# 1999–2000 Israeli Premier League

The 1999–2000 Israeli Premier League season was the first in its history. The league had been formed to replace the former top division, Liga Leumit, which became the country's second tier.
Before the season started Ironi Ashdod and Liga Alef side Hapoel Ashdod were merged into F.C. Ashdod.
The season took place from the first match on 14 August 1999 to the final match on 27 May 2000. Hapoel Tel Aviv won the title, teams relegated were Hapoel Kfar Saba, Maccabi Herzliya and Hapoel Jerusalem.

## Final table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Hapoel Tel Aviv (C) | 39 | 26 | 7 | 6 | 76 | 28 | +48 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Maccabi Haifa | 39 | 22 | 10 | 7 | 86 | 35 | +51 | 76 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 39 | 23 | 5 | 11 | 77 | 52 | +25 | 74 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round |
| 4 | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 39 | 18 | 6 | 15 | 50 | 47 | +3 | 60 | |
| 5 | Beitar Jerusalem | 39 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 61 | 54 | +7 | 59 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 6 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 39 | 18 | 8 | 13 | 66 | 42 | +24 | 58 | |
| 7 | Hapoel Haifa | 39 | 13 | 18 | 8 | 53 | 36 | +17 | 57 | |
| 8 | F.C. Ashdod | 39 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 48 | 49 | −1 | 52 | |
| 9 | Ironi Rishon LeZion | 39 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 41 | 65 | −24 | 43 | |
| 10 | Maccabi Netanya | 39 | 10 | 11 | 18 | 53 | 71 | −18 | 41 | |
| 11 | Bnei Yehuda | 39 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 37 | 64 | −27 | 40 | |
| 12 | Hapoel Kfar Saba (R) | 39 | 8 | 14 | 17 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 38 | Relegated to Liga Leumit |
| 13 | Maccabi Herzliya (R) | 39 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 33 | 73 | −40 | 35 | Relegated to Liga Leumit |
| 14 | Hapoel Jerusalem (R) | 39 | 6 | 6 | 27 | 33 | 82 | −49 | 24 | Relegated to Liga Leumit |
* ↑ Maccabi Tel Aviv had four points deducted as Kfir Edri tested positive for Ephedrine.

## Results
### First and second round

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | ASH | HHA | HJE | HKS | HPT | HTA | IRZ | MHA | MHE | MNE | MPT | MTA |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Bnei Yehuda | 2–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| F.C. Ashdod | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Hapoel Haifa | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | — | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–4 |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–3 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 3–0 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Ironi Rishon LeZion | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | — | 0–7 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 1–2 |
| Maccabi Herzliya | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 2–5 | — | 1–0 | 0–4 | 3–1 |
| Maccabi Netanya | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 0–3 | — | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | — |

### Third round

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | ASH | HHA | HJE | HKS | HPT | HTA | IRZ | MHA | MHE | MNE | MPT | MTA |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | — | — | — | 1–4 | 3–1 | — | 2–3 | 1–1 | — |
| Bnei Yehuda | — | — | 0–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | — |
| F.C. Ashdod | — | — | — | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | — | — | 1–0 | — | 3–2 | 2–4 |
| Hapoel Haifa | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | — | — | — | 1–1 | 0–4 | — | 1–1 | — | — |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | — | 2–2 | — | — | — | 2–1 | — | — | 3–1 | — | 1–2 | 0–4 | — | 2–4 |
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | — | — | — | — | — | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | — | 2–2 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 2–1 | — | — | 3–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–3 | — | — | 8–1 | — | — | 2–2 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | 2–1 | — | — | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | — | — | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | — | 2–1 |
| Ironi Rishon LeZion | — | — | 0–2 | — | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | — | — | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | — |
| Maccabi Haifa | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 6–0 | — | 4–1 | — | 0–0 | — | — | 7–0 | 1–2 | — |
| Maccabi Herzliya | 0–0 | — | — | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | — | — | — | 2–4 | — | 0–0 | — | 0–4 |
| Maccabi Netanya | — | 4–1 | 3–1 | — | — | — | 2–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | — | — | — | 2–1 | — |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | — | — | — | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 1–0 | — | — | 0–1 | — | — | 0–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | — | — | — | — | 5–1 | 3–0 | — | 2–1 | — | — |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Assi Tubi | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 27 |
| 2 | Serghei Cleşcenco | Maccabi Haifa | 22 |
| 3 | Yossi Benayoun | Maccabi Haifa | 19 |
| 4 | Rafi Cohen | Maccabi Haifa | 18 |
| 5 | Ronen Harazi | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 17 |
| 5 | Kobi Refua | Bnei Yehuda | 17 |
| 7 | Eli Abarbanel | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 14 |
| 7 | Amir Turgeman | Hapoel Haifa | 14 |
| 9 | Nissan Kapeta | Ironi Rishon LeZion | 13 |
| 9 | Viktor Paço | Beitar Jerusalem | 13 |
| 9 | Niv Tal | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 13 |