Liga Leumit is a men’s football league in Israel, with recorded competition data spanning seasons from 2016 to 2025. Use this page to follow live scores, fixtures and results, review standings, and explore player and team statistics across the available competition records, season by season and in one place, with key information organized for easy reference.
Upcoming matches, Liga Leumit
Regular Season - 6
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- Regular Season - 6
Ashdod
Hapoel Rishon LeZion
Yud-Alef Stadium -
- Regular Season - 6
Kafr Qasim
Hapoel Kfar Saba
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- Regular Season - 6
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth
Hapoel Acre
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- Regular Season - 6
Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa
Maccabi Bnei Raina
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- Regular Season - 6
Kiryat Yam SC
Ironi Modi'in
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- Regular Season - 6
Hapoel Ra'anana
Maccabi Kiryat Gat
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- Regular Season - 6
Hapoel Afula
Hapoel Kfar Shalem
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- Regular Season - 6
Bnei Yehuda
Maccabi Herzliya
Regular Season - 7
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- Regular Season - 7
Hapoel Acre
Hapoel Afula
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- Regular Season - 7
Hapoel Rishon LeZion
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth
Latest played matches, Liga Leumit
Regular Season - 5
Regular Season - 4
Liga Leumit Standings
| Rank | Club | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Last 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Bnei Yehuda | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 13 | WDWWW |
| 2 |
|
Hapoel Rishon LeZion | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 13 | WDWWW |
| 3 |
|
Hapoel Ra'anana | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 12 | WWLWW |
| 4 |
|
Ashdod | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 12 | WWWWL |
| 5 |
|
Hapoel Afula | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 9 | LLWWW |
| 6 |
|
Maccabi Bnei Raina | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | WWLWL |
| 7 |
|
Maccabi Herzliya | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | WDLLW |
| 8 |
|
Hapoel Kfar Shalem | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 7 | DLWLW |
| 9 |
|
Kiryat Yam SC | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 6 | LWLLW |
| 10 |
|
Hapoel Kfar Saba | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 6 | WLWLL |
| 11 |
|
Ironi Modi'in | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 5 | LDDWL |
| 12 |
|
Maccabi Kiryat Gat | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 5 | LDDLW |
| 13 |
|
Kafr Qasim | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | LDLWL |
| 14 |
|
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 4 | DLWLL |
| 15 |
|
Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 3 | LWLLL |
| 16 |
|
Hapoel Acre | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 18 | -18 | 0 | LLLLL |
Liga Leumit Statistics
Top scorers 2026
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|
Top assists 2026
| # | Player | Assists |
|---|
Top key passes
Top tackles
Top yellow cards
Top red cards
Liga Leumit teams participation since 2016
History
Liga Leumit top scorer teams
Liga Leumit About
Liga Leumit is Israel’s professional men’s second-tier football league, positioned between the Israeli Premier League and the semi-professional divisions below it. Also known as the Israeli Liga Leumit, it is a national league administered by the Israel Football Association (IFA) and operates within the UEFA football structure. Its central purpose is to provide a competitive professional environment while giving clubs a clear route to promotion and a structured pathway for players, coaches and teams seeking to reach the top flight.
Role in Israeli football
The league is widely associated with the Hebrew name ליגה לאומית, meaning “National League”. Established in 1955, it originally served as the highest level of Israeli football. Its status changed in 1999, when the creation of the Premier League reorganised the national pyramid and moved Liga Leumit into the second tier. Since then, it has remained the principal bridge between elite football and the professional or semi-professional levels beneath it.
That position gives the competition importance beyond its place in the standings. Clubs compete for promotion, national recognition and greater professional opportunities, while the league also provides a testing ground for emerging Israeli talent and international players. Movement between divisions is built into its identity: sporting performance determines who rises, who remains and who drops into the third tier.
Governance and access
The IFA oversees the competition’s regulations, administration and scheduling through its professional leagues structure. Entry is earned through the national promotion-and-relegation system rather than through a separate qualification tournament. The standard composition is 16 clubs: two arrive after relegation from the Israeli Premier League, two are promoted from Liga Alef, and the remaining places are held by clubs that retain their status from the previous campaign.
Participation also depends on regulatory and licensing requirements. The supplied competition framework records a maximum quota of eight foreign players, subject to exemptions for certain players with Israeli heritage, Israeli spouses or extended Israeli residency. From the 2026–27 season, clubs are expected to meet a minimum budget of NIS 5 million together with specified youth-development and infrastructure standards in order to retain professional eligibility. These requirements are intended to strengthen the foundations of clubs competing at the national professional level.
Competition format
Liga Leumit normally begins with a 16-team regular season. Every club plays each opponent twice, once at home and once away, producing 30 matches per team. The standard points system awards three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat.
After the regular phase, the table is divided into two groups of eight. The top eight enter the promotion playoff, where they play a further single round-robin schedule of seven matches. The lower eight enter the relegation playoff, which determines the clubs that survive and those that fall into Liga Alef. This split creates a second stage in which both promotion and relegation remain live after the initial 30-match programme has ended.
The treatment of points at the split has varied during different periods of the league’s history. Some structural arrangements have halved regular-season points, sometimes with rounding, before the playoff groups begin. Because the Israel Football Association can adjust the competition structure, the precise application should be understood as dependent on the regulations for the relevant season rather than assumed to be permanent.
Standings, promotion and relegation
The leading clubs in the promotion group compete for direct entry to the Israeli Premier League, with the top two finishers earning promotion under the stated format. At the other end of the table, the bottom two clubs in the relegation group are relegated directly to Liga Alef. The club finishing 14th overall, normally third from bottom, typically enters a relegation playoff against a challenger from the lower division. This creates an additional survival contest for a club that narrowly avoids automatic relegation.
When teams finish level on points, the recorded order of comparison is goal difference, number of wins, total goals scored and head-to-head results. If a decisive ranking is still required for a promotion or relegation outcome, the regulations may provide for a deciding match at a neutral venue or, as a final resort, the drawing of lots. Ordinary league matches are settled after 90 minutes; extra time and penalties are generally associated with knockout competitions or exceptional deciding fixtures rather than routine league play.
Season calendar and wider stakes
The competition generally follows the European football calendar, running from August into May, with the regular phase occupying the autumn and winter and the playoff groups providing the decisive late-season contests. Fixtures may be scheduled at times that distinguish the league from the Premier League programme, including Friday afternoons and Monday evenings.
Alongside their league campaign, Liga Leumit clubs can compete in the State Cup. Cup progress offers a separate route to national prestige and, depending on the applicable competition regulations, potential access to European football. The league itself, however, is defined by the weekly demands of promotion and relegation: a sustained challenge for the top two places can transform a club’s future, while a narrow escape from the bottom group can preserve its professional status for another season.