# 1988–89 Liga Leumit

The 1988–89 Liga Leumit season began in September 1988 and ended in June 1989. After the first two rounds of matches (26 matches) the league split into two groups; a Championship group of six clubs and a Relegation group of eight clubs, who played the other clubs in their group once more.
Maccabi Haifa won their third title, whilst Hapoel Tiberias, Tzafririm Holon and Hapoel Tel Aviv (a year after winning the title) were all relegated. Benny Tabak of Maccabi Tel Aviv was the league's top scorer with 18 goals.

## Regular season
### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Maccabi Netanya | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 49 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 2 | Maccabi Haifa | 26 | 12 | 13 | 1 | 41 | 16 | +25 | 47 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 3 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 26 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 28 | 19 | +9 | 43 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 4 | Beitar Tel Aviv | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 39 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 5 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 18 | +1 | 39 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 6 | Shimshon Tel Aviv | 26 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 36 | Qualification for the championship round |
| 7 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 26 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 20 | 19 | +1 | 35 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 8 | Beitar Jerusalem | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 31 | −3 | 32 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 9 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 30 | 34 | −4 | 29 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 10 | Hapoel Kfar Saba | 26 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 21 | 29 | −8 | 28 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 11 | Tzafririm Holon | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 27 | 28 | −1 | 25 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 12 | Bnei Yehuda | 26 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 21 | 23 | −2 | 25 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 13 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 37 | −13 | 22 | Qualification for the relegation round |
| 14 | Hapoel Tiberias | 26 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 42 | −22 | 20 | Qualification for the relegation round |
* 1 2 3 4 Two points deducted for violating budget rules.
* ↑ One point deducted for violating budget rules.
* ↑ Four points deducted for violating budget rules.

### Results

| Home \ Away | BEI | BTA | BnY | HBS | HJE | HKS | HPT | HTA | HTI | MHA | MNE | MTA | STA | TZH |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Beitar Tel Aviv | 1–3 | — | 2–4 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 |
| Bnei Yehuda | 0–3 | 1–2 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | — | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Hapoel Tiberias | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Netanya | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | — | 1–1 | 2–3 | 3–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Shimshon Tel Aviv | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 |
| Tzafririm Holon | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | — |

## Playoffs
### Top playoff
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Maccabi Haifa (C) | 31 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 49 | 19 | +30 | 57 | |
| 2 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 31 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 36 | 20 | +16 | 54 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup |
| 3 | Maccabi Netanya | 31 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 36 | 33 | +3 | 52 | |
| 4 | Beitar Tel Aviv | 31 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 34 | 27 | +7 | 48 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup |
| 5 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 31 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 29 | −7 | 43 | |
| 6 | Shimshon Tel Aviv | 31 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 40 | |
* 1 2 Two points deducted for violating budget rules.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | BTA | HBS | HPT | MHA | MNE | STA |
| Beitar Tel Aviv | — | 4–1 | — | 1–0 | — | — |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | — | — | 0–3 | — | 1–1 | — |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 2–0 | — | — | — | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Maccabi Haifa | — | 3–0 | 1–1 | — | — | 2–1 |
| Maccabi Netanya | 0–5 | — | — | 0–2 | — | 0–0 |
| Shimshon Tel Aviv | 2–0 | 0–1 | — | — | — | — |

### Bottom playoff
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 7 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 33 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 28 | 27 | +1 | 46 | |
| 8 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 33 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 44 | 44 | 0 | 42 | |
| 9 | Beitar Jerusalem | 33 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 42 | 44 | −2 | 42 | |
| 10 | Hapoel Kfar Saba | 33 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 41 | |
| 11 | Bnei Yehuda | 33 | 8 | 14 | 11 | 31 | 29 | +2 | 38 | |
| 12 | Hapoel Tiberias (R) | 33 | 9 | 5 | 19 | 31 | 52 | −21 | 32 | Relegated to Liga Artzit |
| 13 | Tzafririm Holon (R) | 33 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 30 | 39 | −9 | 28 | Relegated to Liga Artzit |
| 14 | Hapoel Tel Aviv (R) | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 33 | 51 | −18 | 28 | Relegated to Liga Artzit |
* ↑ One point deducted for violating budget rules.
* 1 2 Two points deducted for violating budget rules.
* ↑ Four points deducted for violating budget rules.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | HJE | HKS | HTA | HTI | MTA | TZH |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | — | — | — | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 4–1 |
| Bnei Yehuda | 4–2 | — | — | 4–0 | 1–0 | — | — | — |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | — | — |
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | 4–0 | — | — | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | — | — | 1–2 | — | — | — | 3–2 | 3–0 |
| Hapoel Tiberias | — | 3–0 | — | — | 4–1 | — | — | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | — | 5–0 | — | — |
| Tzafririm Holon | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | — | — | — | 0–1 | — |