1954–55 Liga Alef

The 1954–55 Liga Alef season was the last in which it was the Israel's top football league, as the following season it was replaced by Liga Leumit[1] and became the country's second tier. It consisted of 14 clubs, the 12 from the top division in the previous season and two promoted clubs (Hapoel Hadera and Beitar Jerusalem). It used two points for a win and one for a draw.

Liga Alef
Season1954-55
ChampionsHapoel Petah Tikva
1st title
RelegatedBeitar Jerusalem
Hapoel Hadera
Hapoel Balfouria
Matches played182
Goals scored676 (3.71 per match)
Top goalscorerNisim Elmaliah (30)

The title was won by Hapoel Petah Tikva, the club's first championship, whilst Hapoel Hadera and Hapoel Balfouria (who had finished bottom the previous season) were relegated automatically. Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Kfar Saba took part in the promotion/relegation play-offs with the top two clubs from Liga Bet, in which Kfar Saba retained their place in the top division, but Beitar were relegated.

Final table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
1 Hapoel Petah Tikva 26 18 4 4 68 23 2.957 40 Champions
2 Maccabi Tel Aviv 26 17 4 5 84 28 3.000 38
3 Hapoel Tel Aviv 26 12 9 5 49 23 2.130 33
4 Maccabi Netanya 26 13 7 6 54 43 1.256 33
5 Beitar Tel Aviv 26 12 5 9 64 47 1.362 29
6 Maccabi Haifa 26 11 6 9 54 41 1.317 28
7 Maccabi Petah Tikva 26 10 7 9 37 41 0.902 27
8 Maccabi Rehovot 26 11 4 11 49 48 1.021 26
9 Hapoel Haifa 26 9 6 11 40 55 0.727 24
10 Hapoel Ramat Gan 26 10 3 13 35 41 0.854 23
11 Beitar Jerusalem 26 8 5 13 37 59 0.627 21 Relegation Playoffs
12 Hapoel Kfar Saba 26 6 6 14 38 46 0.826 18
13 Hapoel Hadera 26 7 2 17 36 53 0.679 16 Relegated to Liga Bet
14 Hapoel Balfouria 26 3 2 21 32 129 0.248 8
Source: 100 Years of Football 1906-2006, Elisha Shohat (Israel), 2006

Results
Home \ Away BEI BTA BLF HHD HHA HKS HPT HRG HTA MHA MNE MPT MRV MTA
Beitar Jerusalem — 3–3 6–1 4–2 3–0 1–0 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 1–4 1–1 4–3 1–4
Beitar Tel Aviv 4–0 — 6–1 4–1 4–2 1–1 2–1 3–0 1–1 0–2 2–1 3–0 2–5 1–3
Hapoel Balfouria 4–2 1–8 — 3–1 2–1 4–4 1–5 1–3 0–2 0–6 2–4 0–3 0–1 2–9
Hapoel Hadera 2–0 2–5 5–1 — 0–1 3–1 0–3 2–0 0–1 1–3 0–1 2–0 4–2 1–2
Hapoel Haifa 1–1 1–0 3–1 2–2 — 3–1 3–9 2–0 0–4 4–0 1–1 3–0[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 1–2
Hapoel Kfar Saba 0–1 1–3 6–1 4–1 1–2 — 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–2 2–2 0–0
Hapoel Petah Tikva 2–0 4–0 13–2 3–1 3–1 1–1 — 0–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 3–0 2–1
Hapoel Ramat Gan 3–1 1–1 6–0 2–0 2–2 4–3 0–1 — 1–0 0–1 0–3 5–0 0–0 1–4
Hapoel Tel Aviv 1–1 3–0 8–1 2–0 1–0 0–2 0–1 2–0 — 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 2–1
Maccabi Haifa 5–0 1–1 1–1 3–2 4–1 2–1 1–3 1–3 0–3 — 6–2 0–1 4–0 1–3
Maccabi Netanya 3–2 3–1 6–1 0–1 2–2 1–2 0–3[lower-alpha 2] 5–1 3–2 4–4 — 2–2 1–0 2–2
Maccabi Petah Tikva 2–0 4–2 2–1 1–1 3–0 5–4 1–1 1–0 1–4 3–3 0–1 — 0–2 2–1
Maccabi Rehovot 4–0 2–7 6–1 4–2 2–3 4–0 1–3 1–0 1–4 3–2 0–1 1–0 — 2–1
Maccabi Tel Aviv 6–0 3–0[lower-alpha 3] 12–0 1–0 6–0 2–1 2–1 6–0 2–2 1–2 6–1 2–2 2–1 —
Source: 100 Years of Football 1906-2006, Elisha Shohat (Israel), 2006
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. The match was abandoned at the 49th minute with Hapoel Haifa leading 2–0 as Maccabi Petah Tikva player Mordechai Lebe was sent off and refused to leave the pitch. The match was given as a walkover to Hapoel Haifa.[2]
  2. The match was abandoned at the 80th minute with Hapoel Petah Tikva leading 1–3 as Maccabi Netanya supporters attacked the referee after he allowed a goal for Hapoel Petah Tikva which was thought to be an offside. The match was given as a walkover to Hapoel Petah Tikva.[3]
  3. The match was abandoned at the 37th minute with Maccabi Tel Aviv leading 2–0 as Beitar Tel Aviv player Ya'akov Gambash was sent off and refused to leave the pitch. The match was given as a walkover to Maccabi Tel Aviv.[4]

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 17.

Team ╲ Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526
Hapoel Petah Tikva34331111111111111122222111
Maccabi Tel Aviv52223222222222222211111222
Hapoel Tel Aviv21112333544555333333333333
Maccabi Netanya91113141313121010810877788777765444
Beitar Tel Aviv13544654333344555544446765
Maccabi Haifa111212121212131312139111110867666654556
Maccabi Petah Tikva1114106101075455433444455577677
Maccabi Rehovot57810998911121313131313131311119988888
Hapoel Haifa7668756777778991091010101091111109
Hapoel Ramat Gan14991181111891181012121211109911111099910
Beitar Jerusalem710791181012810129108111212131312121110101111
Hapoel Kfar Saba3545544666666667688881212121212
Hapoel Hadera13811767911139111291110911121213131313131313
Hapoel Balfouria913141314141414141414141414141414141414141414141414
Champions
Qualification to relegation play-offs
Relegation to 1955–56 Liga Bet
Source:

Top goalscorers
Pos Player Club Goals
1 Nisim Elmaliah Beitar Tel Aviv 30
2 Nahum Stelmach Hapoel Petah Tikva 27
3 Yehoshua Glazer Maccabi Tel Aviv 26
4 Simon Elfasi Beitar Jerusalem 16
Itzhak Caspi Maccabi Netanya
Avraham "Huli" Levi Beitar Tel Aviv
Moshe Litvak Maccabi Rehovot
8 Boaz Kofman Hapoel Petah Tikva 15
9 Max Cohen Maccabi Netanya 14
Zvi Studinski Maccabi Tel Aviv
Rehavia Rosenbaum Hapoel Tel Aviv

Source:[5]

Promotion-relegation play-off

A promotion-relegation play-off between the 12th and 11th-placed teams in Liga Alef, Hapoel Kfar Saba and Beitar Jerusalem, and the winners of the regional divisions of Liga Bet, Maccabi Jaffa and Hapoel Kiryat Haim. Each team played the other three once.

22 October 1955 Hapoel Kfar Saba 3–1 Beitar Jerusalem Netanya
Avrutski 5'
Ratz 26'
Glazer 33'		 Report (p. 8) 7' Elfasi Stadium: Sar-Tov Stadium
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Reuven Frizner
22 October 1955 Maccabi Jaffa 4–1 Hapoel Kiryat Haim Petah Tikva
Aroyo 36'
Miranda 78', 84'
B. Cohen 79'		 Report (p. 8) 34' Handler Stadium: Maccabi Ground
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Aharon Werner
29 October 1955 Hapoel Kiryat Haim 3–2 Beitar Jerusalem Petah Tikva
Handler 14', 40'
Havinski 25'		 Report (p. 8) 6' Zion
29' Elfasi		 Stadium: Hapoel Ground
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Arie Ben-Rubi
29 October 1955 Hapoel Kfar Saba 1–1 Maccabi Jaffa Haifa
Glazer 58' Report (p. 8) 59' B. Cohen Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Avraham Sher
5 November 1955 Hapoel Kiryat Haim 1–1 Hapoel Kfar Saba Netanya
Hayat 47' Report (p. 8) 78' Morovich Stadium: Sar-Tov Stadium
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Reuven Frizner
5 November 1955 Maccabi Jaffa 3–0 Beitar Jerusalem Haifa
B. Cohen 34'
Miranda 41'
Kalev 53'		 Report (p. 8) Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Nahman Cohen

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
1 Maccabi Jaffa 3 2 1 0 8 2 4.000 5 Placed in Liga Leumit
2 Hapoel Kfar Saba 3 1 2 0 5 3 1.667 4
3 Hapoel Kiryat Haim 3 1 1 1 5 7 0.714 3 Placed in Liga Alef
4 Beitar Jerusalem 3 0 0 3 3 9 0.333 0
Updated to match(es) played on 15 October 1955. Source: 100 Years of Football 1906-2006, Elisha Shohat (Israel), 2006

References
  1. League resumes in Saturday Heruth, 2.9.55, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
  2. A Surprising Win for Hapoel Haifa in 49 Minutes Hadshot HaSport, 12 June 1955, p. 8 (in Hebrew)
  3. The Fight in Netanya was Stopped by a brawl Hadshot HaSport, 27 February 1955, p. 8 (in Hebrew)
  4. A Major Outrage in a Shortened Tel Aviv Derby Hadshot HaSport, 5 June 1955, p. 8 (in Hebrew)
  5. Nisim Elmaliah – Top Scorer 2 Dear Points, Izhar Brener, Pirsumei Sport, 1955, p. 20 (in Hebrew)
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