The West Bank Premier League is one of the two top divisions of the
Palestinian Football Association
The Palestinian Football Association () is the governing body for football in Palestine, and for the men's Palestine national football team and the Palestine women's national football team.
History Palestinian Jewish formation
The Mandatory Pa ...
(PFA). The other is the
Gaza Strip Premier League
Gaza Strip Premier League () is one of the two top divisions organized by the Palestinian Football Association. The other is the West Bank Premier League. It has been disputed since 1984. The 5,000-capacity Rafah Municipal Stadium is the main v ...
. Palestinian clubs have a rich history stretching back to the early 1930s, but most teams folded due to the political turmoil, and ensuing reduction of the geographical area of the country. Over the years, the format of the league has taken many different shapes. The league has been held uninterrupted since 2008.
History
Pre-Officialization (1970s–2000s)
* In 1977,
Silwan
Silwan or Siloam (; ; ) is a predominantly Palestinian district in East Jerusalem, on the southeastern outskirts of the current Old City of Jerusalem.Shabab Al-Khaleel
Shabab Al-Khaleel Sports Club (), or simply Shabab Al-Khaleel, is a Palestinian professional football club from the city of Hebron that plays in the West Bank Premier League.
Honours
* West Bank League (7)
** Champions (6): 1979, 1982, 1986, 1 ...
.
* In 1982,
Shabab Al-Khaleel
Shabab Al-Khaleel Sports Club (), or simply Shabab Al-Khaleel, is a Palestinian professional football club from the city of Hebron that plays in the West Bank Premier League.
Honours
* West Bank League (7)
** Champions (6): 1979, 1982, 1986, 1 ...
won a 24-team league on 81 points five points ahead of closest challengers YMCA.
* In 1984, Markaz Tulkarem won a 12-team league on 60 points one point ahead of closest challengers Hateen.
* In 1985,
Shabab Al-Khaleel
Shabab Al-Khaleel Sports Club (), or simply Shabab Al-Khaleel, is a Palestinian professional football club from the city of Hebron that plays in the West Bank Premier League.
Honours
* West Bank League (7)
** Champions (6): 1979, 1982, 1986, 1 ...
won their second league title, the league once again featured 12 teams.
Shabab Al-Khaleel
Shabab Al-Khaleel Sports Club (), or simply Shabab Al-Khaleel, is a Palestinian professional football club from the city of Hebron that plays in the West Bank Premier League.
Honours
* West Bank League (7)
** Champions (6): 1979, 1982, 1986, 1 ...
finished on 60 points, six ahead of
Thaqafi Tulkarm
Nadi Thaqafi Tulkarm Al-Riyadhi or simply Thaqafi Tulkarem is a Palestinian professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports ...
.
* In 1997,
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari () is a football club based in Am'ari, a refugee camp in Palestine, that plays in the West Bank Premier League. Their home venue is the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, which has a seated capacity of 12,500.
Hono ...
won their first league title on 64 points, the league featured 16 teams,
Thaqafi Tulkarm
Nadi Thaqafi Tulkarm Al-Riyadhi or simply Thaqafi Tulkarem is a Palestinian professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports ...
finished as runner-up on 53 points.
* In 2008–09,
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes Sports Club () or simply Taraji Wadi Al-Nes is a Palestinian football team, based in the town of Wadi Al-Nes outside of Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the ...
won a 22-team league that would determine the members of the First and Second Division. They collected 49 points from 21 games.
* In 2009–10
Jabal Al-Mukaber
Jabel Mukaber (, ) is a predominantly Palestinians, Palestinian neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem. It is bordered by East Talpiot to the west, Abu Tor and Silwan to the north and Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of ...
won a 12-team league, the last before the PFA instituted a professional set-up. They collected 49 points from 22 games, 7 more than their closest challengers
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
.
Emergence of High-Profile Signings (2010s)
The 2010–11 season marked the creation of the first professional league in the territories and saw high-profile signings for many clubs. Most notably
Fadi Lafi
Fadi Lafi Abu Lattifa (; born 23 March 1979) is a Palestinian footballer, who currently plays as a forward for Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established ...
of the
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
, and
Hernán Madrid
Hernán Antonio Madrid Cataldo (born April 2, 1981) is a football coach and former footballer who played as a central defender. Born in Chile, he represented the Palestine national team. He is currently in charge of the Universidad Católica un ...
of Wadi Al-Nes, and many Palestinians-Israelis who played for teams in the second and third tier of Israeli football.
The original format of the WBPL consisted of 12 teams playing each other twice over 22 matchdays, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the second division and the team with the most points are crowned champions.
The 2011–12 included only 10 teams but the PFA announced that four teams will be promoted from the First Division returning the league to its traditional 12-team format. The PFA also altered the rules on player eligibility banning the use of foreign players but letting teams have an unlimited amount of
Arab Israeli
The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...
citizens in their squads
Clubs
Season 2022–23 clubs:
Past champions
The winners were:
*
1977
Events January
* January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari () is a football club based in Am'ari, a refugee camp in Palestine, that plays in the West Bank Premier League. Their home venue is the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, which has a seated capacity of 12,500.
Hono ...
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes Sports Club () or simply Taraji Wadi Al-Nes is a Palestinian football team, based in the town of Wadi Al-Nes outside of Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the ...
Jabal Al-Mukaber Club
Jabal Al Mukaber is a Palestinian professional football club based in East Jerusalem, Palestine, that competes in the West Bank Premier League.
History
In 2010, the club were winners of the West Bank Premier League, the first time in their his ...
*
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
:
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari () is a football club based in Am'ari, a refugee camp in Palestine, that plays in the West Bank Premier League. Their home venue is the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, which has a seated capacity of 12,500.
Hono ...
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
*
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes Sports Club () or simply Taraji Wadi Al-Nes is a Palestinian football team, based in the town of Wadi Al-Nes outside of Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the ...
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...
Markaz Balata
Markaz Shabab Balata () is a professional football team based in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, Palestine, that plays in the West Bank Premier League. Founded in 1954, it won promotion to the WBPL in 2010.
Current squad
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
:
Jabal Al-Mukaber
Jabel Mukaber (, ) is a predominantly Palestinians, Palestinian neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem. It is bordered by East Talpiot to the west, Abu Tor and Silwan to the north and Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of ...