Tel Aviv Derby Security Costs Soar to Record High

The upcoming Toto Cup final between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv, scheduled for October 29, 2026, at Bloomfield Stadium, is poised to be the most heavily secured football match in Israeli history. The League Management is undertaking extensive preparations for the dramatic encounter, which will feature an equal distribution of tickets to both fan bases for the first time since the 2021 State Cup final. This equal split, with 15,000 fans from each club in attendance, significantly elevates security concerns compared to regular league games where visiting teams receive only about 3,000 tickets, simplifying security arrangements. The decision to divide the stadium equally makes the derby particularly volatile, especially given the tensions and unusual incidents that marked their last meeting. For comparison, last year's Toto Cup final between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv incurred approximately 1.6 million shekels in security costs. This year, the League Management anticipates expenses will break previous records, reaching nearly 2 million shekels, with the vast majority allocated to security and maintaining order.