Hapoel Be'er Sheva Misses Champions League by Seconds, Losing Over 10 Million Euros

Hapoel Be'er Sheva fell short of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League by just 18 seconds during their match on Tuesday. Had the southern Israeli team maintained a clean sheet for those final seconds, they would have advanced to the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. Instead, Sabah Hazrit scored, sending the game into extra time where Be'er Sheva ultimately collapsed. As consolation, the team will participate in the UEFA Europa League, the secondary European competition.

This narrow miss cost Hapoel Be'er Sheva significant financial gains. Prior to the late goal, the club had secured 8.6 million euros from reaching the playoff round and guaranteed Europa League participation. However, had they qualified for the Champions League, the total earnings would have reached approximately 18.8 million euros. This means the late goal effectively cost them about 10.29 million euros (around 36 million shekels). Additionally, Champions League victories and draws yield higher prize money, 2.1 million euros per win and 700,000 euros per draw, compared to 450,000 euros and 150,000 euros respectively in the Europa League.

No Israeli club has ever received such high payouts from UEFA competitions. For example, Maccabi Haifa earned just over 15 million euros when they qualified for the Champions League group stage in 2022. Beyond prize money, Hapoel Be'er Sheva also lost potential broadcasting and advertising revenues. Maccabi Haifa, during their 2022 Champions League run, generated approximately 4-5 million euros from these sources. However, since European matches are currently not held in Israel, these figures might have been lower. Ticket sales, another revenue stream, also suffered due to the absence of home games.

The financial and sporting disappointment underscores the high stakes of European competition for Israeli clubs, both in prestige and economic impact. Hapoel Be'er Sheva will now focus on the Europa League, where the possibility of more wins might somewhat offset the lower prize money compared to the Champions League.