The 1996–97 Liga Leumit season saw Beitar Jerusalem win their third title. Hapoel Tayibe (the first Arab club to play in the top flight since the establishment of Israel) and Tzafririm Holon were relegated to Liga Artzit. Motti Kakoun of Hapoel Petah Tikva was the league's top scorer with 20 goals.

Liga Leumit
Season1996–97
ChampionsBeitar Jerusalem
3rd title
RelegatedHapoel Tayibe
Tzafririm Holon
Top goalscorerMotti Kakoun (20)

Final table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Beitar Jerusalem (C) 30 21 6 3 62 20 +42 69 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Hapoel Petah Tikva 30 18 6 6 57 37 +20 60 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 30 19 3 8 44 25 +19 60 Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
4 Maccabi Petah Tikva 30 14 10 6 39 22 +17 52 Qualification for the Intertoto Cup group stage
5 Maccabi Haifa 30 13 9 8 48 34 +14 48
6 Maccabi Tel Aviv 30 13 7 10 47 34 +13 46
7 Hapoel Haifa 30 12 7 11 34 33 +1 43
8 Hapoel Kfar Saba 30 11 7 12 34 39 −5 40
9 Ironi Rishon LeZion 30 11 7 12 35 47 −12 40
10 Bnei Yehuda 30 10 8 12 32 40 −8 38
11 Hapoel Beit She'an 30 9 7 14 29 34 −5 34
12 Hapoel Jerusalem 30 9 7 14 30 41 −11 34
13 Hapoel Tel Aviv 30 8 9 13 29 32 −3 33
14 Maccabi Herzliya 30 9 5 16 19 28 −9 32
15 Tzafririm Holon (R) 30 4 9 17 17 43 −26 21 Relegation to Liga Artzit
16 Hapoel Tayibe (R) 30 4 3 23 19 66 −47 15
Source: [citation needed]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results edit

Home \ Away BEI BnY HBS BTS HHA HJE HKS HPT HTY HTA IRZ MHA MHE MPT MTA TZH
Beitar Jerusalem 0–0 0–1 1–0 3–1 2–1 2–1 3–0 5–0 3–0 1–1 0–2 1–0 3–0 1–0 5–0
Bnei Yehuda 1–3 0–2 0–0 2–0 2–0 2–2 1–3 2–0 0–0 2–2 2–1 0–1 1–4 2–1 1–0
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 1–3 3–0 2–0 0–2 3–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 2–0 2–2 1–4 2–1
Hapoel Beit She'an 2–3 0–1 2–1 3–0 1–2 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–1 1–3 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0
Hapoel Haifa 1–1 2–2 0–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 0–2 2–0 2–0 0–3 0–2 1–1 1–1 3–1 0–2
Hapoel Jerusalem 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–3 1–1 1–0 2–1 2–1 0–1 1–2 0–4 2–1
Hapoel Kfar Saba 0–1 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–0 0–0 3–3 2–1 0–0 3–0 1–5 2–1 1–0 1–2 0–2
Hapoel Petah Tikva 2–1 4–2 2–0 1–2 0–0 3–1 3–1 3–0 1–0 4–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 3–0
Hapoel Tayibe 0–3 1–1 0–3 1–0 3–2 2–4 0–3 2–4 0–4 0–1 2–4 1–0 0–2 1–5 1–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv 1–4 4–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 6–2 2–0 0–0 1–3 0–2 0–0 2–1 2–1
Ironi Rishon LeZion 0–2 2–1 2–1 1–0 0–4 2–3 1–1 0–1 3–1 0–2 2–2 1–0 0–6 2–1 2–0
Maccabi Haifa 0–2 2–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 4–1 5–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 1–3 1–1 3–1
Maccabi Herzliya 1–1 0–1 1–2 2–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–3 1–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–0
Maccabi Petah Tikva 0–3 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–0 0–0 1–1
Maccabi Tel Aviv 3–3 2–1 2–1 1–2 0–0 0–2 1–2 2–1 2–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–3 6–0
Tzafririm Holon 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–3
Source: [citation needed]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers edit

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Moti Kakoun Hapoel Petah Tikva 20
2   Alon Mizrahi Bnei Yehuda 18
3   Ofer Shitrit Maccabi Petah Tikva 15
4   Eli Ohana Beitar Jerusalem 14
  Itzik Zohar Beitar Jerusalem 14
6   Hezi Shirazi Maccabi Haifa 13
7   Avi Nimni Maccabi Tel Aviv 12
  Yaniv Ofri Hapoel Petah Tikva 12
9   Shay Holtzman Hapoel Beer Sheva 11
10   Yaniv Abargil Hapoel Kfar Saba 10
  István Sallói Beitar Jerusalem 10

References edit