The Winner League Administration has announced that there will be a new format for the championship final at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season. Two final games (home and away) will determine the new Israeli Champions.
By Amy Samin
At the first board of directors’ meeting to be held in the League’s new offices several key decisions were made regarding the upcoming (2013-14) season. Like last year, 22 games will be played during the regular season, but after that the league will be split into an upper division made up of 4 teams and a lower division comprised of 8 teams.
The upper division will play two rounds (6 games), while in the lower division there will be one round made up of 7 games. At the end of those rounds there will be quarter- and semi-final playoffs (best of five for each), with the top ranked team hosting the eighth place team, the second place team hosting the seventh ranked team, etc. – the same format as last season.
An additional change was made regarding the setup of the championship final: this season the final will be a two-game format, home and away. These are the only two games that will not be included in the season ticket package, and tickets for those games will be sold separately by the League Administration.
The game lottery for the new season will take place on Friday, 30 August at 12:30 in conjunction with the Israeli Basketball Association, and will include the first round of the Israeli Cup competition for men and women, the National (Second) League games, the women’s Winner League, and the games of the men’s Winner Sal League.
