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Liga Gimel

Liga Gimel
Country Israel Israel
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Founded 1951; 66 years ago (1951)
Number of teams 16X8
Level on pyramid 5
Promotion to B League
Domestic cup(s) State Cup
Current champions F.C. Julis (Upper Galilee)
Maccabi Tzeirei Shefa-'Amr (Lower Galilee)
Hapoel Bnei Arara 'Ara (Jezreel)
Hapoel Tirat HaCarmel F.C. (Samaria)
Hapoel Ihud Bnei Jatt (Sharon)
Shimshon Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv)
A.S. Nordia Jerusalem (Central)
Maccabi Ashdod (South)
(2015–16)
2015–16

Liga Gimel (Hebrew: ליגה ג'‎‎, lit. C League) is the fifth and bottom tier of Israeli football league system, a position it has held since 2009.

Liga Gimel was first established in 1951 as a third division, below Liga Alef and Liga Bet. In 1955, after designating the first tier as Liga Leumit, Liga Gimel was demoted to the fourth tier. Further demotions followed in 1976, after the second tier Liga Artzit to the fifth tier and in 1999, after the establishment of Liga Ha'Al to the sixth tier. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Liga Artzit was scrapped and Liga Gimel was brought up back to the fifth tier.

Although currently Liga Gimel is the bottom tier in the Israeli league pyramid, from 1969–70 and up until the 1984-85 season a further tier, Liga Dalet was below Liga Gimel, until it was scrapped due to declining number of teams.

As of 2015-16 season, Liga Gimel consists of eight divisions of varying size, four in the north and four in the less-populated south, with a total of 111 member clubs.

If they meet criteria laid down by the IFA, the top club from each division is promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Bet (the fourth level). Teams are assigned to their new Liga Bet divisions based on their geographical locations. As it is the lowest division, no clubs are relegated.

The champion of Liga Gimel Upper Galilee is promoted to Liga Bet North A. For the 2015–16 season, the division is composed of:

The champion of Liga Gimel Lower Galilee is promoted to Liga Bet North A. It was formed in 2013-14. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

The champion of Liga Gimel Jezreel is promoted to Liga Bet North B. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

The champion of Liga Gimel Samaria is promoted to Liga Bet North B. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

The champion of Liga Gimel Sharon is promoted to Liga Bet South A. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:


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