Starting with Haifa, ending at Teddy Stadium
18/07/2012
By editorial team
A vibrant opening for the yellow team, which will host Maccabi Haifa for the first round of the upcoming season
The matches for the 2012/13 Winner and National League season took place this morning in the offices of the Football Association. The schedule complies with various constraints, including Jewish holidays, FIFA and UEFA dictates and preparations for hosting the European Championship for 21-year olds immediately at the end of the season. The games were drawn from seven game boards set according to various constraints and one board was selected. The drawing slotted Maccabi Tel Aviv against Maccabi Haifa, at home, for the opening round of the season. In the 9th round, Maccabi Tel Aviv will play an away game with HaPoel Tel Aviv and in the 13th round, the team will travel to Jerusalem to play against Beitar.
Click here to see all Fixtures
Unlike previous seasons, the Winner League will now be comprised of 14 clubs that will meet in two rounds of 13 games each. After playing 26 games, the league will split into upper playoffs – with the teams that came in 1-6th, and lower playoffs, with the teams that came in 7-14th. The teams in the upper playoffs will play ten home and away games and the lower playoff teams will play seven games in which they will meet each rival for one game. The upper playoff teams will play a total of 36 rounds, while the lower playoff teams will play only 33 games.
The season will begin on 25 August 2012 and end on 18 May 2012 for the upper playoff teams and on 4 May 2012 for the lower playoff teams.