Maccabi Tel Aviv has already won the Israeli League championship and will begin play in the Champions League second qualification round. However, once Ludogorets also secured the Bulgarian league title, the Yellow & Blue’s path to Europe changed slightly and they will not be ranked.

Maccabi will have 16.00 points in the UEFA coefficient and Ludogorets’s championship moved the Yellow & Blue out of the top ten at this stage of the competition. Due to this, Maccabi will have to face stronger opponents at least on paper.

Possible ranked opponents in the second qualification round:
*Celtic (Scotland), FC Copenhagen (Deenmark), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), *Bate Borisov (Belarus), Astana (Kazakhstan), APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus), *Maribor (Slovenia), *Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Ludogorets (Bulgaria), *Qarabag Agdam (Azerbaijan).

Teams that are starred * need to advance past the first round and should they not advance, the club that eliminated them will be ranked instead.

The first leg of second round matches will take place July 23-24 while the return leg will be played the following week. The draw itself will occur on June 18, 2019.

In order to advance to the Champions League, Maccabi will need to advance past the second, third and playoff rounds. Should the Yellow & Blue not advance past the second round they will enter the third round of Europa League qualifying.

After a long season that began last summer, Maccabi Tel Aviv will end the 2018/19 Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika campaign with a match on Saturday at Hapoel Beer Sheva (20:00). Vladimir Ivic’s squad had a phenomenal season, one of the best ever in Israeli football history and just ahead of the contest we decided to take a look at some of the records that the Yellow & Blue may break with the end of the campaign.

Biggest point gap of all time
We already know that Maccabi will set the biggest point gap between first and second place of all time as the curtain comes down on the season. The biggest gap to date had been 16 points set by Maccabi Haifa in 2005/06 and Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2013/14.

The gap is currently at 31 points after Matchday 35. If Maccabi bests Beer Sheva and Maccabi Haifa doesn’t beat Maccabi Netanya the Yellow & Blue will also set the biggest gap of the season. Until this year, the gap had been 18 points by Maccabi Haifa in 2004/05 between Matchdays 22-24.

A victory over Beer Sheva will increase the gap to 34 points. The current record at the end of the season between champion from champion is 32 points which was set in 1986/87 when the new champ Beitar Jerusalem had 66 points while the outgoing titleholder Hapoel Tel Aviv had 34 points.

Highest success rate of all time
The 1995/96 Maccabi Tel Aviv squad holds the highest success rate since the league moved to 3 points earned per victory (1982/83) – 82.2% success rate. A win on Saturday would set a new record of 82.4%.

In addition, if Maccabi defeats Beer Sheva they will reach 89 points – the all time club record and second in league history (after Maccabi Haifa 1993/94 – 95 points, 39 Matchdays).

A victory on Saturday will be Maccabi’s 27th of the season and it will also match the club’s all time record which was set in 1993/94. If Maccabi doesn’t lose at Turner Stadium they will end the campaign with only one loss which will place them with three other teams who did the same (there are 3 more teams that went undefeated).

There hasn’t been a team in the 2000’s which has gone undefeated and only Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2009/10 finished the season with one loss.

A season without an away loss?
If the champion leaves Beer Sheva with a win or draw, the club will end the campaign without an away loss and will join 5 other teams which have done the same.

On the defensive side, if the Yellow & Blue record a clean sheet, that will be the 21st time this season that they would not concede a goal in a match and would equal the record set by Kiryat Shemona in 2011/12.

Eliran Atar has scored 12 goals this season, two less than Ben Sahar of Hapoel Beer Sheva who is the current goal scoring leader. To date, Atar has won the title twice: In 2012/13 and in 2008/09 (with Bnei Yehuda along with Shemona Abuhatzera and Barak Itzhaki).

This morning, Omer Atzili underwent successful surgery for an inguinal hernia by Dr. Ulrika Moshawik at her clinic in Munich. The midfielder is recovering from the surgery and upon his return to Israel he will begin the rehabilitation process which will take a number of weeks.

After defeating Austria in March, the Israel National Team will continue EURO 2020 qualifying in June with matches at Latvia and Poland. Head Coach Andi Herzog named his squad for the pair of contests which included 5 Maccabi Tel Aviv players.

Sheran Yeini, Eli Dasa, Dor Peretz, Dan Glezer and Yonatan Cohen were all called up and all five were part of the team that faced Slovenia and Austria. Dor Micha was also part of that squad but has missed league action recently due to an injury.

The National Team will visit Latvia on June 7th and will then travel to Poland where the Blue & White will play the host on June 10th.

Dan Glezer, the Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder addressed regular assembled media ahead of the club’s final match of the season at Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“We are preparing for this match just like every other one and we want to win. We will give 100% and hopefully we will come home happy with the result.”

The season to date:
“The numbers speak for themselves. We have had a wonderful season and you can see that we were the dominant side in the majority of matches. We controlled the tempo and we forced the games to open up. All of the other teams knew we were the most dominant club this season.”

Potentially being called up to the National Team:
“I’m expecting a call up to the National Team and I believe that I deserve it. I hope I’ll be with the National Team.”

Next season:
“I don’t want to look ahead to next season. Next match, I hope we’ll show everyone why we are champions this season.”

Last match at Maccabi Haifa:
“We have to learn to be focused for 90 minutes, no matter what is happening in the match. We will learn from this and continue on.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked ahead to their last match of the 2018/2019 season when they visit Hapoel Beer Sheva on Saturday night at 20:00:

“No game is easy against Beer Sheva. We have given our best every day beginning from the players. Everyone who is around the team worked hard for the success that we achieved. It’s difficult to create winners but it’s hard work and belief as well as for everyone around the players to support them.”

Working hard:
“The training doesn’t change because we are disappointed with the result, we worked all year strong and hard, we have three more and we will finish the season how we started it, with hard work.”

The system:
“We changed our system because it could give us more quality, but we will see for the next game. The players worked hard and they showed it.”

Playing in the Champions League:
“The players need to believe that they belong there. If not they shouldn’t be here. I like winners. There are teams that may be weaker than Maccabi but it all starts in the head and if not you can’t play football.”

Daniel Tenenbaum’s status:
“Tenenbaum started from the first day of preseason with us and has improved just like Rajkovic and Daniel Peretz. We have all improved 30% since I have been with them. They all need to show that they deserve to be here. We know his quality and we are satisfied but when you make a program for next year you begin with number one.”

Improving day by day:
“It’s important for everyone to improve day by day, we have changed many things and not just the rusts but the things around us. The players need the best service here and if they don’t have it then it will be difficult.”

Reaching goals:
“We didn’t complete our goal from the start of the year, we didn’t win the State Cup and we didn’t make it into Europe.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Hapoel Beer Sheva on Saturday May 25th at 20:00 on Matchday 36 of the Israel Premier League Championship Playoffs at the Toto-Turner Stadium. Tickets are now on sale for 2018/19 season ticket holders so come and cheer on the Yellow & Blue.

Season Ticket holders have priority to purchase 1 ticket per season ticket until Thursday May 23rd at 12:00 at which time tickets should they remain, will go on sale to the general public.
Tickets are on sale via the Leaan Ticket Office located at 42 Frishman Street Tel Aviv, telephone *8780 and the Leaan Website.

Please Note: This match is part of the Points Allocation System and season ticket holders will receive 1 points for this contest while non-season ticket holders will receive .5 points. Make sure that when tickets are purchased via the Leaan Website, telephone or Leaan Ticket Office the season ticket number is used in order to receive full points. Should the purchase not be done by using the season ticket number points will not be allocated.

Should a ticket be purchased and the fan doesn’t attend the match, there will be no refunds and no points will be allocated.

Please note:
Print at home is available

Ticket Prices Section 9 – Unreserved Seating
Leaan Ticket Office
Adult – 99 NIS
Child/Soldier/Woman – 49.5 NIS

Telephone/Website
Adult – 104 NIS
Child/Soldier/Woman – 54.5 NIS

Ticket Collection
Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office located at 42 Frishman Street between Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-12:00.