
4	Bnei Yehuda	35	15	10	10	42	34	+8	31
5	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	35	14	10	11	57	45	+12	28
6	Maccabi Netanya	35	12	13	10	47	47	0	27

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
¹Hapoel Tel Aviv have qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League after winning the 2010–11 Israel State Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Top Playoff results

Home ╲ Away	BnY	HTA	IKS	MHA	MNE	MTA
Bnei Yehuda				1–1		1–3
Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–1				2–2	2–2
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	1–2	2–1
Maccabi Haifa		2–0	2–0		1–2
Maccabi Netanya	0–4		3–3
Maccabi Tel Aviv			3–1	0–2	4–1

Source: Israel Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Middle Playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Hapoel Haifa started with 22 points, Maccabi Petah Tikva with 21, Hapoel Acre with 21 and Hapoel Be'er Sheva started with 19.

Middle Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Maccabi Petah Tikva	33	13	10	10	57	41	+16	28
8	Hapoel Acre	33	12	11	10	49	45	+4	27
9	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	33	11	9	13	41	43	−2	23
10	Hapoel Haifa	33	12	8	13	40	43	−3	22

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Middle Playoff results

Home ╲ Away	HAC	HBS	HHA	MPT
Hapoel Acre			2–1
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–3
Hapoel Haifa		1–2		0–2
Maccabi Petah Tikva	4–1	1–1

Source: Israel Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom Playoff

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff. Thus, Beitar Jerusalem started with 19 points, Hapoel Petah Tikva with 17, F.C. Ashdod with 17, Hapoel Ashkelon with 13, Bnei Sakhnin with 13 and Hapoel Ramat Gan started with 4.

Bottom Playoff table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
11	Beitar Jerusalem	35	12	9	14	38	35	+3	26
12	F.C. Ashdod	35	10	11	14	42	55	−13	25
13	Bnei Sakhnin	35	9	8	18	25	44	−19	23
14	Hapoel Petah Tikva (O)	35	10	8	17	42	58	−16	22	Qualification to relegation play-offs
15	Hapoel Ashkelon (R)	35	9	5	21	33	66	−33	19	Relegation to Liga Leumit
16	Hapoel Ramat Gan (R)	35	3	9	23	24	65	−41	10

Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Bottom Playoff results

Home ╲ Away	BEI	BnS	FCA	HAS	HPT	HRG
Beitar Jerusalem				0–1	3–0	5–1
Bnei Sakhnin	1–0		1–0
F.C. Ashdod	0–0			4–1		1–0
Hapoel Ashkelon		2–1			0–3
Hapoel Petah Tikva		1–1	1–1			1–2
Hapoel Ramat Gan		1–2		2–0

Source: Israel Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation playoff

The 14th-placed team, Hapoel Petah Tikva faced the 3rd-placed Liga Leumit team Hapoel Kfar Saba. Hapoel Petah Tikva, the winner on aggregate earned a spot in the 2011–12 Israeli Premier League. The matches took place on 24 and 27 May 2011.

Hapoel Petah Tikva v Hapoel Kfar Saba

24 May 2011 19:00 UTC+3

Hapoel Petah Tikva	4 – 1	Hapoel Kfar Saba
Luzon  7', 31' Exbard  22' Tzarfati  52'	Report	86' Abu Arar

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Referee: Asaf Kenan

---

Hapoel Kfar Saba v Hapoel Petah Tikva

27 May 2011 17:00 UTC+3

Hapoel Kfar Saba	0 – 1	Hapoel Petah Tikva
	Report	9' Turgeman

Levita Stadium, Kfar Saba Referee: Roi Reinshreiber

Hapoel Petah Tikva won 5–1 on aggregate.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Toto Tamuz	Hapoel Tel Aviv	21
2	Eden Ben Basat	Hapoel Haifa	18
	Eliran Atar	Maccabi Tel Aviv	18
4	Moshe Ohayon	F.C. Ashdod	17
5	Pedro Galván	Bnei Yehuda	16
	Ben Sahar	Hapoel Tel Aviv	16
7	Omer Damari	Maccabi Petah Tikva	15
8	Roei Dayan	Hapoel Acre	14
	Wiyam Amashe	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	14
10	Tomer Hemed	Maccabi Haifa	13
Total			737
Average per game			2.67

Source: Israel Football Association

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Mahmoud Abbas for Hapoel Ashkelon against Hapoel Petah Tikva, 37th minute (21 August 2010)
• Widest winning margin: 5 goals –
  • Hapoel Tel Aviv 5–0 Hapoel Haifa (1 January 2011)
  • Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5–0 F.C. Ashdod (5 February 2011)
• Most goals in a match: 7 goals – Hapoel Ashkelon 3–4 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (12 March 2011)
• Most goals in a half: 5 goals – Hapoel Ramat Gan 3–2 Hapoel Acre, 0–0 at half-time (26 September 2010)
• Most goals in a match by one player: 3 goals –
  • Wiyam Amashe for Ironi Kiryat Shmona against Hapoel Tel Aviv (25 September 2010)
  • Ohad Kadousi for Hapoel Petah Tikva against Maccabi Netanya (22 January 2011)
  • Dovev Gabay for Hapoel Be'er Sheva against F.C. Ashdod (5 February 2011)

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Adir Tubul for Hapoel Ashkelon against Hapoel Petah Tikva, 31st minute (21 August 2010)
• First red card of the season: Rubil Sarsour for Maccabi Petah Tikva against Hapoel Be'er Sheva, 74th minute (23 August 2010)

See also

• 2010–11 Israel State Cup
• 2010–11 Toto Cup Al
• List of 2010–11 Israeli football transfers