Champions League qualifying play-offs second leg: Sabah vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva facts

Sabah must overturn a 2-1 deficit to reach the league phase of the UEFA Champions League for the first time as Hapoel Beer-Sheva – who are also hoping to make their debut in the competition proper – come to Azerbaijan for the second leg of their qualifying play-off.

Previous meetings

Visitors Sabah struck first in the first leg at Bucharest's Stadionul Giulești on 19 August, Veljko Simić giving them a sixth-minute lead with his sixth goal of the campaign, but goals late in each half from Javon East (43) and Igor Zlatanović (79) turned the game in Hapoel's favour.

That was the first meeting between the sides and Hapoel's first game against a team from Azerbaijan.

Sabah’s only prior fixtures with an Israeli club came in the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League second qualifying round, where they eliminated Maccabi Haifa 3-2 on penalties after an extraordinary tie had finished 6-6 on aggregate. Sabah won the first leg in Hungary 3-0 and then lost 3-6 at home in Baku before progressing via the shoot out.

Form guide

Sabah 

Sabah had never played in the European Cup before this season.

Indeed, this is only the Azerbaijan club's fourth European campaign – all in succession since their 2023/24 debut in the Conference League. That, like their next two European seasons, ended in that competition's third qualifying round.

Hapoel Beer-Sheva

Hapoel Beer-Sheva are aiming to reach the Champions League proper for the first time. They would be the fourth Israeli club to feature, after Maccabi Haifa – the last representatives, in 2022/23 – Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

This is Hapoel Beer-Sheva's fourth Champions League qualifying campaign. Two of the previous three have ended in the qualifying play-offs, 4-5 on aggregate against Celtic in 2016/17 (2-5 a, 2-0 h) and on away goals against Maribor in 2017/18 (2-1 h, 0-1 a).

 Links and trivia

Both teams were eliminated in Conference League qualifying in 2025/26, Hapoel losing 0-1 on aggregate to AEK Athens in the second qualifying round and Sabah going down 0-3 against Levski Sofia in the third.

Sabah are aiming to reach a European group stage/league phase for the first time. Qarabağ, in 2017/18 and 2025/26, are the only team from Azerbaijan to feature in the Champions League proper.

Sabah's first Champions League campaign began in this season's first qualifying round, where they beat Welsh side The New Saints 4-1 on aggregate (2-0 h, 2-1 a). They have subsequently overcome KuPS Kuopio of Finland 3-0 (1-0 h, 2-0 a) and Danish side Aarhus 5-2 (1-2 a, 4-0 h).

The first-leg loss means Sabah have won five of their seven qualifiers this season (L2), keeping a clean sheet in four of those victories.

Sabah have won all three home qualifying matches this season without conceding.

Simić has scored in six of Sabah's seven Champions League games this season, including the last five.

Hapoel have won seven of their ten two-legged ties in Champions League qualifying.

The Israeli club started this season in the second qualifying round, beating Víkingur Reykjavík 3-2 on aggregate (1-2 a, 2-0 h) and Crvena Zvezda 3-0 in the next stage (1-0 h, 2-0 a).

Hapoel have therefore won their last four matches, conceding only one goal.

Hapoel's longest winning run in Europe is a five-game sequence in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League.