2003–04 Israeli Premier League

The 2003–04 Israeli Premier League season was held between 13 September 2003 and 22 May 2004. For the first time, there were two Israeli Arab clubs in the top division; Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and Bnei Sakhnin.

Israeli Premier League
Season2003–04
ChampionsMaccabi Haifa
8th title
RelegatedMaccabi Ahi Nazareth
Maccabi Netanya
Top goalscorerShay Holtzman
Ofir Haim (16)

Maccabi Haifa won the title, whilst Nazareth and Maccabi Netanya were relegated. Bnei Sakhnin (who qualified for Europe by winning the State Cup) became the first Arab club to spend more than a single season in the top flight.

Teams and Locations
Locations of the 2003–04 Israeli Premier League teams

Twelve teams took part in the 2003-04 Israeli Premier League season, including ten teams from the 2002-03 season, as well as two teams which were promoted from the 2002-03 Liga Leumit.

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth were promoted as champions of the 2002-03 Liga Leumit. Bnei Sakhnin were promoted as runners up. Both Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and Bnei Sakhnin made their debut in the top flight.

Hapoel Kfar Saba and Ironi Rishon LeZion were relegated after finishing in the bottom two places in the 2002-03 season.

Club Stadium Capacity
Beitar JerusalemTeddy Stadium021,600
Bnei YehudaBloomfield Stadium015,700
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi HaifaKiryat Eliezer Stadium014,002
Bnei Sakhnin[A]
Hapoel Be'er ShevaVasermil Stadium013,000
F.C. AshdodYud-Alef Stadium07,800
Maccabi NetanyaSar-Tov Stadium07,500
Maccabi Petah TikvaPetah Tikva Municipal Stadium06,800
Hapoel Petah Tikva
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth[A]Beit She'an Municipal Stadium03,000

^ ^ The club played their home games at a neutral venue because their own ground did not meet Premier League requirements.

Beitar Jerusalem Bnei Yehuda
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv		 Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Teddy Stadium
 Bloomfield Stadium
 Vasermil Stadium
Maccabi Haifa
Bnei Sakhnin		 Maccabi Petah Tikva
Hapoel Petah Tikva		 F.C. Ashdod
Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
 Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium Yud-Alef Stadium
Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Ahi Nazareth
Sar-Tov Stadium Beit She'an Municipal Stadium

Final table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Maccabi Haifa (C) 33 19 6 8 54 25 +29 63 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2 Maccabi Tel Aviv 33 16 9 8 35 22 +13 57 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3 Maccabi Petah Tikva 33 16 8 9 49 35 +14 56 Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round
4 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 33 16 7 10 48 36 +12 55 Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round
5 Hapoel Tel Aviv 33 13 10 10 48 37 +11 49
6 Bnei Yehuda 33 12 9 12 34 42 −8 45
7 F.C. Ashdod 33 11 9 13 47 49 −2 42
8 Hapoel Petah Tikva 33 11 9 13 46 52 −6 42
9 Beitar Jerusalem 33 10 9 14 32 42 −10 39
10 Bnei Sakhnin 33 8 11 14 31 38 −7 35 Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round
11 Maccabi Netanya (R) 33 8 7 18 28 52 −24 31 Relegated to Liga Leumit
12 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth[lower-alpha 1] (R) 33 8 6 19 40 62 −22 27
Source: futbol24.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Deducted 3 points

Results

First and second round
Home \ Away BEI BnS BnY ASH HBS HPT HTA MAN MHA MNE MPT MTA
Beitar Jerusalem — 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 1–1 4–1 1–0 0–0 3–2 1–0
Bnei Sakhnin 0–2 — 2–3 1–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–1 2–1 0–0 1–1
Bnei Yehuda 1–1 0–1 — 2–1 0–1 3–3 1–1 2–0 1–2 2–0 1–0 0–0
F.C. Ashdod 2–1 1–0 1–2 — 1–2 2–0 3–3 3–5 1–1 4–0 3–2 0–2
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2–0 2–1 0–0 4–0 — 0–1 0–0 1–2 2–2 2–0 2–1 0–0
Hapoel Petah Tikva 3–3 0–0 1–0 3–1 2–1 — 1–1 3–1 3–1 4–0 1–1 1–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv 4–1 0–1 3–0 3–0 3–0 3–0 — 1–0 0–0 2–0 1–0 0–2
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 2–1 0–4 1–2 2–2 2–2 3–3 0–2 — 0–2 2–0 0–1 0–1
Maccabi Haifa 4–0 1–0 3–0 0–0 3–2 0–2 1–0 4–1 — 4–0 0–0 0–1
Maccabi Netanya 1–0 0–1 3–3 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–2 1–2 4–3 — 3–0 0–1
Maccabi Petah Tikva 1–0 2–1 0–0 4–1 1–2 4–1 2–1 2–0 0–2 0–0 — 2–2
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–1 2–2 0–2 0–1 1–3 3–0 3–0 2–0 0–3 1–0 0–2 —
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round
Home \ Away BEI BnS BnY ASH HBS HPT HTA MAN MHA MNE MPT MTA
Beitar Jerusalem — — — 0–3 — 1–0 3–2 — 0–1 — 2–4 —
Bnei Sakhnin 0–0 — 1–1 — 0–1 — — — — 0–1 — 0–0
Bnei Yehuda 2–0 — — — 1–6 — — 0–2 — 1–0 0–1 1–0
F.C. Ashdod — 4–1 3–0 — 1–1 — — — — 2–1 — 1–1
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 0–1 — — — — 0–0 3–2 2–1 — 2–1 1–3 —
Hapoel Petah Tikva — 1–3 1–2 0–3 — — 2–2 4–1 0–2 — — —
Hapoel Tel Aviv — 2–2 2–1 1–0 — — — 3–2 1–0 — — 0–1
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 0–0 1–0 — 3–0 — — — — — 2–2 2–3 —
Maccabi Haifa — 4–1 2–0 1–1 3–1 — — 3–1 — — — 0–1
Maccabi Netanya 1–1 — — — — 1–3 2–0 — 1–0 — 0–3 —
Maccabi Petah Tikva — 2–1 — 2–2 — 2–1 2–1 — 0–1 — — —
Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0 — — — 1–0 3–0 — 1–1 — 2–0 0–0 —
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goal scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Israel Shay Holtzman F.C. Ashdod 16
Israel Ofir Haim Hapoel Be'er Sheva 16
3 Israel Assi Tubi Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 13
Israel Manor Hassan Hapoel Petah Tikva 13
Israel Omer Golan Maccabi Petah Tikva 13
6 Croatia Tomislav Erceg Hapoel Petah Tikva 12
7 Croatia Mate Baturina Bnei Yehuda 11
Nigeria Ibezito Ogbonna Hapoel Tel Aviv 11
9 Israel Lior Asulin Bnei Sakhnin 10
Brazil Gustavo Boccoli Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 10

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.