In the 1920s several Arab clubs (Dajani Sports Club of Jerusalem, several Orthodox clubs) were established; by the start of the 1930s, there were about 20.
In 1921 a first league was formed, the Government Department League, which only operated in Jerusalem; it only lasted until 1925 due to reduction of the British personnel in the various departments. The Al-Zahra league, which initially included a few Jewish clubs was joined by Rawdat al Ma'aref and Arab Sports Club in 1923. A number of cup competitions were also played; in Jerusalem these included one operated by The Sports Club between 1924 and 1927 (when Royal Air Force won the trophy outright), the Jerusalem Flower Cup (first held in 1923 with as participants Rawdat al Ma'arif, YMCA, Arab SC, Shell, Ofir and Hanoar Haoved) and the Municipal Cup competition.
Note that the Palestine FA was formed in 1928; in 1929 a report submitted to FIFA described 3 soccer divisions in Palestine: 10 teams in the first, 20 in the second (5 of them Arab), and 39 in the third (6 of them Arab); however, apparently no official league championship was played until the 1932 edition (there were cup competitions 1928-1930; some sources credit Maccabi Hashmonai Jerusalem with a 1928 championship title but that may refer to the controversial cup competition of that year).
See also the list of final tables and Palestine - List of Champions and Cup Winners.
Champions marked with D won the double.
1931/32 D British Police [1]
1932/33 no championship
1933/34 D Hapoel Tel-Aviv
1934/35 abandoned [2]
1935/36 Maccabi Tel-Aviv [3]
1936/37 Maccabi Tel-Aviv
1937/38 abandoned [4]
1938/39 no championship [5]
1939/40 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
1940/41 no championship [6]
1941/42 Maccabi Tel-Aviv
1942/43 not finished [7]
1943/44 Hapoel Tel-Aviv [8]
1944/45 no championship [9]
1945/46 no championship
1946/47 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv
[1] after a scandal which involved the annulment of a 1-0 by Hapoel
Haifa, apparently against British Police; championship had 9
participants.
[2] the 1934/35 championship was abandoned with Hapoel Tel-Aviv
leading the standings; earlier sources credited them with winnning
the title, but they were not declared champions by the PFA at the
time.
[3] IFA earlier listed Hapoel Tel-Aviv as champions, but this was a
mistake, meanwhile as such acknowledged by the IFA.
[4] the league was abandoned due to the Arab revolt long before the
end of the season; some sources credit Hapoel Tel-Aviv with the
championship but this is incorrect as other clubs could still
overtake them in the table and the PFA did not declare them champions.
[5] no national championship was held; the Tel-Aviv district league was
won by Maccabi Tel-Aviv, that of Jerusalem by Police Depot; the
champions of Haifa are not known.
[6] no national championship was held; there were separate competitions
for Hapoel clubs (won by Hapoel Tel-Aviv) and for Maccabi and Beitar
clubs (won by Maccabi Avshalom Petah-Tikva); in addition there were
regional leagues in Jerusalem and in the northern region.
[7] in 1942/43, three regional leagues were played, in Haifa, Jerusalem
and Tel-Aviv; the Haifa league was abandoned while the champions of
Jerusalem (Homenetmen) and Tel-Aviv (Maccabi Tel-Aviv) were to play
off for the championship; Homenetmen refused to enter and Maccabi
were declared champions; this championship is apparently not
considered official by the IFA.
[8] the 1943/44 championship was abandoned with about two dozen matches
left to play; leaders Hapoel Tel-Aviv were declared champions.
[9] there were two regional leagues: the southern district championship
was won by Beitar Tel-Aviv, the northern district by Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
[*] according to new research published at the end of 2002; previous IFA
records had Hapoel Tel-Aviv as 1936 and 1938 champions and Maccabi
Tel-Aviv as 1939 champions; district leagues were played in 1938 and
1939 with as Tel-Aviv winners Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1938 (played in 2nd half
of year) and 2nd half of 1939) and Maccabi Tel-Aviv (1st half of 1939).
1948/49 no championship
1949/50 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 24 21 1 2 103-18 43
1950/51 no championship
1951/52 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 22 18 2 2 89-18 38
1952/53 no championship
1953/54 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 22 16 6 0 59-11 38
1954/55 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 26 18 4 4 68-23 40
1955/56 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 22 13 6 3 47-16 32
1956/57 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 18 13 2 3 41-19 28
1957/58 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 22 13 9 0 50-12 35
1958/59 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 22 15 3 4 49-18 33
1959/60 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 22 14 3 5 65-29 31
1960/61 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 22 16 4 2 48-15 36
1961/62 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 22 12 4 6 35-19 28
1962/63 Hapoel Petah-Tikva 22 13 6 3 38-17 32
1963/64 Hapoel Ramat-Gan 28 17 6 5 52-33 40
1964/65 Hakoah Maccabi Ramat-Gan 30 13 11 6 42-24 37
1965/66 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 30 12 14 4 36-23 38
1966-68 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 60 30 18 12 88-50 78
1968/69 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 30 19 6 5 55-21 44
1969/70 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 15 9 6 51-21 39
1970/71 Maccabi Netanya 30 20 7 3 44-18 47
1971/72 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 18 9 3 45-20 45
1972/73 Hakoah Maccabi Ramat-Gan 30 16 10 4 41-20 42
1973/74 Maccabi Netanya 30 13 11 6 32-19 37
1974/75 Hapoel Beer-Sheva 30 15 10 5 34-19 40
1975/76 Hapoel Beer-Sheva 34 14 14 6 40-29 42
1976/77 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 16 10 4 47-26 42
1977/78 D Maccabi Netanya 26 15 8 3 50-21 38
1978/79 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 18 8 4 47-16 33
1979/80 Maccabi Netanya 30 19 8 3 53-23 46
1980/81 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 30 13 12 5 50-30 38
1981/82 Hapoel Kfar-Saba 30 17 8 5 45-28 42
1982/83 Maccabi Netanya 30 18 7 5 54-31 61
1983/84 Maccabi Haifa 30 16 9 5 48-28 57
1984/85 Maccabi Haifa 30 20 5 5 57-20 65
1985/86 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 30 17 8 5 52-26 59
1986/87 Beitar Jerusalem 30 19 9 2 59-27 66
1987/88 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 33 19 9 5 43-23 66
1988/89 Maccabi Haifa 31 15 14 2 49-19 57
1989/90 Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 32 17 11 4 48-24 62
1990/91 D Maccabi Haifa 32 22 5 5 56-28 71
1991/92 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 32 23 6 3 82-29 75
1992/93 Beitar Jerusalem 33 22 5 6 64-38 71
1993/94 Maccabi Haifa 39 28 11 0 97-27 95
1994/95 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 19 6 5 59-27 63
1995/96 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 30 23 5 2 59-16 74
1996/97 Beitar Jerusalem 30 21 6 3 62-20 69
1997/98 Beitar Jerusalem 30 20 9 1 71-33 69
1998/99 Hapoel Haifa 30 22 5 3 66-23 71
1999/00 D Hapoel Tel-Aviv 39 26 7 6 76-28 85
2000/01 Maccabi Haifa 38 24 10 4 68-28 82
2001/02 Maccabi Haifa 33 22 9 2 72-32 75
2002/03 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 33 22 3 8 66-31 69
2003/04 Maccabi Haifa 33 19 6 8 54-25 63
2004/05 Maccabi Haifa 33 21 8 4 66-27 71
2005/06 Maccabi Haifa 33 23 6 4 65-25 75
2006/07 Beitar Jerusalem 33 19 10 4 52-24 67
2007/08 D Beitar Jerusalem 33 20 7 6 61-23 67
2008/09 Maccabi Haifa 33 19 10 4 49-24 67
2009/10 D Hapoel Tel-Aviv 35 25 9 1 87-26 49
2010/11 Maccabi Haifa 35 24 8 3 63-28 45
2011/12 Hap. Ironi Kiriat Shmona 37 21 10 6 48-26 73
2012/13 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 36 25 5 6 78-30 80
2013/14 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 36 26 6 4 76-30 84
2014/15 D Maccabi Tel-Aviv 36 21 9 6 67-32 70 [-2]
2015/16 Hapoel Beer-Sheva 36 25 8 3 66-24 83
2016/17 Hapoel Beer-Sheva 36 26 7 3 73-18 85
2017/18 Hapoel Beer-Sheva 36 24 8 4 70-27 80
2018/19 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 36 27 8 1 77-17 92
2019/20 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 36 26 9 1 63-10 87
2020/21 Maccabi Haifa 36 24 7 5 72-29 79
2021/22 Maccabi Haifa 36 24 6 6 79-27 78
Number of Titles (78)
23 Maccabi Tel-Aviv [includes 4 before 1948]
14 Maccabi Haifa
11 Hapoel Tel-Aviv [includes 3 before 1948]
6 Beitar Jerusalem
Hapoel Petah-Tikva
5 Hapoel Beer-Sheva
Maccabi Netanya
2 Hakoah Ramat-Gan
1 Bnei-Yehuda Tel Aviv
British Police [before 1948]
Hapoel Haifa
Hapoel Kfar-Sava
Hapoel Ironi Kiriat Shmona
Hapoel Ramat-Gan
Partial source: [Sho 06] (thanks to Elisha Shohat)
Prepared and maintained by Yaniv Bleicher for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Yaniv Bleicher
(yanivbl@hotmail.com)
Last updated: 25 May 2022
(C) Copyright Yaniv Bleicher and RSSSF 1995/2022
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.