Israel - Liga Leumit

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The Liga Leumit is the second division Israeli soccer league competition, sitting behind the Israeli Premier League. The tournament was founded in 1955 but was the top-flight competition until the introduction of the Premier League in the 1999–2000 season, thus resulting in its demotion to second-tier status.

A total of 16 teams contest for the title, playing out your typical round-robin league format. The campaign is split into two phases: the regular season and the promotion/relegation playoffs. Each team plays a total of 30 games during the regular season, with the top eight teams in the standings moving on to the promotion playoff and the bottom eight dropping into the relegation playoff.

During the promotion playoff, the eight teams face off in a single round-robin tournament, meaning each club faces the other seven once. The points they rack up during this phase are added to their original tally from the regular season. The team with the highest total points from both the regular season and the promotion playoff are crowned champions while the top two sides get promoted to the Israeli Premier League.

As for the relegation playoff, the eight teams enter a similar single round-robin tournament, with each team facing off against the other seven once. The points collected by each side are added to the previous tally from the regular season. The two teams with the lowest total points get relegated to the Liga Alef, the third division. The third-lowest team moves on to another relegation playoff, this time facing the Liga Alef promotion play-offs winner. If that third-lowest team wins the playoff, they remain in the Liga Leumit. If they lose, they drop to the third division alongside the other two.