Hapoel Be'er Sheva Starts Champions League Qualifiers Against Iceland's Vikingur with Kangwa in Lineup

Hapoel Be'er Sheva opened their European season on Tuesday evening, facing Icelandic club Vikingur in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The Israeli Premier League champions aim to secure a favorable result on Vikingur's synthetic pitch and decide the tie in next week's return leg in Hungary.

Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding Kings Kangwa's future and a potential transfer to AEK Athens amid threats from the Greek club, coach Ran Kojok included Kangwa in the starting lineup. The team also saw the return of Jibril Diop and Mohammed Abu Romi to the starting eleven, with Niv Yehoshua surprisingly replacing Eliel Peretz, who was benched for professional reasons. Amir Ghanach was given a role in the attack, and Ofir Marciano started as goalkeeper. Matan Baltaksa was excluded from the squad due to a minor injury.

Vikingur, who advanced past Győr in the first qualifying round, currently lead the Icelandic league with 40 points from 15 matches but suffered their first defeat of the season, 2-1 to Thor, last Saturday. Their key player is veteran Gilfi Sigurdsson, a former Premier League star who has faced past allegations of sexual offenses involving a minor, and he was positioned as the striker for this match. The game drew significant attention with all eyes on Sigurdsson.

The starting lineups were as follows: Hapoel Be'er Sheva fielded Ofir Marciano; Guy Mizrahi, Jibril Diop, Miguel Vitor, Ofir Davidzada; Lucas Ventura, Niv Yehoshua, Kings Kangwa, Mohammed Abu Romi; Amir Ghanach, Igor Zlatanovic. Vikingur started with Ogmundur Kristinsson; Sveinn Thorkelsson, Arlingur Agnarson, Viktor Anderson, Robert Thorkelsson; Dadi Berg Jonsson, Tarik Ibrahimagic, David Atlason, Thori Ingolfsson; Arman Finnbogason, Stigur Thordarson.