Liga Leumit (Israel)

Liga Leumit (Liga Leumit) - Israel’s second-tier professional men’s club league, organized under the Israel Football Association. Regulations: the competition features 16 clubs and is run as a league with a playoff phase, first playing a double round-robin where every team meets all others home and away, then splitting into an Upper Playoff for teams placed 1-8 and a Lower Playoff for teams placed 9-16, with each playoff played as a single round and home-match priority in the playoff schedule based on the standings after the double round-robin. Teams receive 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss, and level teams are ranked by goal difference, then by number of wins, then by goals scored, if still level the same criteria are applied only to the matches between the tied teams, and if a final decision is required for promotion or relegation a single decider is played at a neutral venue under cup rules with extra time and penalties if needed. After the Upper Playoff, the teams finishing 1st and 2nd are promoted to the Israeli Premier League (Ligat ha'Al). After the Lower Playoff, the teams finishing 15th and 16th are relegated to Liga Alef, while the 14th-placed team plays a neutral-venue relegation playoff against the winner of an additional qualifier between the Liga Alef North and Liga Alef South runners-up, with the winner earning a place in Liga Leumit for the next season.