Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva appeared before the Israel Football Association's disciplinary court on Wednesday in an effort to reduce the punishments sought by the prosecutor over the incidents in the State Cup final between the clubs. The sides were given 10 days to reach a plea bargain, and after the hearing the expectation is that an agreement will ultimately be reached. If that happens, some players are likely to see their sanctions sharply reduced, while others may still face substantial bans.
On the Hapoel Be'er Sheva side, Hamudi Knaan and Jabon East are expected to benefit the most. Knaan may receive only a suspended sentence, while East is likely to be suspended for no more than two matches, and possibly even less. By contrast, Zahai Ahmed and Samir Faraud are still expected to get bans in the range of five to six games.
For Maccabi Tel Aviv, Tyrese Asante is expected to get significant relief from the prosecutor's request for a four-match suspension, and Elad Madmon may be sidelined for only one game. Yuval Ziv is also likely to receive a major reduction from the requested six-month ban. Prosecutor attorney Gilad Bergman surprised the parties by effectively combining cases involving Christian Belic, keeping the request at eight matches in actual suspension rather than increasing it to 10.
Karwin Andrade, who has not yet returned to Israel, is expected to receive a ban of at least six matches. Both clubs understand that reaching a plea agreement is preferable, because returning to the disciplinary court could lead to even harsher punishments.
