Israel’s Hapoel Be’er Sheva F.C. fell short of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League after losing 5-2 after extra time to Azerbaijan’s Sabah FK in Baku on Tuesday, falling 6-4 on aggregate.
Coming into the second leg with a 2-1 aggregate advantage, the Reds from the South led twice in the match at Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium thanks to strikes by Serbian center forward Igor Zlatanović and Israel national team right back Guy Mizrahi.
However, Sabah tied it up at the 74th minute and the Azerbaijani side forced extra time with a goal by Tellur Mutallimov four minutes into stoppage time. Orphe Mbina and Joy-Lance Mickels scored in extra time after Hapoel was reduced to nine players when red cards were issued to Senegal national team center back Djibril Diop and Israel national team attacking midfielder Eliel Peretz.
The Israeli club will instead play in the Europa League. The draw for the 2026–27 Europa League will be held on Friday in Monaco, with Hapoel Be’er Sheva placed in Pot 4 alongside Portuguese Cup winner SC União Torreense and Dutch club NEC Nijmegen.
Hapoel Tel Aviv will face Italian side Atalanta BC on Thursday in Miskolc, Hungary, in the “home” leg of its playoff to qualify for the UEFA Conference League after the teams drew 0-0 in Bergamo, Italy, last week. Hapoel Tel Aviv is hosting the match at a neutral venue because Israeli clubs have been required to play UEFA home matches abroad for security reasons since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
