Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv set for another championship showdown

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv will meet in the Israeli league playoff final for the third time in four years after both teams completed semifinal sweeps. The matchup revives the derby rivalry at the biggest stage, and this time it comes with a striking season-long statistical backdrop.

Maccabi leads the all-time championship table with 57 titles, while Hapoel Tel Aviv has five. Of Maccabi’s 57 championships, Hapoel has finished runner-up 21 times, and the red side has now lost 15 straight finals. Hapoel is reaching the final for the first time in about two years, while Maccabi last missed the championship series in 2021/22. Hapoel’s previous final appearance before 2022/23 came in 2004/05, and its last title was in 1969.

The two clubs have already produced two recent final series full of drama. In 2022/23, each team won at home before Maccabi claimed the decisive game 90:94, with Wade Baldwin scoring five of his points in crunch time, including a huge three-pointer. Baldwin finished with eight assists, Lorenzo Brown had seven, and Jakeobwen Brown’s 31 points for Hapoel were not enough. The prior season followed a similar pattern, with Maccabi opening the series with a win, Hapoel forcing a deciding game at home, and Maccabi sealing the title 74:82 behind 19 points from Roman Sorkin.

This season Maccabi finished first in the regular season at 2:24, with both losses coming against Hapoel, which finished second at 4:22. Maccabi then swept both playoff series and reached 29 wins against just two losses in the league, meaning only Hapoel has beaten it all season, twice. Including the State Cup, Maccabi’s overall record in Israel is 2:32. The teams also met twice in the EuroLeague for the first time, with Maccabi winning 90:103 in Bulgaria and Hapoel responding 88:99 in Belgrade in April. The final now promises another derby chapter with the championship on the line.