2008–09 Israeli Premier League
| Season | 2008–09 |
|---|---|
| Champions |
Maccabi Haifa 6th Premier League title 11th top-flight title |
| Relegated |
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan Ironi Kiryat Shmona |
| Champions League | Maccabi Haifa (second qualifying round) |
| Europa League |
Hapoel Tel Aviv (third qualifying round) Maccabi Netanya (second qualifying round) Bnei Yehuda (first qualifying round) |
| Goals scored | 432 |
| Average goals/game | 2.18 |
| Top goalscorer |
 Barak Yitzhaki (14) Shimon Abuhatzira (14) Eliran Atar (14) |
| Biggest home win |
Hapoel Tel Aviv 4–0 Beitar Jerusalem (9 February 2009) Beitar Jerusalem 4–0 Hakoah Ramat Gan (4 April 2009) |
| Biggest away win | 8 games with a win by 3 goals |
| Highest scoring |
Hakoah Ramat Gan 2–4 Beitar Jerusalem (20 September 2008) F.C. Ashdod 4–2 Bnei Sakhnin (8 November 2008) F.C. Ashdod 3–3 Maccabi Netanya (20 December 2008) (6 goals) |
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← 2007–08
2009–10 →
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The 2008–09 Israeli Premier League season began on 30 August 2008, and ended on 1 June 2009. Beitar Jerusalem were the defending champions, having won their 6th league title the previous year.
Two teams from Liga Leumit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan and Hapoel Petah Tikva. The two teams relegated were Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Herzliya.
At a 24 June 2008 IFA administration meeting it was decided that the league would be expanded to 16 clubs for the following season. Due to the expansion, only one team was relegated directly to Liga Leumit, while five clubs were promoted. The eleventh-ranked team played in a play-off match against the sixth-ranked team from Liga Leumit.
Maccabi Haifa clinched their 11th title after a 0–2 win against Maccabi Netanya on 23 May 2009.
Source: Israel Football Association
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd matches won; 4th goals scored; 5th head-to-head; 6th decision match
1Beitar Jerusalem did not obtain the license for competing in next year's European competitions because they failed to meet their commitments to UEFA. Since Beitar won the cup and the cup runners-up are league champions Maccabi Haifa, all Europa League spots were awarded to teams according to their league positions. Since Beitar also finished third in the league, Europa League spots were given to league runners-up Hapoel Tel Aviv, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda.
2Beitar Jerusalem were deducted two points due to Beitar fans pitch invasion the previous year against Maccabi Herzliya and one point due to racist calls from Beitar fans.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
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