Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv opened their playoff final series on Tuesday night, meeting in the third derby between the teams in the last four years. Unlike recent years, this title series will be decided in a best-of-games format, with all matches being played in the same venue, Menora Mivtachim Arena.
A total of 8,278 fans attended the first game. More than 7,000 were Maccabi supporters, while about 1,100 were Hapoel fans. Hapoel sold all of the tickets allocated to its supporters.
Game 2 of the series is set for Thursday, with Hapoel hosting. Maccabi will host Game 3 on Sunday. If needed, Games 4 and 5 will be played on the following Tuesday and Thursday. All games in the series, like Tuesday’s opener, are scheduled to begin at 8:50 p.m.