World Football

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM, April 24 (Reuters) - Israel's Premier League fixtures this weekend were postponed on Thursday after clubs in danger of relegation complained that a technical win awarded to one of their rivals gave them an unfair advantage.

"The management of the Israel Football Association has decided unanimously to postpone the upcoming round of league matches," the IFA said in a statement.

Six of the seven Premier League clubs involved in relegation battles said they would not turn up for their weekend fixtures until they had heard the outcome of an appeal they plan to lodge with an IFA tribunal on Monday.

The clubs will appeal against a 2-0 technical win awarded by a lower tribunal last week to Maccabi Herzliya following a pitch invasion in the 86th minute by Beitar Jerusalem supporters when Herzliya were trailing 1-0 in their match on April 13.

The statement said the clubs -- Tel Aviv giants Hapoel and Maccabi, Hapoel Kfar Sava, Maccabi Petah Tikva, Ashdod SC and Bnei Yehuda -- would respect any decision by the IFA's supreme tribunal as final.

With five matches remaining, six points separate the bottom seven clubs with Herzliya on 32, after being awarded the technical win, and Bnei Yehuda on 26.

As well as being handed the 2-0 technical defeat, Beitar, who are chasing a second successive title, were also docked two points this season and four next season. They also have to play the rest of this season's home games behind closed doors and pay a 30,000 shekel (about $8,700) fine.

Beitar officials are planning to appeal against the punishment on Monday.

The decision to postpone the weekend's matches angered the head of the Israeli football pools authority who said the body would consider legal proceedings against the IFA for loss of income.