The original incarnation of the IFL consisted of pick-up games without helmets, pads or referees and was founded in 1999 by a group of football enthusiasts, including Ofri Becker, Gadi Gadot, Ben Friedman, Raviv Faig, Itay Ashkenazi and Ori Shterenbach. This initiative led to the formation of a tackle football league that was first played in 2005-2006 and included three teams, the Tel Aviv Pioneers, Haifa Underdogs and Tel Aviv-Jaffa Sabres with Haifa winning the first championship. American football was present in Israel dating back to 1988, when American expat Steve Leibowitz founded a touch football league. In the summer of 2006, after one season, the Israeli group and Leibowitz agreed to merge their leagues and founded the current incarnation of the IFL. However, it wasn't until 2007 that the first official season took place with coaches, referees and full equipment under the governing body of American Football in Israel (AFI). The inaugural season consisted of four teams with the addition of the Jerusalem Lions, and concluded with the latter winning Israel Bowl I.