Sport | Beach Soccer |
---|---|
Founded | 2007 |
No. of teams | 10 |
Country | Israel |
Most recent champion(s) |
Bnei Kafr Qasim (4th title) |
TV partner(s) | Sport 5 |
Official website | [7] |
The Israeli Beach Soccer League (Hebrew: הליגה הישראלית בכדורגל חופים), currently known as Ligat Bank Yahav (Hebrew: ליגת בנק יהב) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division in the Israeli Beach Soccer league. In July 2007 the league was inaugurated under the supervision of the Israel Football Association. To celebrate the launch of the league, a friendly game between national teams of England and Israel was played, with the Israelis winning 6–5.
The league first edition took place every Friday at Netanya Poleg beach on newly built beach sports stadium. The players participating in ligat San-Miguel were active and retired football players, Futsal players and some talents who was found by the league scouts. At the end of the season, "Netanya's diamonds" won the championship, after beating "MZ Rosh HaAyin" 5–2 in the final. An average of 9.23 goals per match was scored during the season, higher average than the average in most of the beach soccer World Cups.
The second season of the Israeli Beach Soccer League featured ten teams divided to two groups of five. Each team played one game against the teams in its group. The top four teams in each group qualified to the quarter finals, which was played on July 18 and 25, 2008.
The final-four matches and the relegation playoff were played on August 1. 90FM Hadera's Princes won the championship in its first season in the league, after a 7–6 win against Shav'e Shav'e Jerusalem.
The average number of goals dropped drastically in comparison with the first season, with 261 goals in 33 games, an average of 7.9 goals in a match.
The third season of the Israeli Beach Soccer won by Ironi Misadot Achla Petah Tikva after a 2–0 win against Netanya's Diamonds in the final on August 14, 2009.