| Season: | 2008–09 |
| Dates: | 30 August 2008 – 1 June 2009 |
| Winners: | Maccabi Haifa 6th Premier League title 11th top-flight title |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Maccabi Haifa (second qualifying round) |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Hapoel Tel Aviv (third qualifying round) Maccabi Netanya (second qualifying round) Bnei Yehuda (first qualifying round) |
| League Topscorer: |  Barak Yitzhaki (14) Shimon Abuhatzira (14) Eliran Atar (14) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Hapoel Tel Aviv 4–0 Beitar Jerusalem (9 February 2009) Beitar Jerusalem 4–0 Hakoah Ramat Gan (4 April 2009) |
| Biggest Away Win: | 8 games with a win by 3 goals |
| Highest Scoring: | Hakoah Ramat Gan 2–4 Beitar Jerusalem (20 September 2008) F.C. Ashdod 4–2 Bnei Sakhnin (8 November 2008) F.C. Ashdod 3–3 Maccabi Netanya (20 December 2008) (6 goals) |
| Total Goals: | 432 |
| Average Goals: | 2.18 |
| Nextseason: | 2009–10 |
The 2008–09 Israeli Premier League season began on 30 August 2008, and ended on 1 June 2009. Beitar Jerusalem were the defending champions, having won their 6th league title the previous year.
Two teams from Liga Leumit were promoted at the end of the previous season: Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan and Hapoel Petah Tikva. The two teams relegated were Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Herzliya.
At a 24 June 2008 IFA administration meeting[1] it was decided that the league would be expanded to 16 clubs for the following season. Due to the expansion, only one team was relegated directly to Liga Leumit, while five clubs were promoted. The eleventh-ranked team played in a play-off match against the sixth-ranked team from Liga Leumit.
Maccabi Haifa clinched their 11th title after a 0–2 win against Maccabi Netanya on 23 May 2009.
Twelve teams took part in the 2008-09 Israeli Premier League season, including ten teams from the 2007-08 season, as well as two teams which were promoted from the 2007-08 Liga Leumit.
Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan were promoted as champions of the 2007-08 Liga Leumit. Hapoel Petah Tikva were promoted as runners up. They both returned to the top flight after an absence of one season.
Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Herzliya were relegated after finishing in the bottom two places in the 2007-08 season.
| Club | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21,600 | |||
| 15,700 | |||
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | |||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | |||
| 14,002 | |||
| 8,000 | |||
| 7,500 | |||
| 7,800 | |||
| 6,800 | |||
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | |||
| 5,300 | |||
| 5,000 |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Ran Ben Shimon | End of contract | 1 June 2008 | Pre-season | Michele Dayan | 1 June 2008 | |
| Maccabi Haifa | Ronny Levy | Elisha Levi | 1 June 2008 | ||||
| Maccabi Netanya | Reuven Atar | Lothar Matthäus | 1 June 2008 | ||||
| Bnei Sakhnin | Elisha Levy | Freddy David | 1 June 2008 | ||||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | Nir Levin | Ran Ben Shimon | 1 June 2008 | ||||
| Bnei Yehuda | Hezi Shirazi | Freddy David | 12 June 2008 | ||||
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Nitzan Shirazi | Resign | 21 August 2008 | Guy Azouri | 21 August 2008 | ||
| Beitar Jerusalem | Itzhak Shum | Sacked | 3 September 2008 | 12th | Reuven Atar | 3 September 2008 | |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | Ran Ben Shimon | Sacked | 2 November 2008 | 7th | Avi Nimni | 2 November 2008 | |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Freddy David | Resign | 9 November 2008 | 12th | Eyal Lahman | 9 November 2008 | |
| Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Michele Dayan | Sacked | 30 November 2008 | 10th | Eli Cohen | 11 December 2008 | |
| Maccabi Petah Tikva | Guy Azouri | Resign | 22 December 2008 | 6th | Ronny Levy | 22 December 2008 | |
| Bnei Sakhnin | Eyal Lahman | Sacked | 8 March 2009 | 12th | Eran Kulik | 8 March 2009 | |
| Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona | Eli Cohen | Sacked | 11 April 2009 | 12th | Ran Ben Shimon | 14 April 2009 |
The schedule consisted of three rounds. During first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.
Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):
| Rounds | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23rd | 24th | 25th | 26th | 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th | 31st | 32nd | 33rd | |
| 3 – 12 4 – 2 5 – 1 6 – 11 7 – 10 8 – 9 | 12 – 9 10 – 8 11 – 7 1 – 6 2 – 5 3 – 4 | 4 – 12 5 – 3 6 – 2 7 – 1 8 – 11 9 – 10 | 12 – 10 11 – 9 1 – 8 2 – 7 3 – 6 4 – 5 | 5 – 12 6 – 4 7 – 3 8 – 2 9 – 1 10 – 11 | 12 – 11 1 – 10 2 – 9 3 – 8 4 – 7 5 – 6 | 6 – 12 7 – 5 8 – 4 9 – 3 10 – 2 11 – 1 | 1 – 12 2 – 11 3 – 10 4 – 9 5 – 8 6 – 7 | 12 – 7 8 – 6 9 – 5 10 – 4 11 – 3 1 – 2 | 2 – 12 3 – 1 4 – 11 5 – 10 6 – 9 7 – 8 | 12 – 8 9 – 7 10 – 6 11 – 5 1 – 4 2 – 3 | |
Hakoah Ramat Gan, as the 11th-placed team, faced the 6th-placed Liga Leumit team Maccabi Ahi Nazareth in a two-legged playoff. Hakoah Ramat Gan lost both games and were relegated to Liga Leumit.
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| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[14] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barak Yitzhaki | Beitar Jerusalem | 14 | |
| Shimon Abuhatzira | Hapoel Petah Tikva | 14 | ||
| Eliran Atar | Bnei Yehuda | 14 | ||
| 4 |  Samuel Yeboah | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 13 | |
| 5 | Dimitar Makriev | F.C. Ashdod | 11 | |
| Thembinkosi Fanteni | Maccabi Haifa | 11 | ||
| 7 | David Revivo | F.C. Ashdod | 10 | |
 Pedro Galván | Bnei Yehuda | 10 | ||
| 9 | Maor Buzaglo | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 9 | |
| Lior Rafaelov | Maccabi Haifa | 9 | ||
| Total | 432 | |||
| Average per game | 2.18 | |||
A. Biggest away win