2003–04 Israeli Premier League

Israeli Premier League

Season	2003–04
Champions	Maccabi Haifa 8th title
Relegated	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Maccabi Netanya
Top goalscorer	Shay Holtzman / Ofir Haim (16 goals)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

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.

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

Beitar Jerusalem

Bnei Sakhnin

F.C. Ashdod

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Hapoel Petah Tikva

Bnei Yehuda

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth

Maccabi Netanya

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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 Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	021,600
Bnei Yehuda	Bloomfield Stadium	015,700
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Haifa	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	014,002
Bnei Sakhnin[A]
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Vasermil Stadium	013,000
F.C. Ashdod	Yud-Alef Stadium	07,800
Maccabi Netanya	Sar-Tov Stadium	07,500
Maccabi Petah Tikva	Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium	06,800
Hapoel Petah Tikva
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth[A]	Beit She'an Municipal Stadium	03,000

^ ^ 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 (R)	33	8	6	19	40	62	−22	27

Source: futbol24.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

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

See also

• 2003–04 Toto Cup Al