# 2009–10 Israeli Premier League

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 | 08,500 |
| Bnei Yehuda | Bloomfield Stadium | 15,700 |
| F.C. Ashdod | Yud-Alef Stadium | 07,800 |
| Hapoel Acre | Green Stadium | 0004,000 |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | Vasermil Stadium | 13,000 |
| Hapoel Haifa | Kiryat Eliezer Stadium | 14,002 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium | 06,800 |
| Hapoel Ra'anana | Levita Stadium | 0005,800 |
| Hapoel Ramat Gan | Winter Stadium | 0008,000 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | Bloomfield Stadium | 15,700 |
| Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | Ilut Stadium | 04,932 |
| Maccabi Haifa | Kiryat Eliezer Stadium | 14,002 |
| Maccabi Netanya | Sar-Tov Stadium | 07,500 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium | 06,800 |
| 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 to assistant 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 to assistant 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 to assistant 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 Tenenboim$^1$ Kevin Rainstein$^1$ | Abedi Sarfo Ismail Abdul Razak Ardian Nuhiu |
In Italic: Players that left the club mid-season
The following do not fill a Visa position: $^1$Players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained an Israeli passport or permanent residency, allowing them to play with Israeli status; $^2$Players who were born and started their professional career abroad but are eligible for Israeli citizenship due to Jewish ancestry;

## Regular season
### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Maccabi Haifa | 30 | 25 | 2 | 3 | 64 | 12 | +52 | 77 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 2 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 30 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 79 | 25 | +54 | 71 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 3 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 47 | 33 | +14 | 52 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 4 | Beitar Jerusalem | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 46 | 34 | +12 | 46 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 5 | Bnei Yehuda | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 37 | 30 | +7 | 45 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 6 | F.C. Ironi Ashdod | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 43 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 7 | Bnei Sakhnin | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 28 | 29 | −1 | 41 | Qualification for the middle round |
| 8 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 44 | 50 | −6 | 40 | Qualification for the middle round |
| 9 | Maccabi Netanya | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 36 | Qualification for the middle round |
| 10 | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 35 | Qualification for the middle round |
| 11 | Hapoel Ramat Gan | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 26 | 46 | −20 | 33 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 12 | Hapoel Haifa | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 32 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 13 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 30 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 23 | 41 | −18 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 14 | Hapoel Acre | 30 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 32 | 46 | −14 | 25 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 15 | Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 27 | 67 | −40 | 24 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 16 | Hapoel Ra'anana | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 27 | 57 | −30 | 20 | Qualification for the relegation round |
* 1 2 F.C. Ashdod received a technical loss of 3–0 to Bnei Yehuda for fielding an ineligible player. The original game finished in a 1–1 draw.

### Results

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | BnS | ASH | HAC | HBS | HHA | HPT | HRG | HRA | HTA | MAN | MHA | MNE | MPT | MTA |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Bnei Yehuda | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Bnei Sakhnin | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 3–4 | 0–0 |
| F.C. Ironi Ashdod | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Hapoel Acre | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–3 |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | — | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| Hapoel Haifa | 3–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–0 | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Hapoel Ramat Gan | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–4 |
| Hapoel Ra'anana | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | — | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | 4–3 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 5–3 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 7–1 | 3–1 | 5–0 | — | 4–0 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–4 | — | 0–5 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–3 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Netanya | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 5–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | — | 2–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | — |
* ↑ F.C. Ashdod received a technical loss of 3–0 to Bnei Yehuda for fielding an ineligible player. The original game finished in a 1–1 draw.

## 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 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Hapoel Tel Aviv (C) | 35 | 25 | 9 | 1 | 87 | 26 | +61 | 49 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Maccabi Haifa | 35 | 28 | 3 | 4 | 72 | 16 | +56 | 49 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 35 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 52 | 35 | +17 | 34 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Bnei Yehuda | 35 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 31 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Beitar Jerusalem | 35 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 26 | |
| 6 | F.C. Ironi Ashdod | 35 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 36 | 45 | −9 | 22 | |
* ↑ As Hapoel Tel Aviv won both League and 2009–10 Israel State Cup, the State Cup finalists Bnei Yehuda received the final Europa League spot.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | ASH | HTA | MHA | MTA |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 0–2 | — | 1–2 | — | — |
| Bnei Yehuda | — | — | — | — | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| F.C. Ironi Ashdod | 1–2 | 2–3 | — | — | — | — |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | — | 1–0 | 4–0 | — | — | 0–0 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 2–1 | — | 3–1 | 0–1 | — | — |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3–0 | — | 2–0 | — | 0–2 | — |

### 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 7 | Bnei Sakhnin | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 27 |
| 8 | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 33 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 44 | 47 | −3 | 24 |
| 9 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 33 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 49 | 55 | −6 | 23 |
| 10 | Maccabi Netanya | 33 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 44 | 47 | −3 | 21 |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | BnS | HBS | MNE | MPT |
| Bnei Sakhnin | — | 1–0 | — | 2–0 |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | — | — | 4–0 | 1–4 |
| Maccabi Netanya | 2–0 | — | — | — |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | — | — | 3–1 | — |

### 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 11 | Hapoel Haifa | 35 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 44 | 50 | −6 | 23 | |
| 12 | Hapoel Acre | 35 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 38 | 52 | −14 | 23 | |
| 13 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 35 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 28 | 48 | −20 | 23 | |
| 14 | Hapoel Ramat Gan (O) | 35 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 22 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 15 | Hapoel Ra'anana (R) | 35 | 6 | 10 | 19 | 33 | 58 | −25 | 18 | Relegation to Liga Leumit |
| 16 | Maccabi Ahi Nazareth (R) | 35 | 7 | 7 | 21 | 33 | 81 | −48 | 16 | Relegation to Liga Leumit |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | HAC | HHA | HRA | HRG | MAN | HPT |
| Hapoel Acre | — | 1–0 | — | — | 3–1 | — |
| Hapoel Haifa | — | — | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 1–2 |
| Hapoel Ra'anana | 4–0 | — | — | — | 2–0 | — |
| Hapoel Ramat Gan | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | — | — |
| Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | — | — | — | 0–7 | — | 3–0 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 1–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | — | — |

## 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 |
| 3 | Barak Yitzhaki | Beitar Jerusalem | 16 |
| 5 | Dimitar Makriev | F.C. Ashdod | 0013 |
| 6 | Pedro Galván | Bnei Yehuda | 12 |
| 6 | Toto Tamuz | Beitar Jerusalem | 12 |
| 8 | Idan Shriki | F.C. Ashdod | 11 |
| 8 | Dedi Ben Dayan | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 11 |
| 8 | Eran Levy | Hapoel Haifa | 11 |
| 8 | Eran Zahavi | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 11 |
| Total | Total | Total | 718 |
| Average per game | Average per game | Average per game | 2.6 |
^B 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.