| Season: | 2018–19 |
| Relegated: | Maccabi Petah Tikva Bnei Sakhnin |
| Dates: | 25 August 2018 – 25 May 2019 |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 599 |
| League Topscorer: |  Ben Sahar (15 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | |
| Biggest Away Win: | |
| Highest Scoring: | |
| Highest Attendance: | 29,988 |
| Attendance: | 1,430,652 [1] |
| Average Attendance: | 5,925 |
| Nextseason: | 2019–20 |
The 2018–19 Israeli Premier League, also known as Ligat Japanika for sponsorship reasons, was the twentieth season since its introduction in 1999 and the 77th season of top-tier football in Israel. The season began on 25 August 2018 and concluded on 25 May 2019. Hapoel Be'er Sheva were the defending champions.
A total of fourteen teams were competing in the league, including twelve sides from the 2017–18 season and two promoted teams from the 2017–18 Liga Leumit.
Hapoel Akko and Hapoel Ashkelon were relegated to the 2018–19 Liga Leumit after finishing the 2017–18 Israeli Premier League in the bottom two places.
Hapoel Tel Aviv were promoted as the winners of the 2017–18 Liga Leumit. This ends the team's one-year absence from the top division.
Hapoel Hadera were promoted as the Runner-ups of the 2017–18 Liga Leumit. This marked the return of Hadera to the top division after 39 years of absence.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beitar Jerusalem | Jerusalem | Teddy Stadium[2] | ||
| Bnei Sakhnin | Sakhnin | Doha Stadium[3] | ||
| Bnei Yehuda | Tel Aviv | HaMoshava Stadium,[4] Petah Tikva | ||
| F.C. Ashdod | Ashdod | Yud-Alef Stadium[5] | ||
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | Be'er Sheva | Turner Stadium[6] | ||
| Hapoel Hadera | Hadera | Netanya Stadium,[7] Netanya | ||
| Hapoel Haifa | Haifa | Sammy Ofer Stadium[8] | ||
| Hapoel Ra'anana | Ra'anana | Ramat Gan Stadium,[9] Ramat Gan | ||
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | HaMoshava Stadium,[10] Petah Tikva | ||
| Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Kiryat Shmona | Kiryat Shmona Stadium[11] | ||
| Maccabi Haifa | Haifa | Sammy Ofer Stadium[12] | ||
| Maccabi Netanya | Netanya | Netanya Stadium[13] | ||
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Petah Tikva | HaMoshava Stadium[14] | ||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | Netanya Stadium,[15] Netanya |
| Team | President | Manager | Captain | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beitar Jerusalem | | | | Givova | Appli Check | |
| Bnei Sakhnin | | | | Joma | Scania | |
| Bnei Yehuda | | | | Kappa | HAP | |
| F.C. Ashdod | | | | Nike | —— | |
| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | | | | Puma | Tadiran | |
| Hapoel Haifa | | | | Joma | BOGART | |
| Hapoel Hadera | | | | Lotto | —— | |
| Ironi Kiryat Shmona | | | | Kappa | Ituran | |
| Hapoel Ra'anana | | | | Givova | ME Tel Aviv | |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | | | | Macron | Arkia | |
| Maccabi Haifa | | | | Nike | Volvo | |
| Maccabi Netanya | | | | Lotto | Kesrei Thofa | |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | | | | Macron | Panorama North | |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv |  |  | | —— | PenguinPickUp |
The number of foreign players were restricted to six per team, while only five could have been registered to a game.[16]
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beitar Jerusalem | Benny Ben Zaken | 1 June 2018 | Pre-season | Guy Luzon | ||
| Bnei Sakhnin | Tal Banin | Benny Ben Zaken | ||||
| F.C. Ashdod | Yossi Mizrahi |  Blagoja Milevski | ||||
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Sharon Mimer | Elisha Levy | ||||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | Jordi Cruyff | Left | Vladimir Ivić | 1 June 2018 | ||
| Beitar Jerusalem | Guy Luzon | Sacked | 22 October 2018 | 13th | Nir Klinger | 30 October 2018 |
| Hapoel Haifa | Nir Klinger | Left | 25 October 2018 | 11th | Sharon Mimer | 31 October 2018 |
| Maccabi Haifa |  Fred Rutten | Left | 1 November 2018 | 8th | Eli Guttman | 8 November 2018 |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Benny Ben Zaken | Sacked | 5 November 2018 | 14th | Amir Turgeman | 18 November 2018 |
| F.C. Ashdod | Blagoja Milevski | Sacked | 13 November 2018 | 13th | Yuval Naim | 23 November 2018 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | Kobi Refua | Sacked | 25 November 2018 | 12th | Ofir Haim | 26 November 2018 |
| Maccabi Haifa | Eli Guttman | Retired | 3 December 2018 | 11th | Itay Mordechai (caretaker) | 3 December 2018 |
| Maccabi Haifa | Itay Mordechai (caretaker) | Caretaking spell over | 19 December 2018 | 10th | Marco Balbul | 19 December 2018 |
| Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Haim Silvas | Sacked | 30 December 2018 | 10th | Tomer Kashtan | 30 December 2018 |
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | Ofir Haim | Sacked | 6 January 2019 | 12th | Kobi Refua | 6 January 2019 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Elisha Levy | Sacked | 6 January 2019 | 9th |  Murad Magomedov (caretaker) | 6 January 2019 |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Murad Magomedov (caretaker) | Caretaking spell over | 20 January 2019 | 9th | Guy Luzon | 20 January 2019 |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Benny Ben Zaken | Sacked | 20 January 2019 | 13th |  Giorgi Daraselia | 23 January 2019 |
| F.C. Ashdod | Yuval Naim | Sacked | 26 January 2019 | 14th | Avi Bohbot | 19 February 2019 |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Giorgi Daraselia | Sacked | 5 March 2019 | 14th |  Juan Carlos (caretaker) | 5 March 2019 |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Juan Carlos (caretaker) | Caretaking spell over | 26 March 2019 | 14th | Eldad Shavit | 26 March 2019 |
| Hapoel Haifa | Sharon Mimer | Sacked | 14 April 2019 | 10th | Haim Silvas | 17 April 2019 |
| Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Tomer Kashtan | Sacked | 6 May 2019 | 12th | Shimon Hadri | 6 May 2019 |
Source: http://www.football.co.il/
Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games)
| Rounds | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th | 31st | 32nd | 33rd | 34th | 35th | 36th | |
| 1 – 6 2 – 5 3 – 4 | 1 – 2 5 – 3 6 – 4 | 2 – 6 3 – 1 4 – 5 | 1 – 4 2 – 3 6 – 5 | 3 – 6 4 – 2 5 – 1 | 6 – 1 5 – 2 4 – 3 | 2 – 1 3 – 5 4 – 6 | 6 – 2 1 – 3 5 – 4 | 3 – 2 4 – 1 5 – 6 | 6 – 3 2 – 4 1 – 5 | |
Due to 3 teams that play in the Netanya stadium qualifying to this round, and in order to insure that all the last games of this round, can be played in the same time(for purity reasons), the order of the games, has been changed. Affecting fixtures 33,35 and 36.
| Rounds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33rd | 34th | 35th | 36th | |
| 6 – 3 2 – 4 1 – 5 | 6 – 2 1 – 3 5 – 4 | 2 – 1 3 – 5 4 – 6 | 3 – 2 4 – 1 5 – 6 | |
Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 26 games)
| Rounds | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th | 31st | 32nd | 33rd | |
| 7 – 11 8 – 13 9 – 12 10 – 14 | 11 - 14 12 - 10 13 - 9 7 - 8 | 8 - 11 9 - 7 10 – 13 14 - 12 | 11 - 12 13 - 14 7 - 10 8 - 9 | 9 - 11 10 - 8 14 - 7 12 - 13 | 11 - 13 7 - 12 8 - 14 9 -10 | 10 - 11 14 - 9 12 - 8 13 - 7 | |
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Sahar | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 15 | |
| 2 |  Fatos Bećiraj | Maccabi Netanya | 13 | |
 Lúcio | Hapoel Hadera | |||
| 4 | Yarden Shua | Bnei Yehuda / Maccabi Haifa | 12 | |
| Eliran Atar | Maccabi Tel Aviv | |||
| 6 | Mavis Tchibota | Bnei Yehuda | 11 | |
| Omer Atzili | Maccabi Tel Aviv | |||
| 8 | Guy Melamed | Hapoel Be'er Sheva / Maccabi Netanya | 10 | |
| 9 |  Nikita Rukavytsya | Maccabi Haifa | 9 | |
 Ange-Freddy Plumain | Hapoel Hadera / Beitar Jerusalem | |||
| Shlomi Azulay | Bnei Sakhnin | |||
| 12 | 6 different players | 3 different teams | 8 |
Source: (Hebrew)http://www.football.co.il/stats
