Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv to Meet Again in the League Final

The Israeli Premier League basketball playoff final will once again pit Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Tel Aviv, after Maccabi advanced past Hapoel Holon in the semifinal on Friday. All games in the series will be played at Menora Mivtachim Arena, the shared home court of both teams, with every tipoff set for 8:50 p.m.

The schedule opens on Tuesday, June 16, with Game 1 hosted by Maccabi. Game 2 will be on Thursday, June 18, with Hapoel as the home team, followed by Game 3 on Sunday, June 21, again hosted by Maccabi. If needed, Game 4 is set for Tuesday, June 23, with Hapoel hosting, and Game 5 for Thursday, June 25, with Maccabi hosting.

Maccabi enters the final unbeaten in the playoffs. This will be the 12th time the two Tel Aviv clubs meet in a championship series, and Maccabi has won all 11 previous finals. Five of those series were best-of-five, the format used now, with the last such meeting coming in 2005.

The teams also met in the final in 2024 and 2023, and Maccabi won both of those series 2-1. The upcoming final therefore renews a long-running rivalry in which Maccabi has so far held the upper hand in every title series.