The 1987–88 Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit is the second tier in the Israeli football league system below the Premier League.-Structure:There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the lowest-placed team are relegated to Liga Alef while the highest-placed team from Liga Alef are promoted in their place...

 season saw the league experiment with a split-league system. After the first two rounds (26 matches), the league split, with the top eight clubs forming a Championship group and the bottom six forming a Relegation group. Within the groups, the clubs played each other once more.

Hapoel Tel Aviv won the title whilst Hapoel Lod

Hapoel Lod F.C.

Hapoel Lod was an Israeli football club based in Lod. The club spent several seasons in the top division in the 1960s and 1980s, and won the State Cup in 1984. After several relegations, they folded in 2002.-History:...

 and Maccabi Petah Tikva were relegated to Liga Artzit

Liga Artzit

Liga Artzit was the third tier of Israeli football after the Premier League and Liga Leumit, and was run by the Israel Football Association.-Structure:...

. Zahi Armeli

Zahi Armeli

Zahi Armali is a former Israeli footballer who started his career at Maccabi Shefa-'Amr, and a holder of many records at Maccabi Haifa.-Football career:Born and raised in Shefa-'Amr, Zahi started his professional career at Maccabi Shefa-'Amr...

 of Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi Haifa F.C.

Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

 was the league's top scorer with 25 goals.

The following season the league continued to use the split league system, but had six clubs in the Championship group and eight in the Relegation group.

Championship group

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Hapoel Tel Aviv	33	19	9	5	43	23	20	66	Qualified for Intertoto Cup
2	Maccabi Netanya	33	16	12	5	56	35	21	60
3	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	33	13	13	7	33	22	11	52
4	Shimshon Tel Aviv	33	13	11	9	35	33	2	50	Qualified for Intertoto Cup
5	Hapoel Petah Tikva	33	12	10	11	47	41	6	46
6	Hapoel Kfar Saba	33	11	12	10	33	31	2	45
7	Beitar Tel Aviv	33	9	13	11	38	40
40
8	Tzafririm Holon Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C. Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C. is an Israeli football club based in the city of Holon. The club was founded in 1985 by a merger of Hapoel Holon and Tzafririm Holon.-Hapoel Holon:...	33	9	13	11	32	34
40

Relegation group

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
9	Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa F.C. Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...	31	13	8	10	56	33	23	47
10	Bnei Yehuda	31	11	11	9	28	23	5	44
11	Beitar Jerusalem	31	10	9	12	38	42
39	Qualified for Intertoto Cup
12	Maccabi Tel Aviv	31	8	12	11	43	43	0	36
13	Hapoel Lod Hapoel Lod F.C. Hapoel Lod was an Israeli football club based in Lod. The club spent several seasons in the top division in the 1960s and 1980s, and won the State Cup in 1984. After several relegations, they folded in 2002.-History:...	31	3	9	19	17	69
18	Relegated to Liga Artzit
14		Maccabi Petah Tikva	31	3	8	20	19	49
17