2002–03 Israeli Premier League

Israeli Premier League
Season	2002–03
Champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv ; 18th title
Relegated	Hapoel Kfar Saba ; Hapoel Rishon LeZion
Top goalscorer	Shay Holtzman; Yaniv Abargil (18)
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 Israeli Premier League season saw Maccabi Tel Aviv win the title. It took place from the first match on 14 September 2002 to the final match on 31 May 2003.

Two teams from Liga Leumit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hapoel Kfar Saba and Bnei Yehuda. The two teams relegated were Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Kiryat Gat.

Teams and Locations

Locations of the 2002–03 Israeli Premier League teams

Twelve teams took part in the 2002-03 Israeli Premier League season, including ten teams from the 2001-02 season, as well as two teams that were promoted from the 2001-02 Liga Leumit.

Hapoel Kfar Saba were promoted as champions of the 2001-02 Liga Leumit. Bnei Yehuda were promoted as runners up. Bnei Yehuda and Hapoel Kfar Saba returned to the top flight after an absence of one and two seasons respectively.

Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Kiryat Gat were relegated after finishing in the bottom two places in the 2001-02 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
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	Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium	06,800
Ironi Rishon LeZion	Haberfeld Stadium	06,000
Hapoel Kfar Saba	Levita Stadium	05,800

Beitar Jerusalem	Bnei Yehuda Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Teddy Stadium	Bloomfield Stadium	Vasermil Stadium

Maccabi Haifa	Maccabi Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva	F.C. Ashdod
Kiryat Eliezer Stadium	Petah Tikva Municipal Stadium	Yud-Alef Stadium

Maccabi Netanya	Ironi Rishon LeZion	Hapoel Kfar Saba
Sar-Tov Stadium	Haberfeld Stadium	Levita Stadium

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Maccabi Tel Aviv (C)	33	22	3	8	66	31	+35	69	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Maccabi Haifa	33	21	6	6	75	42	+33	69	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round
3	Hapoel Tel Aviv	33	19	10	4	53	22	+31	67	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round
4	Maccabi Netanya	33	15	9	9	47	36	+11	54	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round
5	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	33	15	6	12	56	41	+15	51
6	Maccabi Petah Tikva	33	13	11	9	45	37	+8	50
7	F.C. Ashdod	33	11	7	15	35	49	−14	40
8	Hapoel Petah Tikva	33	11	6	16	41	53	−12	39
9	Beitar Jerusalem	33	10	6	17	46	59	−13	36
10	Bnei Yehuda	33	9	7	17	39	63	−24	34
11	Hapoel Kfar Saba^[a] (R)	33	7	5	21	43	81	−38	23	Relegation to Liga Leumit
12	Ironi Rishon LeZion (R)	33	4	6	23	35	67	−32	18	Relegation to Liga Leumit

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

^ Deducted 3 points

Results

First and second round

Home \ Away	BEI	BnY	ASH	HBS	HKS	HPT	HTA	IRZ	MHA	MNE	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	2–3	5–0	1–4	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	4–0	1–1	1–3	2–1
Bnei Yehuda	1–0	—	2–1	0–0	2–3	1–2	1–4	4–1	1–3	1–2	1–3	2–0
F.C. Ashdod	0–0	1–1	—	2–2	0–5	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–3	2–1	2–0	0–1
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–0	2–3	3–0	—	1–2	4–0	0–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–0
Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–3	0–1	0–2	3–1	—	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–3	0–3
Hapoel Petah Tikva	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–3	—	2–3	2–3	1–1	2–1	1–3	1–2
Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	—	1–1	1–2	2–0	0–0	3–1
Ironi Rishon LeZion	4–0	2–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–3	1–2	—	0–3	0–2	1–1	0–1
Maccabi Haifa	0–1	5–2	1–0	4–2	5–0	3–1	1–1	4–3	—	2–1	3–1	2–3
Maccabi Netanya	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	4–1	1–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	—	0–0	3–1
Maccabi Petah Tikva	5–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–3	0–3	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	—	0–1
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–1	1–0	4–1	0–3	3–0	5–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	5–0	4–2	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Home \ Away	BEI	BnY	ASH	HBS	HKS	HPT	HTA	IRZ	MHA	MNE	MPT	MTA
Beitar Jerusalem	—	4–1	—	—	4–2	—	—	—	3–4	0–2	—	2–3
Bnei Yehuda	—	—	0–0	2–2	—	0–0	1–3	—	—	—	1–4	—
F.C. Ashdod	2–1	—	—	—	—	2–1	—	—	1–5	2–0	—	0–3
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	3–2	—	0–1	—	—	1–2	0–1	5–1	—	3–3	—	—
Hapoel Kfar Saba	—	1–1	2–5	1–2	—	—	1–6	—	—	—	0–1	—
Hapoel Petah Tikva	4–1	—	—	—	2–0	—	—	—	0–5	3–2	—	0–3
Hapoel Tel Aviv	4–1	—	1–0	—	—	1–1	—	2–0	—	0–1	—	0–0
Ironi Rishon LeZion	1–1	1–2	2–4	—	5–2	0–3	—	—	—	—	—	—
Maccabi Haifa	—	2–2	—	3–1	5–1	—	1–1	2–1	—	—	1–1	—
Maccabi Netanya	—	2–0	—	—	4–1	—	—	2–0	2–0	—	1–1	2–0
Maccabi Petah Tikva	0–1	—	2–1	1–3	—	3–1	1–0	2–1	—	—	—	—
Maccabi Tel Aviv	—	5–0	—	2–1	2–2	—	—	3–0	2–0	—	0–0	—