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2 unusual facts about Israeli Premier League


HaShidur HaMefutzal

On 2 March 2002, a football match was played between Maccabi Haifa (then at the top of the Israeli Premier League) and Maccabi Kiryat Gat (then at the bottom of the same league).

Rostam Bastuni

In 1963, his nephew, Hassan Boustouni, became the first Arab to play in the top tier of the Israeli Premier League when he debuted with Maccabi Haifa F.C..


2007–08 Israel State Cup

The final was held at the Ramat Gan Stadium on May 13, 2008.
The runner-up qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup since Beitar Jerusalem won the Israeli Premier League and earned a spot in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League.

Bryan Gerzicich

Bryan Gerzicich (born March 20, 1984) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League.

Izhak Nash

In 2012, he signed with Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. and become the second Circassian player ever at the Israeli Premier League (after Bibras Natkho).

Kiryat Shmona

Kiryat Shmona is the smallest city in Israel with a top flight football club, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona.

Leonard Krupnik

After leaving Maccabi Herzliya, Krupnik joined Bnei Sakhnin for the second half of the 2006–07 season and helped the club gain promotion to the Israeli Premier League.

Mehdi Zeffane

Zeffane then made his debut for the senior Lyon team on 6 December 2012 in the Europa League against Israeli Premier League side Ironi Kiryat Shmona at the Stade de Gerland in which he played the whole 90 minutes and assisted on Lyon's second goal of the night from Yassine Benzia in the 58th minute as Lyon ran out 2–0 winners.

Meni Levi

Levi scored his first goal in the Israeli Premier League on October 12, 2001; in the 90th minute of a match against Hapoel Petach Tikva in Bloomfield Stadium.

Miguel Hoyos

Miguel Ángel Hoyos Guzmán (born March 11, 1981 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra) in a Bolivian football defender who was last contracted for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League, but he is currently playing for LPFB side Oriente Petrolero.

Ohad Levita

Levita played for local side Hapoel Kfar Saba, making his first team debut at the age of seventeen in the Israeli Premier League match against F.C. Ashdod.

Serghei Cleșcenco

It was one of the most successful starts ever for a foreigner in Israel as he bagged 22 goals in his first season topping the record set by Polish striker Andrzej Kubica for most goals scored by a foreigner in Israel in a single season.

Shai Haddad

He made his premier league debut on 30 May 2008, coming on as a substitute in a match against Bnei Sakhnin.


see also

Ismail Abdul Razak

The team stayed in the first level of Israeli football and played in the Israeli Premier League again in the 2010–11 season.

Meni Levi

On January 26, 2002 during an Israeli Premier League match against Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium, Levi suddenly collapsed in the middle of the pitch, away from the run of play.