The 1955–56 Liga Leumit season was the first edition of Liga Leumit, which had replaced Liga Alef as the top division of football in Israel and the 17th season of top flight football under the IFA.

Liga Leumit
Season1955-56
ChampionsMaccabi Tel Aviv
8th title
RelegatedHapoel Kfar Saba
Maccabi Rehovot
Matches played132
Goals scored465 (3.52 per match)
Top goalscorerAvraham "Huli" Levi
Michael Michaelov (15)

Maccabi Tel Aviv won the title.[1] Avraham Levi from Beitar Tel Aviv and Michael Michaelov from Hapoel Tel Aviv were the league's joint top scorers with 16 goals each.

Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Rehovot were relegated automatically, whilst Maccabi Jaffa finished third from bottom and entered a promotion/relegation play-off with Liga Alef champions Hakoah Tel Aviv. Jaffa won 4-1 on aggregate and remained in Liga Leumit.[2]

Teams edit

Team Home city Home ground
Beitar Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Basa Stadium
Hapoel Haifa Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Hapoel Kfar Saba Kfar Saba Hapoel Ground, Kfar Saba
Hapoel Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Hapoel Ground, Petah Tikva
Hapoel Ramat Gan Ramat Gan HaMakhtesh Stadium
Hapoel Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Basa Stadium
Maccabi Haifa Haifa Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Maccabi Jaffa Tel Aviv Maccabi Jaffa Ground
Maccabi Netanya Netanya Sar-Tov Stadium
Maccabi Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Maccabi Ground, Petah Tikva
Maccabi Rehovot Rehovot Maccabi Ground, Rehovot
Maccabi Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Basa Stadium

Final table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Maccabi Tel Aviv 22 13 6 3 47 16 2.938 32 Champions
2 Hapoel Petah Tikva 22 12 5 5 54 28 1.929 29
3 Hapoel Tel Aviv 22 12 5 5 49 29 1.690 29
4 Maccabi Petah Tikva 22 10 7 5 43 34 1.265 27
5 Maccabi Haifa 22 11 3 8 53 27 1.963 25
6 Hapoel Haifa 22 9 4 9 32 39 0.821 22
7 Beitar Tel Aviv 22 10 0 12 41 48 0.854 20
8 Maccabi Netanya 22 9 2 11 31 44 0.705 20
9 Hapoel Ramat Gan 22 9 0 13 28 42 0.667 18
10 Maccabi Jaffa 22 6 5 11 39 44 0.886 17 Relegation Playoffs
11 Maccabi Rehovot 22 6 1 15 25 62 0.403 13 Relegated to Liga Alef
12 Hapoel Kfar Saba 22 3 6 13 20 48 0.417 12
Source: Davar (in Hebrew)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio 3) goals scored.

Results edit

Home \ Away BTA HHA HKS HPT HRG HTA MHA MJA MNE MPT MRV MTA
Beitar Tel Aviv 2–3 0–3 1–2 1–0 0–5 1–6 4–0 2–0 2–3 6–3 1–2
Hapoel Haifa 1–3 3–0 1–0 2–3 2–2 0–0 3–1 3–2 3–2 3–0 0–3
Hapoel Kfar Saba 2–0 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–5 1–4 0–0 0–2 1–1 0–0 0–1
Hapoel Petah Tikva 2–0 2–2 4–0 3–0 1–2 1–3 4–2 6–0 3–1 3–0 1–1
Hapoel Ramat Gan 0–3 1–0 3–1 2–5 0–1 0–1 2–5 4–2 0–3 3–2 1–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv 3–1 5–1 0–0 1–0 2–0 0–2 0–1 2–0 2–0 7–1 3–0
Maccabi Haifa 4–2 5–0 1–2 1–2 3–0 2–2 5–1 0–2 1–3 5–0 1–3
Maccabi Jaffa 2–4 1–2 4–1 3–3 2–1 2–2 3–2 2–3 1–1 6–1 0–2
Maccabi Netanya 1–0 3–1 3–3 1–3 0–3 1–2 3–1 2–0 0–0 2–1 2–1
Maccabi Petah Tikva 0–3 1–1 7–1 4–4 3–1 4–4 2–0 2–0 4–1 1–0 3–3
Maccabi Rehovot 1–0 1–0 3–2 0–3 1–2 3–2 0–3 3–1 3–1 1–2 0–7
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–3 2–0 0–0 1–1 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 2–0 5–1
Source: Davar (in Hebrew)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round edit

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 ╲ Round12345678910111213141516171819202122
Maccabi Tel Aviv5665457664312233332111
Hapoel Petah Tikva3423211223244321113432
Hapoel Tel Aviv1111333332431112221223
Maccabi Petah Tikva5332122111123444454344
Maccabi Haifa10576564456556555545555
Hapoel Haifa3889775777765677666666
Beitar Tel Aviv2244646545677766777787
Maccabi Netanya 591010121210898888888888878
Hapoel Ramat Gan1275789111210910119999999999
Maccabi Jaffa1012121211108981191010101011111111101010
Maccabi Rehovot9119898910121011911111110101010111111
Hapoel Kfar Saba5101111101112111112121212121212121212121212
Source: [1]

Top goalscorers edit

Pos Player Club Goals
1 Avraham "Huli" Levi Beitar Tel Aviv 15
Michael Michaelov Hapoel Tel Aviv
3 Baruch Cohen Maccabi Jaffa 14
Boaz Kofman Hapoel Petah Tikva
Shlomo Levi Maccabi Haifa
6 Nahum Stelmach Hapoel Petah Tikva 13
Eliezer Spiegel Maccabi Petah Tikva
8 Itzhak Kirschenberg Hapoel Ramat Gan 11
10 Rehavia Rosenbaum Hapoel Tel Aviv 10
Jonny Hardy Maccabi Haifa
Boghos Ghougasian Maccabi Jaffa

References edit

  1. ^ Maccabi T.A. Won the Liga Leumit Championship After Beating Hapoel T.A. 3:0 (1:0) Davar, 3 June 1956, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
  2. ^ Maccabi Jaffa Beat Hakoah T.A. 1:0 and Remained Among the 10 Leumit Clubs Davar, 17 June 1956, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)