Almost 94 years ago, on December 19th 1931, the first-ever match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv was played as part of the Eretz Israel league.
The match, held at the Maccabiah Stadium in front of 5,000 spectators, ended in a 1–1 draw. Shmuel Bachar scored for Maccabi while Avraham Nudelman was on target for Hapoel.
Since the first derby, 232 derbies were played in all competitions of which Maccabi won 96, Hapoel 68 while 68 matches ended in draws with a total goal tally of 321–240.
167 Tel Aviv derbies were played in the league since the State of Israel was established with Maccabi winning 62,Hapoel 46 while 59 matches ended in draws. The total goal tally in league matches currently stands on 214–156.
At the end of the 2012/13 season, the record of derby victories was even at 45 victories for each club.
Maccabi’s unbeaten run in the league stretches to 22 derbies, the club’s longest unbeaten run ever against any opponent.
It’s also the fourth-longest unbeaten run in Israeli league history.
The record: 29 matches without a defeat held by Maccabi Haifa against Hapoel Petah Tikva between 1992 and 2003.
Maccabi’s unbeaten run against Hapoel in all competitions stretches to 27 derbies of which Maccabi won 20 and drawn 7 with a goal tally of 62–11.
Hapoel’s last derby victory was on April 26th 2014 some 11 and a half years ago, or 4,194 days.
Since the 1991/92 season, Maccabi faced Hapoel six times in the 7th league round with Maccabi winning 5 of these encounters.
1991/92 (4–0), 1992/93 (4–0), 1993/94 (2–1), 2006/07 (3–1), 2022/23 (3–0).
There was also the abandoned derby in the 7th round of the 2014/15 season.
The first two league derbies after Hapoel’s return from the second division, in 1990/91 and 2018/19, both ended 0–0.
