History
League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after independence. However, the financial and security crises gripping the young nation caused the 1950–51 season to be abandoned before it had started. When football resumed in 1951–52, the new top division went by the name of Liga Alef with Liga Bet as the second division. The 1952–53 season was also not played, and Liga Bet resumed in 1953–54.
The following season, Liga Leumit came into existence as the new top division, with Liga Alef becoming the second division and Liga Bet demoted to the third division. In the summer of 1974, restructuring saw the creation of Liga Artzit as a new second tier, and the second demotion of Liga Bet, as it became the fourth division. Further restructuring to create the Israeli Premier League in the summer of 1999 saw Liga Bet demoted again, this time to the fifth tier. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Liga Artzit was scrapped as the Premier League and Liga Leumit were expanded to 16 clubs each, resulting in Liga Bet returning to the fourth tier.
Read more about this topic: Liga Bet
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