Liga Gimel

Liga Gimel
Country Israel Israel
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Founded 1951 (1951)
Number of teams 16X8
Level on pyramid 5
Promotion to B League
Domestic cup(s) State Cup
Current champions F.C. Julis (Upper Galilee)
Maccabi Tzeirei Shefa-'Amr (Lower Galilee)
Hapoel Bnei Arara 'Ara (Jezreel)
Hapoel Tirat HaCarmel F.C. (Samaria)
Hapoel Ihud Bnei Jatt (Sharon)
Shimshon Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv)
A.S. Nordia Jerusalem (Central)
Maccabi Ashdod (South)
(2015–16)
2015–16

Liga Gimel (Hebrew: ליגה ג', lit. C League) is the fifth and bottom tier of Israeli football league system, a position it has held since 2009.

History

Liga Gimel was first established in 1951 as a third division, below Liga Alef and Liga Bet. In 1955, after designating the first tier as Liga Leumit, Liga Gimel was demoted to the fourth tier. Further demotions followed in 1976, after the second tier Liga Artzit to the fifth tier and in 1999, after the establishment of Liga Ha'Al to the sixth tier. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Liga Artzit was scrapped and Liga Gimel was brought up back to the fifth tier.

Although currently Liga Gimel is the bottom tier in the Israeli league pyramid, from 1969–70[1] and up until the 1984-85 season a further tier, Liga Dalet was below Liga Gimel, until it was scrapped due to declining number of teams.

Structure

As of 2015-16 season, Liga Gimel consists of eight divisions of varying size, four in the north and four in the less-populated south, with a total of 111 member clubs.

If they meet criteria laid down by the IFA, the top club from each division is promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Bet (the fourth level). Teams are assigned to their new Liga Bet divisions based on their geographical locations. As it is the lowest division, no clubs are relegated.

Liga Gimel Upper Galilee

The champion of Liga Gimel Upper Galilee is promoted to Liga Bet North A. For the 2015–16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Lower Galilee

The champion of Liga Gimel Lower Galilee is promoted to Liga Bet North A. It was formed in 2013-14. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Jezreel

The champion of Liga Gimel Jezreel is promoted to Liga Bet North B. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Samaria

The champion of Liga Gimel Samaria is promoted to Liga Bet North B. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Sharon

The champion of Liga Gimel Sharon is promoted to Liga Bet South A. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Tel Aviv

The champion of Liga Gimel Tel Aviv is promoted to Liga Bet South A. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel Central

The champion of Liga Gimel Central is promoted to Liga Bet South B. Until 2012-13 it was known as Liga Gimel Central-South. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Liga Gimel South

The champion of Liga Gimel South is promoted to Liga Bet South B. Since 2013-14, it split from Liga Gimel Central-South and re-formed after three seasons of inactivity. For the 2015-16 season, the division is composed of:

Past champions

Defunct division champions (since 1996–97)

Western Galilee

Bay Area

Haifa

Gush Dan

External links

  1. Liga Dalet in Football Will Be Operated Starting Next Year Maariv, 17 October 1968, Historical Jewish Press (Hebrew)
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