2015–16 Israeli Premier League

The 2015–16 Israeli Premier League was the seventeenth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 74th season of top-tier football in Israel. It began on 22 August 2015 and ended in May 2016. Hapoel Be'er Sheva became champion after 40 years without winning a main national competition, interrupting the sequence of three consecutive titles of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Israeli Premier League

Dates	22 August 2015 – 21 May 2016
Champions	Hapoel Be'er Sheva (3rd title)
Relegated	Hapoel Acre Maccabi Netanya
Champions League	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Europa League	Maccabi Tel Aviv Beitar Jerusalem Maccabi Haifa
Top goalscorer	Eran Zahavi (35 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Maccabi Tel Aviv 6–0 Maccabi Haifa
Biggest away win	Hapoel Tel Aviv 0-4 Bnei Sakhnin
Highest scoring	Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5-2 Maccabi Petah Tikva
Average attendance	6,953 [2]
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Teams

A total of fourteen teams were competing in the league, including twelve sides from the 2014–15 season and two promoted teams from the 2014–15 Liga Leumit.

Hapoel Petah Tikva and F.C. Ashdod were relegated to the 2015–16 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2014–15 Israeli Premier League in the bottom two places.

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and Hapoel Kfar Saba were promoted after finishing the 2014–15 Liga Leumit in the top two places.

Stadia and locations

Hapoel Acre

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa

Beitar Jerusalem

Hapoel Kfar Saba

Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Maccabi Netanya

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Hapoel Ra'anana

Bnei Sakhnin

Bnei Yehuda

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Locations of the 2015–16 Israeli Premier League teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Beitar Jerusalem	Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	31,733
Bnei Sakhnin	Sakhnin	Doha Stadium	8,500
Bnei Yehuda	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413
Hapoel Acre	Acre	Acre Stadium	5,000
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Be'er Sheva	Turner Stadium	16,126
Hapoel Haifa	Haifa	Sammy Ofer Stadium	30,942
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Kfar Saba	Levita Stadium	5,800
Hapoel Ra'anana	Ra'anana	Netanya Stadium, Netanya	13,610
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona	Kiryat Shmona Stadium	5,300
Maccabi Haifa	Haifa	Sammy Ofer Stadium	30,942
Maccabi Netanya	Netanya	Netanya Stadium	13,610
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva	HaMoshava Stadium	11,500
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Tel Aviv	Bloomfield Stadium	14,413

Bloomfield Stadium	Netanya Stadium	Sammy Ofer Stadium
Bnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv	Hapoel Ra'anana Maccabi Netanya	Hapoel Haifa Maccabi Haifa
Acre Stadium	Doha Stadium	HaMoshava Stadium
Hapoel Acre	Bnei Sakhnin	Maccabi Petah Tikva
Kiryat Shmona Stadium	Levita Stadium	Teddy Stadium	Turner Stadium
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Hapoel Kfar Saba	Beitar Jerusalem	Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Beitar Jerusalem	Eli Tabib	Slobodan Drapić	Dušan Matović	Puma	itrader
Bnei Sakhnin	Mohammed Abu Yunes	Yossi Abukasis	Khaled Khalaila	Umbro	Toyga
Bnei Yehuda	Moshe Damaio	Yossi Mizrahi	Assi Baldout	Macron	Azrieli Group
Hapoel Acre	Yehuda Barshishat	Shlomi Dora	Moshe Mishaelof	Macron	Azrieli Group
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Alona Barkat	Barak Bakhar	Elyaniv Barda	Kappa	Mobli
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Stav Shaham	Sharon Mimer	Hen Dilmoni	Lotto
Hapoel Haifa	Yoav Katz	Meir Ben Margi	Oshri Roash	Diadora	Hatama
Hapoel Ra'anana	Asher Alon	Haim Silvas	Snir Shuker	Umbro	ME Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Amir Gross Kabiri	Eli Guttman	Ariel Harush	Puma	Fujicom
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Izzy Sheratzky	Shlomi Dora	Oz Raly	Puma	Ituran
Maccabi Haifa	Ya'akov Shahar	Ronny Levy	Yossi Benayoun	Nike	Honda
Maccabi Netanya	Eli Segev	Meni Koretski	Eran Levy	Joma	Burgus Burger Bar
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Amos Luzon	Ran Ben Shimon	Naor Peser	Macron	Panorama North
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Mitchell Goldhar	Peter Bosz	Eran Zahavi	Adidas

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to five per team.^{[citation needed]}

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5
Beitar Jerusalem	Nikita Rukavytsya	Claudemir	Arsenio Valpoort	Dušan Matović	Jesús Rueda
Bnei Sakhnin	Eldar Hasanović	Georginho	Diogo Kachuba	Wanderson	Abraham Paz
Bnei Yehuda	Pedro Galván	Antonio Mršić	Thierry Doubai	Dele Aiyenugba	Jude Nworuh
Hapoel Acre	Dylan Seys	Boris Kopitović	Samuel Gilmore	Lanry Kahinda	Branislav Jovanović
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	William Soares	Anthony Nwakaeme	John Ogu	Ovidiu Hoban
Hapoel Haifa	Dmitriy Baga	Marijan Antolovic	Tadas Kijanskas	Žarko Korać	Bruno Pinheiro
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Mavis Tchibota	Dino Škvorc	Yiannis Papadopoulos	Hugo López
Hapoel Ra'anana	Dejan Radonjić	Mamadou Thiam	Rene Mihelič	Evans Kangwa	Emmanuel Mbola
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Cauê	Hamza Barry	Loukas Vyntra	Nemanja Nikolić	Claudiu Bumba
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Luis Gutiérrez	Bruno	Kassio	Rokas Stanulevičius	Austin Amutu
Maccabi Haifa	Romário	Glynor Plet	Ludovic Obraniak	Vladimir Stojković	Marc Valiente
Maccabi Netanya	Issoumaila Lingane	Nemanja Petrović	Milan Smiljanić	Andriy Mischenko
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Allyson	Joachim Mununga	Xavier Tomas	Aitor Monroy	Rade Prica
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Haris Medunjanin	Nosa Igiebor	Orlando Sá	Predrag Rajković	Carlos García

In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Barak Bakhar	Sacked	14 May 2015	Pre-season	Salah Hasarma	30 May 2015
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Elisha Levy	End of contract	30 May 2015		Barak Bakhar	30 May 2015
Maccabi Haifa	Marco Balbul	End of contract	30 May 2015		Ronny Levy	30 May 2015
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Eli Cohen	End of contract	30 May 2015		César Mendiondo	30 May 2015
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Pako Ayestarán	End of contract	30 May 2015		Slaviša Jokanović	15 June 2015
Maccabi Netanya	Ronny Levy	End of contract	30 May 2015		Shlomi Dora	21 June 2015
Beitar Jerusalem	Guy Levy	End of contract	7 June 2015		Slobodan Drapić	7 June 2015
Hapoel Acre	Shlomi Dora	Sacked	21 June 2015		Yaron Hochenboim	28 June 2015
Hapoel Tel Aviv	César Mendiondo	Sacked	3 September 2015	12th	Walid Badir (caretaker)	3 September 2015
Maccabi Netanya	Shlomi Dora	Sacked	2 November 2015	14th	Reuven Atar	6 November 2015
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Walid Badir (caretaker)	End of caretaker time	5 November 2015	13th	Guy Levy	5 November 2015
Bnei Yehuda	Yossi Abukasis	Sacked	8 December 2015	9th	Yossi Mizrahi	9 December 2015
Bnei Sakhnin	Eli Cohen	Sacked	18 December 2015	12th	Yossi Abukasis	19 December 2015
Hapoel Haifa	Tal Banin	Sacked	21 December 2015	10th	Meir Ben Margi	21 December 2015
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Slaviša Jokanović	Signed By Fulham	27 December 2015	2nd	Javier Pereira Megía (caretaker)	27 December 2015
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Felix Naim	Sacked	3 January 2016	13th	Sharon Mimer	11 January 2016
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Javier Pereira Megía (caretaker)	End of caretaker time	4 January 2016	2nd	Peter Bosz	4 January 2016
Maccabi Netanya	Reuven Atar	Sacked	10 January 2016	14th	Menahem Koretski	20 January 2016
Hapoel Tel Aviv	Guy Levi	Sacked	19 January 2016	11th	Eli Guttman	19 January 2016
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	Salah Hasarma	Sacked	13 February 2016	10th	Shlomi Dora	14 February 2016

Regular season

Regular season table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	26	20	4	2	48	17	+31	64	Qualification for the championship round
2	Maccabi Tel Aviv	26	19	4	3	59	20	+39	61
3	Beitar Jerusalem	26	15	6	5	38	19	+19	51
4	Maccabi Haifa	26	10	8	8	33	25	+8	38
5	Bnei Sakhnin	26	10	6	10	32	25	+7	36
6	Hapoel Ra'anana	26	10	6	10	29	31	−2	36
7	Bnei Yehuda	26	9	6	11	27	35	−8	33	Qualification for the relegation round
8	Maccabi Petah Tikva	26	8	6	12	23	30	−7	30
9	Hapoel Kfar Saba	26	7	8	11	19	31	−12	29
10	Hapoel Acre	26	8	5	13	18	36	−18	29
11	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	26	6	10	10	25	31	−6	28
12	Hapoel Tel Aviv	26	6	9	11	17	31	−14	27
13	Hapoel Haifa	26	5	10	11	27	37	−10	25
14	Maccabi Netanya	26	1	8	17	10	37	−27	11

Source: Israel Football Association, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[3]

Regular season results

Home \ Away	BEI	BnS	BnY	HAC	HBS	HHA	HKS	HRA	HTA	IKS	MHA	MNE	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–2
Bnei Sakhnin	1–3	—	2–2	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	2–3	1–0	3–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–2
Bnei Yehuda	2–1	0–2	—	0–2	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–1
Hapoel Acre	1–3	2–2	0–1	—	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–3
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–1	2–2	2–0	3–0	—	1–0	3–0	2–0	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	5–2	0–1
Hapoel Haifa	1–1	2–0	0–1	3–1	1–2	—	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–4	2–4	2–0	0–3	0–3
Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–2	—	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–0
Hapoel Ra'anana	0–2	1–0	0–2	3–1	2–3	2–2	2–2	—	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–2
Hapoel Tel Aviv	0–0	0–4	3–1	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	—	0–3	0–3	1–1	0–1	0–1
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–0	3–0	—	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–1
Maccabi Haifa	0–2	0–0	0–3	4–0	1–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	—	1–0	4–0	0–2
Maccabi Netanya	0–0	0–2	0–2	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–3	—	0–0	1–3
Maccabi Petah Tikva	2–0	0–1	3–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	—	1–2
Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–4	3–2	4–0	5–0	1–2	2–1	5–0	1–2	1–1	5–0	2–1	2–1	3–1	—

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Championship round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games):^[4]

Rounds
27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th
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	6 – 1 5 – 2 4 – 3	2 – 1 3 – 5 4 – 6	6 – 2 1 – 3 5 – 4	3 – 2 4 – 1 5 – 6	6 – 3 2 – 4 1 – 5

Championship round table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hapoel Be'er Sheva (C)	36	25	8	3	66	24	+42	83	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Maccabi Tel Aviv	36	24	9	3	76	24	+52	81	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Beitar Jerusalem[a]	36	18	6	12	46	37	+9	58
4	Maccabi Haifa	36	14	11	11	45	42	+3	53	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[b]
5	Bnei Sakhnin	36	13	9	14	46	40	+6	48
6	Hapoel Ra'anana	36	11	9	16	38	48	−10	42

Source: Israel Football Association, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[6]
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Beitar Jerusalem deducted two points because of racial slurs by their fans.^[5]
2. Maccabi Haifa qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Israel State Cup.

2015–16 Israeli Premier League champions
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3rd title

Championship round results

Home \ Away	BEI	BnS	HBS	HRA	MHA	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	0–3	0–2	1–0	3–2	0–2
Bnei Sakhnin	2–0	—	1–4	1–1	0–1	0–0
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–0	3–1	—	0–0	1–1	1–1
Hapoel Ra'anana	1–2	2–3	1–4	—	3–0	1–1
Maccabi Haifa	1–0	3–3	2–1	2–0	—	0–0
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–2	1–0	0–0	3–0	6–0	—

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games):^[4]

Rounds
27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	32nd	33rd
7 – 11 8 – 13 9 – 12 10 – 14	7 – 8 13 – 9 12 – 10 11 – 14	8 – 11 9 – 7 10 – 13 14 – 12	8 – 9 7 – 10 13 – 14 11 – 12	9 – 11 10 – 8 14 – 7 12 – 13	9 – 10 8 – 14 7 – 12 11 – 13	10 – 11 14 – 9 12 – 8 13 – 7

Relegation round table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
7	Maccabi Petah Tikva	33	13	7	13	34	35	−1	46
8	Bnei Yehuda	33	13	7	13	37	43	−6	46
9	Hapoel Tel Aviv	33	10	12	11	30	37	−7	42
10	Hapoel Kfar Saba	33	9	11	13	23	37	−14	38
11	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	33	8	12	13	32	39	−7	36
12	Hapoel Haifa	33	7	13	13	38	48	−10	34
13	Hapoel Acre (R)	33	9	7	17	27	48	−21	34	Relegation to Liga Leumit
14	Maccabi Netanya (R)	33	1	9	23	14	50	−36	12

Source: Israel Football Association, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[7]
(R) Relegated

Relegation round results

Home \ Away	BnY	HAC	HHA	HKS	HTA	IKS	MNE	MPT
Bnei Yehuda	—	3–1	—	—	2–4	1–0	—	1–2
Hapoel Acre	—	—	2–3	—	—	1–1	4–1	1–3
Hapoel Haifa	1–1	—	—	0–0	—	—	2–1	—
Hapoel Kfar Saba	0–1	0–0	—	—	0–3	2–1	—	—
Hapoel Tel Aviv	—	1–0	3–3	—	—	—	—	0–0
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	—	—	2–1	—	1–1	—	2–0	—
Maccabi Netanya	0–1	—	—	1–1	0–1	—	—	—
Maccabi Petah Tikva	—	—	2–1	0–1	—	2–0	2–1	—

Source: Israel Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. Note that Championship round teams will play in 36 matchdays, and the Relegation round teams will compete in only 33 matches.

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2	7	3	2	7	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3	2	2	4	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
Beitar Jerusalem	8	10	9	12	10	5	7	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Maccabi Haifa	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	12	11	13	11	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	6	5	5	5	6	6	4	4	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	4
Bnei Sakhnin	10	13	13	9	6	9	6	7	8	9	10	7	7	10	12	13	12	11	12	10	10	9	7	5	5	5	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5
Hapoel Ra'anana	7	3	6	3	4	8	5	3	5	5	4	5	5	5	4	4	5	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	5	4	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Maccabi Petah Tikva	5	1	1	1	1	2	4	6	6	7	5	4	4	4	5	5	4	4	4	5	6	7	9	8	8	8	8	7	7	8	8	7	7
Bnei Yehuda	1	6	10	5	11	12	8	8	7	6	7	9	9	7	7	7	8	10	8	8	8	6	6	7	7	7	7	8	8	7	7	8	8
Hapoel Tel Aviv	9	12	12	8	5	6	9	10	13	10	12	10	10	8	11	11	11	9	11	12	12	12	11	11	12	12	10	9	9	9	9	9	9
Hapoel Kfar Saba	6	4	7	10	12	13	11	9	12	12	8	11	11	11	9	12	13	12	10	9	9	10	8	9	9	9	11	12	12	10	10	10	10
Ironi Kiryat Shmona	13	5	5	7	9	4	3	4	4	4	6	6	8	9	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	8	10	10	10	10	12	11	11	11	12	11	11
Hapoel Haifa	4	9	8	11	8	10	12	13	9	11	13	13	13	12	10	9	9	8	9	11	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	11	12	12
Hapoel Acre	11	8	4	6	3	7	10	11	10	8	9	12	12	13	13	10	10	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	11	11	9	10	10	13	13	13	13
Maccabi Netanya	12	11	11	13	13	11	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Source: Israel Football Association

	2016–17 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
	2016–17 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
	Relegation to 2016–17 Liga Leumit

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Eran Zahavi	Maccabi Tel Aviv	35
2	Nikita Rukavytsya	Beitar Jerusalem	14
	Shlomi Azulay	Bnei Sakhnin
	Elyaniv Barda	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
5	Evans Kangwa	Hapoel Ra'anana	11
	Pedro Joaquín Galván	Bnei Yehuda
	Anthony Nwakaeme	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
	Mahran Lala	Hapoel Haifa
9	Eliran Atar	Maccabi Haifa	10
	Ofir Mizrahi	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
	Tal Ben Haim	Maccabi Tel Aviv

Source: Israel Football Association

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Maccabi Haifa				20,826	n/a†
2	Hapoel Be'er Sheva				15,941	n/a†
3	Maccabi Tel Aviv				11,915	n/a†
4	Beitar Jerusalem				10,416	n/a†
5	Hapoel Tel Aviv				9,375	n/a†
6	Hapoel Haifa				4,572	n/a†
7	Maccabi Netanya				4,241	n/a†
8	Bnei Yehuda				3,642	n/a†
9	Maccabi Petah Tikva				3,462	n/a†
10	Hapoel Kfar Saba				2,968	n/a†
11	Bnei Sakhnin				2,805	n/a†
12	Hapoel Ra'anana				2,305	n/a†
13	Hapoel Acre				1,958	n/a†
14	Ironi Kiryat Shmona				1,800	n/a†
	League total				7,479	n/a†

Updated to games played on 4 June 2016
Source: Official club websites and