Ligat Nashim (, lit. ''Women's League'') is the Israeli

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

league. It has been run by the

Israel Football Association The Israel Football Association (IFA; , ''HaHit'aḥdut leKaduregel beIsrael'', ) is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes a variety of association football leagues where the highest level is the Israeli Premier League; as well a ...

since 1998.

Format

The league is divided into two divisions, with the top division, titled Women's Premier League (previously Ligat Nashim Rishona, lit. "First Women's League"), comprising 9 teams, and the second division, titled Women's Leumit League (previously Ligat Nashim Shniya, lit. "Second Women's League"), comprising a variable number of teams, depending on registration. In 2015, a third division was created, named Mama-Foot League (meaning: a football league for mothers) at first, and changed to Women's Artzit League in 2016. The third division is contested in smaller pitches, over two-halves of 15 minutes each and with unlimited substitutions and the winner does not promote to the second division. Between 2007–08 and

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 ...

the league was made of one division of 12 teams in a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

with the top club winning the championship, with a deciding play-off match to decide the winner if the two teams were tied, as was the case in 2009–10. In 2010–11 the

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Act ...

re-introduced a second division that previously existed in 2006–07. Since 2011, the participating clubs first play a conventional round-robin schedule, followed by a championship playoff contested by the four top teams, where they meet each other twice. Upon its conclusion, the first place team wins the Israeli championship and qualifies to participate in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

. The bottom teams play each other once to avoid relegation, with the bottom club dropping to the second division. The second division is played as a double round-robin schedule, each team playing its opponents four times, with the top club promoting to the top division.Championship Regulations
IFA, pp. 74-81

Champions

A women's football league was organized in late 1998 and started playing during October 1998.
Avraham Kochen, Women's Football in Israel (via Internet Archive) In 2003–04 the league was abandoned in mid-season and was never completed.Iche Menache At the End of Ligat Nashim: It's a Year We'd Rather Forget
Lior Weitz, 1 June 2014, walla.co.il Women: If There's No League, At Least There's the Cup
Lior Weitz, 17 May 2004, walla.co.il

Total championships

References

External links

Ligat Nashim Rishona
Israel Football Association
women.soccerway.com
Standings & results {{Top level women's association football leagues around the world Football leagues in Israel Women's football leagues in Israel Isr Professional sports leagues in Israel

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), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...