# 1998–99 Liga Leumit

The 1998–99 Liga Leumit season began on 22 August 1998 and ended on 29 May 1999, with Hapoel Haifa winning their first championship title ever.
That season had two rounds, each team played the other teams twice. The three teams that were relegated to Liga Artzit were: Hapoel Tzafririm Holon, Hapoel Beit She'an and Maccabi Jaffa.
Two team from Liga Artzit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hapoel Tzafririm Holon and Maccabi Jaffa. The two teams relegated were Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

## Final table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Hapoel Haifa (C) | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 66 | 23 | +43 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 30 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 77 | 32 | +45 | 63 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Maccabi Haifa | 30 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 62 | 24 | +38 | 60 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round |
| 4 | Beitar Jerusalem | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 67 | 33 | +34 | 57 | |
| 5 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 45 | 26 | +19 | 52 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 6 | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 46 | |
| 7 | Ironi Rishon LeZion | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 58 | 61 | −3 | 42 | |
| 8 | Hapoel Kfar Saba | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 47 | 66 | −19 | 39 | |
| 9 | Hapoel Jerusalem | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 35 | 52 | −17 | 38 | |
| 10 | Maccabi Petah Tikva | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 45 | 45 | 0 | 37 | |
| 11 | Bnei Yehuda | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 43 | 51 | −8 | 36 | |
| 12 | Maccabi Ironi Ashdod | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 36 | |
| 13 | Maccabi Herzliya | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 31 | 42 | −11 | 35 | |
| 14 | Hapoel Tzafririm Holon (R) | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 35 | 38 | −3 | 34 | Relegation to Liga Artzit |
| 15 | Hapoel Beit She'an (R) | 30 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 25 | 83 | −58 | 18 | Relegation to Liga Artzit |
| 16 | Maccabi Jaffa (R) | 30 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 15 | 73 | −58 | 10 | Relegation to Liga Artzit |
* ↑ Hapoel Tel Aviv won the Israeli State Cup and was awarded with entry to the UEFA Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BEI | BnY | BTS | HHA | HJE | HKS | HPT | HTA | IRZ | MHA | MHE | MIA | MJA | MPT | MTA | TZH |
| Beitar Jerusalem | — | 1–1 | 6–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 7–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Bnei Yehuda | 0–3 | — | 3–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 0–2 | 0–6 | 5–1 |
| Hapoel Beit She'an | 1–4 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–5 | 1–1 |
| Hapoel Haifa | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | — | 1–0 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 |
| Hapoel Jerusalem | 0–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 7–3 | 2–0 | — | 2–2 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–5 | 0–4 |
| Hapoel Petah Tikva | 3–2 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | — | 6–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Ironi Rishon LeZion | 1–1 | 3–1 | 6–0 | 0–4 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–7 | — | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 2–4 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 6–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Maccabi Herzliya | 1–4 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Maccabi Ironi Ashdod | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–7 | 3–3 | 2–2 |
| Maccabi Jaffa | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | — | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | — | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 0–3 | — | 4–0 |
| Tzafririm Holon | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | — |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Andrzej Kubica | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 21 |
| 2 | Motti Kakoun | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 20 |
| 3 | Amir Turgeman | Maccabi Ironi Ashdod | 19 |
| 4 | Yaniv Abargil | Hapoel Kfar Saba | 17 |
| 4 | Avi Nimni | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 17 |
| 4 | Kobi Refua | Bnei Yehuda | 17 |
| 4 | Nir Sevilia | Beitar Jerusalem | 17 |
| 8 | Yossi Benayoun | Maccabi Haifa | 16 |
| 8 | Ofer Shitrit | Beitar Jerusalem | 16 |
| 10 | Nissan Kapeta | Ironi Rishon Lezion | 14 |
| 10 | Alon Mizrahi | Maccabi Haifa | 14 |