Hapoel Beersheba was eliminated from UEFA Europa League contention as it fell to Levski Sofia 1-1 (3-1 on penalties) in their two-legged first-round qualifying tie. The Southern Reds will now drop down to the second round of the Conference League, where they will face AEK Athens.
Ran Kozuk’s team came into the second leg at the Nyíregyházi Stadion in Hungary after a 0-0 draw in the first match between the two clubs in Bulgaria, as both sides once again produced very few scoring chances, with the match going into extra time goalless.
Alon Turgeman, who came off the bench, finally broke the 180+ minute deadlock at the end of the first extra-time period. But a second yellow card due to a late tackle by Beersheba’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas Ventura saw the Reds reduced to 10 men in the 109th minute.
From that point, Sofia pressed for the equalizer and found it within five minutes, as Mustapha Sangare was left all alone in the box and easily beat ’keeper Niv Elias to knot the game at 1-1.
From there, the contest moved to a penalty shootout, which saw Beersheba miss three straight spot kicks by Eylon Almog, Kings Kangwa, and Turgeman, as Sangare slotted home the winning penalty and bounced the Southern Reds out of the Europa League.
We weren’t able to prevent them from scoring and we conceded. We had a lot of chances that should have ended in a goal, but at the end of the day it came down to penalties. It’s an awful feeling, but that is the result and now we’ll deal with it.”
Next week, Hapoel Beersheba will visit Greece
Next week, Hapoel Beersheba will visit Greece and AEK Athens in the first leg of the second-round Conference League qualifying and will meet up with a very strong side that features former Maccabi Haifa striker Frantzdy Pierrot, as well as English Premier League stalwarts Anthony Martial and Erik Lamela.
Coach Marko Nikolic’s side has played in the Europa League group stages twice in the past few years and also featured in the Champions League back in 2018.
Kozuk also commented on the challenge ahead: “First of all, we have to remember that neither Shai Elias nor Eliel Peretz were available for the second leg, so we know that we will be stronger in some positions. We have to gather the players up and see how we will get a good result against AEK.
It’s clear that they are fantastic, very strong, and while I don’t want to call them the favorites or not, AEK has already proven that they can do a thing or two.”
In other upcoming European action, Maccabi Tel Aviv will begin their Champions League journey when they visit Pafos FC on Tuesday in Cyprus for the first leg of their second-round qualifying tie. Maccabi, who are coming off a 2-1 loss to Hapoel Beersheba in the Israel Super Cup, are still in the process of putting the final touches on their roster for the new season.
However, there are still plenty of regulars available for Head Coach Zarko Lazetic, including Dor Turgeman, Roy Revivo, Ido Shachar, as well as Dor Peretz, Sagiv Yehezkel, and Osher Davida. As for foreigners, the yellow-and-blue will have Weslley Patati, Tyrese Asante, along with newcomers Ion Nicolaescu and Heitor for the two-legged tie.
Pafos features a familiar name in former Maccabi central defender Derrick Luckassen on their roster.
Maccabi Haifa will take on Torpedo-Belaz FC in the second round of Conference League qualifying, with the first leg taking place in Hungary as a home match for the Belarusian club that will be played without fans. The second leg will be Haifa’s home game and will be played in Kisvárda, Hungary the following week.
The Greens feature a brand-new coach in Diego Flores, along with a mix of players that include striker Djordje Jovanovic, who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the past, Pierre Cornud, who returned to Haifa after a season in France, along with new ’keeper Heorhiy Yermakov. Torpedo-Belaz defeated Rabotnicki 4-0 on aggregate in the first round, as former Hapoel Hadera forward Steven Alfred scored two of the club’s goals.
Beitar Jerusalem will match up against Sutjeska-Nikšić FC in their second-round Conference League qualifying tie, as the Montenegrin squad disposed of Dynamo-Brest 3-2 on aggregate.
Vasilije Cavor scored in the 89th minute to send the Nikšic-based club into the next round of qualifying. The yellow-and-black, which just unveiled its new kits for the 2025/26 season, has a well-rounded roster under Barak Itzhaki, including Yarden Shua, Omer Atzily, and Dor Micha, along with Portuguese ’keeper Miguel Silva.
Beitar will be attempting to advance to the group stages of a European competition for the first time since 1995, when it played in the Intertoto Cup. The closest it has gotten since was in 2016, when it was just one win away from the Europa League group stages but fell to Saint-Étienne in the playoff round of the competition.