During the season, several cases of match fixing were rumored to happen, most notably after a match played on 16 March 1963 between Maccabi Jaffa and Maccabi Petah Tikva (in which Maccabi Petah Tikva won 3–1), prior to which an attempt was made to bribe Jaffa goalkeeper Zion Digmi to let Petah Tikva score.
[1][2] Following the match, IFA president, Arie Sarig, established a committee, with himself as its chairman, to look into the alleged fixed matches,[3] including poor performances by Maccabi Haifa during the team's matches against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Petah Tikva, accusations against IFA board member from Hapoel faction, Menachem Heller, that he acted to have the referee for the match between Maccabi Petah Tikva and Hapoel Haifa switched[4] and alleged bribery attempt accusations against Hapoel Haifa player Ziggy Blum in the same match.
The committee also banned Maccabi Petah Tikva footballer Yeshayahu Alon for life for the attempted bribery and rejected all other complaints filed to it.
[6][7] The ruling deducted two points from Maccabi Petah Tikva, and the club dropped to 12th place and faced relegation.
Following the ruling, the IFA considered its action, eventually choosing not to relegate any team and to play the next season with 15 clubs.