Over the past number of seasons, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva have been the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika leaders and this evening, Sunday September 2nd, the Yellow & Blue will travel to Toto-Turner to take on the southern Reds on Matchday 2.

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Maccabi Tel Aviv enters the match against Hapoel Beer Sheva after defeating Sarpsborg 2:1 this past Thursday, but were eliminated from continental play due to the aggregate score of the two legged tie. In league play, Vladimir Ivic’s side took home a 2:0 win over Maccabi Haifa on Matchday 1 and will look to pick up another 3 points in the desert city.

Beer Sheva drew 1:1 at Kiryat Shemona to open up their campaign and ended their European foray when they fell to APOEL Nicosia in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

This will be the first match since Vidar Kjartansson joined Rostov from Russia while the last time the two sides met, a Dor Peretz goal handed the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 victory in last season’s championship playoffs which was also the first league loss by Beer Sheva at their home stadium.

Chico Ofoedu will be playing in his first match against the southern capital squad and he looked ahead to the contest: “I’ve heard about the games from a couple of friends as well as players like Nosa Igiebor, John Ogu and Tony Nwakaeme. It’s an exciting moment for me to be involved in action like this and I’m really looking forward to it.”

“It’s a big rivalry as the past three years Beer Sheva has been the champion and Maccabi wants to regain it,” added Ofoedu. “It will be an intense game and Nigerian Derby for me to play against John Ogu who is a National Team player. It will be a big game in our country.”

The Numbers between Maccabi and Beer Sheva

There have been 108 meetings to date between the clubs. The record: 51 Maccabi wins, 31 draws, 26 Beer Sheva victories.
Goal differential: 157:96 in favor of Maccabi
Dor Peretz’s winning goal last season was Beer Sheva’s first league loss at Turner Stadium after going undefeated for 51 straight matches.

Maccabi has handed Beer Sheva their most home defeats – 20.

In the last two meetings between the side’s on Matchday 2, the team that lost ended up winning the championship. In 2015/16 Maccabi defeated Beer Sheva who won the title while in 2002/03 Beer Sheva beat Maccabi who took home the championship.

Each of the last three meetings between Maccabi and Hapoel ended in 1:0 (Maccabi twice, Beer Sheva once).

The last seven matches all ended with one side defeating the other by only one goal. Maccabi has no such record against any other club.
Eliran Atar has the most goals of any other player on the current squad with 5.
Sheran Yeini has the most appearance of any other player on the current squad with 23 (4th all-time in Club history).